A commercial airliner crashed into a crowded suburb of Nigeria slargest city, Lagos, Sunday, killing all 153 people on board and anunknown number of residents on the ground. The crash is the country's worst since September 1992, when amilitary transport plane crashed shortly after takeoff from Lagos,kill all 163 Army soldiers and crew aboard. The cause of the crash of the Dana Air flight carryingpassengers from Nigeria s capital of Abuja to Lagos is stillunknown, but questions have been raised about the age of Dana splanes. In 2010, Nigeria banned all aircraft over the age of 20years. According to Planespotters.net, the average age of Dana sfleet of five planes is 21.4 years.
Its youngest plane is 20.9years old. A spokesman for President Goodluck Jonathan said that everypossible effort will be made to ensure that the right lessons arelearnt ... and that further measures will be put in place to boostaviation safety in the country. "The president joins all Nigerians in mourning all those who losttheir lives in the plane crash which has sadly plunged the nationinto ... sorrow," Reuters news agency quoted from a statement fromPresident Jonathan's office.
Nigeria s government has made a number of improvements to itsair-safety systems, introducing modern passenger-scanning equipmentand improvements in its airport radar systems. In 2010, the UnitedStates gave Nigeria the Federal Aviation Administration s highestrating, a Category 1, allowing Nigeria s commercial carriers toland at US airports. Yet, despite these improvements on paper,Nigeria s upgrades still fail to meet standards when it comes toimplementation. Frequent power outages an odd occurrence in acountry that is Africa s largest oil producer -- and failure ofits backup generator systems often shut down air-traffic controlsystems for hours at a time, and delay the takeoff and arrival offlights. Single Girder Overhead Cranes
Nigeria s aviation Minister, Princess Stella Odua expressed hercondolences to the families of those on board the plane, but shewas quoted by Vanguard newspaper as saying, I assure the nationthat investigations are under way. Nigeria has also struggled with insurgencies in the past couple ofyears, both in the oil-rich Niger Delta region and among theimpoverished citizens of the Muslim-majority north, where aIslamist militant group named Boko Haram has carried out a terrorcampaign that has killed more than 1,000 people in the past twoyears. No terror group has taken responsibility for Sunday s crash,however. Instead, speculation has turned toward the age of the aircraft. Theplane that crashed on Sunday belonged to Dana Air, which uses olderBoeing MD-83 jets. Jib Cranes
Many commercial airlines in Nigeria andindeed throughout the continent -- purchase cheaper second-handaircraft, often those that are no longer serviceable in richercountries. Such planes are safe only if they are rigorously maintained by theairline s ground crew. Unfortunately, there is a history of aircrashes involving older planes. The Lagos-based Bellview Airlines Flight 210, which crashed shortlyafter takeoff on Oct. 22, 2005 at Lagos, was 24 years old. China Overhead Crane Parts
TheSosoliso DC-9 aircraft that crashed on Dec. 10, 2005 near PortHarcourt was 32 years old. It had been sold to Sosoliso by JATairways because it no longer met European noise standards.
Its youngest plane is 20.9years old. A spokesman for President Goodluck Jonathan said that everypossible effort will be made to ensure that the right lessons arelearnt ... and that further measures will be put in place to boostaviation safety in the country. "The president joins all Nigerians in mourning all those who losttheir lives in the plane crash which has sadly plunged the nationinto ... sorrow," Reuters news agency quoted from a statement fromPresident Jonathan's office.
Nigeria s government has made a number of improvements to itsair-safety systems, introducing modern passenger-scanning equipmentand improvements in its airport radar systems. In 2010, the UnitedStates gave Nigeria the Federal Aviation Administration s highestrating, a Category 1, allowing Nigeria s commercial carriers toland at US airports. Yet, despite these improvements on paper,Nigeria s upgrades still fail to meet standards when it comes toimplementation. Frequent power outages an odd occurrence in acountry that is Africa s largest oil producer -- and failure ofits backup generator systems often shut down air-traffic controlsystems for hours at a time, and delay the takeoff and arrival offlights. Single Girder Overhead Cranes
Nigeria s aviation Minister, Princess Stella Odua expressed hercondolences to the families of those on board the plane, but shewas quoted by Vanguard newspaper as saying, I assure the nationthat investigations are under way. Nigeria has also struggled with insurgencies in the past couple ofyears, both in the oil-rich Niger Delta region and among theimpoverished citizens of the Muslim-majority north, where aIslamist militant group named Boko Haram has carried out a terrorcampaign that has killed more than 1,000 people in the past twoyears. No terror group has taken responsibility for Sunday s crash,however. Instead, speculation has turned toward the age of the aircraft. Theplane that crashed on Sunday belonged to Dana Air, which uses olderBoeing MD-83 jets. Jib Cranes
Many commercial airlines in Nigeria andindeed throughout the continent -- purchase cheaper second-handaircraft, often those that are no longer serviceable in richercountries. Such planes are safe only if they are rigorously maintained by theairline s ground crew. Unfortunately, there is a history of aircrashes involving older planes. The Lagos-based Bellview Airlines Flight 210, which crashed shortlyafter takeoff on Oct. 22, 2005 at Lagos, was 24 years old. China Overhead Crane Parts
TheSosoliso DC-9 aircraft that crashed on Dec. 10, 2005 near PortHarcourt was 32 years old. It had been sold to Sosoliso by JATairways because it no longer met European noise standards.