Accident: Dana MD82 at Lagos on Apr 23rd 2024, runway excursion

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Accident: Dana MD82 at Lagos on Apr 23rd 2024, runway excursion

By Simon Hradecky, created Tuesday, Apr 23rd 2024 11:17Z, last updated Tuesday, May 14th 2024 18:20Z

A Dana Air McDonnell Douglas MD-82, registration 5N-BKI performing flight 9J-352 from Abuja to Lagos (Nigeria) with 83 passengers and 6 crew, landed on Lagos' runway 18L at about 10:00L (09:00Z) but veered left off the runway and came to a stop on soft ground with the nose gear collapsed. There were no injuries.

Nigeria's NSIB (aircraft accident investigation) have dispatched investigator on site.

On May 14th 2024 Nigeria's NSIB released their preliminary report stating the first officer (22, CPL, 517 hours total, 394 hours on type) was pilot flying, the captain (64, ATPL, 22,232 hours total, 5,828 hours on type) was pilot monitoring.

The NSIB summarized the sequence of events:

On the Final Approach to RWY 18L, the PF called for "GEAR DOWN", and the PM selected landing gears "DOWN". According to the First Officer, "We got two green lights and one red light, the red being the Nose Landing Gear (NLG) Indication." The crew stated that they recycled the Landing Gears by selecting UP and then DOWN, but the NLG Indication Light remained RED. The crew then proceeded with the EMERGENCY GEAR EXTENSION Checklist, but again, the NLG indication RED Light remained.

At 09:23 h, DAN0352 informed Tower of its intention to execute a Go-Around. At 09:24 h, while executing the Go-Around, DAN0352 did a LOW PASS over the station and requested the Duty Air Traffic Controller (DATCO) to check if the NLG was down. The DATCO responded, "It appears down."

At 09:25 h, DAN0352 contacted Approach Control requesting to be vectored for another Approach. Approach Control then enquired about the reason for the Go-Around, to which the crew responded, "We just had an indication here, so we just want to verify everything is okay, but at this moment, we look good, and we are going to try another Approach to RWY 18L." The crew stated in the post-occurrence interview that they consulted the MD82 Quick Reference Handbook (QRH) and carried out the QRH items.

At 09:30 h, Approach Control cleared DAN0352 for an ILS Approach RWY 18L. At 09:33 h, DAN0352 contacted Tower, reporting 9 miles Touchdown RWY 18L, and was given weather information: DNMM 0800UTC; Wind 350o/05 kt runway 18L, cleared to land caution runway surface damp. As the crew selected the Landing Flap position, the Landing Gear Configuration Warning came ON and continued until the aircraft touched down.

At about 09:38 h, DAN0352 touched down runway 18L. According to the Captain, the landing was soft. During the Landing Roll, the Captain deployed Speed Brakes, after which Thrust Reversers were deployed, and the nose of the aircraft was lowered. At this point, the crew stated that severe vibration was accompanied by a loud noise from the NLG area. On reaching 80 knots, the Captain noticed the collapse of the NLG, followed by a loss of directional control. The aircraft then veered off to the left and exited the runway at about 2,094 m from the threshold. It continued in the grass verge, crossed the paved Link 6 and stopped at about 2,343 m from the threshold, about 36 m from the runway centreline.

Upon the final stop of the aircraft, the Captain shut down the engines and commanded evacuation through the Forward Service Door due to safety concerns on the Main Entry Door side. The Cabin Crew opened the Forward Service Door, and the Escape Slide was deployed. All occupants evacuated without any injury.

Metars:
DNMM 231000Z 21009KT 7000 -TSRA SCT008 FEW018CB 24/23 Q1013 NOSIG=
DNMM 230900Z 31005KT 7000 -TSRA SCT007 FEW017CB 23/23 Q1015 NOSIG=
DNMM 230800Z 34005KT 6000 -TSRA BKN007 FEW017CB 23/22 Q1015 NOSIG=
DNMM 230700Z 32009KT 4000 -TSRA BKN008 FEW018CB 23/23 Q1014 TEMPO 3000 -TSRA=
DNMM 230600Z 04010KT 5000 -TSRA BKN008 FEW018CB 24/23 Q1013 NOSIG=

The aircraft off the runway:

Map (Graphics: AVH/Google Earth):

Reader Comments: (the comments posted below do not reflect the view of The Aviation Herald but represent the view of the various posters)

Widebody Commander
By WhiskeyCobra on Wednesday, May 22nd 2024 16:46Z

I'll start by replying to your last sentence:

Most countries have a just culture? What planet do you live on? Pilots are the first to admit a mistake? Perhaps in SOME airlines with near perfect SMS. In the rest of the world it goes like this from best to worst: a) consult with union guy first b) talk to lawyer for anything I say may be used against me c) say nothing/get story straight with PNF otherwise we get fired d) lie about it as we might go to jail.

As for the comments, we all judge and assume in one way or another. If you were retired and still in love with our mistress called aviation, you'd probably also speculate a bit more based on experience than simply post the boring "let's wait for the investigation". Nothing wrong with laying out a hunch that won't hurt anyone. I for one enjoy insightful commentary even if sometimes it has nothing to do with the incident at hand.

Besides, Crunch might've been right on this one. He wasn't but you oth had the hindsight of the prelim report.

@Widebody Commander
By Agpilot on Monday, May 20th 2024 12:50Z

"The problem with crunch is that he assumes all kinds of things and in the vast majority there is no basis whatsoever for any of his conclusion."

He pointed he could be wrong before the report, after the report is more easy to have conclusions. (i.e.) I just wanted to see the russian Airbus out of the grass but, now I see I is not possible. Capt rocks.

@WhiskeyCobra
By Widebody Commander on Saturday, May 18th 2024 11:11Z

Crazy Crunch' title is : Looks like poor technique to me

Then starts rambling about reverse etc. which has nothing to do with this incident.

1+1 still equals 2 no matter how you try to rationalize it.

The problem with crunch is that he assumes all kinds of things and in the vast majority there is no basis whatsoever for any of his conclusion. Assuming and jumping to conclusions don't belong in aviation.

Simon's website has a wealth of excellent information for layman as well as for professionals, but comments like crunches rarely serve a purpose other than laying blame, which again is not the way safety should work in aviation.

Usually pilots are the first to know and admit a mistake, the whole system (in most countries) is one of 'just culture', so learn from mistakes not punshiment. Not laying blame is a big part of that.

@WhiskeyCobra
By essi on Friday, May 17th 2024 01:16Z

IIRC the rainy season in West Africa starts in March/April - it's possible there was nowhere to divert to that didn't also have a wet runway.

Experience
By Thomas Z on Thursday, May 16th 2024 09:07Z

Not directly related to the accident, but a total time of 517 h with 394 h on type is remarkably low before getting type rated. Isn't 200 h the minimum to obtain a CPL and start a type rating in most parts of the world?

Fair guess
By WhiskeyCobra on Wednesday, May 15th 2024 20:38Z

Actually, Captain Crunche's guess on the use of excessive reverse thrust was a fair one. It did happen before and the MD80 series manual contains a warning to exceed 1.3 EPR when selecting reverse thrust on contaminated runways. DL1086's crew learned this the hard way. Others have too, before them.

That he chose to propose this fact to explain the accident without no other evidence but the angle of the plane is another matter (could've been anything else).

As far as the crew is concerned it does indeed look like they went by the book. I might question the time frame. Only 15 min from g/a to touchdown. Perhaps burn off some extra fuel? Or that they didn't choose to divert. Perhaps they didn't want to burn their diversion fuel due to weather but then why not go for a dry runway if the nlg was questionable in the first place?

In any case, everyone walked away so a good landing. =)

Good outcome
By Capt Doug on Wednesday, May 15th 2024 20:09Z

Looks like the Crew have done a good job of getting everyone to safety. Well done to all concerned.

@Widebody Commander
By Hans R. on Wednesday, May 15th 2024 18:11Z

Pretty quick indeed and also a substantial report, too. The order of events now becomes clear.

By Widebody Commander on Tuesday, May 14th 2024 21:50Z

Pretty quick, about 3 weeks after the incident a prelim report, looks like the crew did okay.

Crazy Crunch got it wrong... again... his honest opions aren't worth much

@scotneil
By Hans R. on Wednesday, Apr 24th 2024 22:19Z

Difficult to say because we don�t know how exactly the runway excursion happened. This Aircraft has definetely a low number of cycles for its age but that doesn�t mean anything, too: It doesn�t answer the question how good it was maintained. Dana Air shows up with a couple of events on this website, including three other Runway Excursions in the last six years, allthough it is a small Airline with a fleet of only a few aircrafts.

Maybe it was really only a simple Pilot Error on a slick Runway as Captain Crunch.stated.

Live to fly again?
By scotneil on Wednesday, Apr 24th 2024 10:03Z

According to Hans R. this aircraft has spent a lot of time in storage, so flying hours may be relatively low. Also the nose-gear doors appear extended - could they have taken the brunt of any impact and other damage be minimal?

Looks like poor technique to me
By Captain Crunch on Wednesday, Apr 24th 2024 07:47Z

I've seen this before. See the angle the airplane is at?

Landing through scud with a quartering right tailwind on a slick runway in thundershowers. You've got to hold left rudder and right aileron to stay on the runway, especially at the rubber-covered end.

This airplane is notorious for losing the rudder force if you use full reverse. They got blown to the downwind side. So if full reverse is used, you lose the rudder effectiveness and the tail will weathervane to the left and this is where I would expect you to end up once the student tries to straighten out the nose with hard left rudder.

So next time, hit right on the 1000 foot marker on the upwind side and use partial reverse. That will blow you back to center line instead of off the left side.

JMHO's only. YMMV.

Thunderstorms/ "Africa" and so on...
By Hans R. on Wednesday, Apr 24th 2024 00:38Z

Until now we know - beyond the fact that this runway excursion happened - nothing why it happened. It�s unclear if the weather played a role. And Runway excursions are happening not only in Africa.

This particular Mad Dog has a age of a little bit more than 27 years, from which it spended round about 13 years in storage, and it is operated by a small Nigerian Airline, but we don�t know if this has anything to do with the reason/s of this Accident, too.

So let�s just wait for more information.

-TSRA
By Snowman on Tuesday, Apr 23rd 2024 23:47Z

@Harry

-TSRA is light rain with thunderstorm

@ Don Carlo
By The Legacy on Tuesday, Apr 23rd 2024 21:09Z

I disagree. Thousands of planes land in thunderstorm conditions a year without incident. Between weather radar and airport facilities, many planes and many pilots handle this routinely.

Now, if you're talking Dana Air? Well... Yeah, probably not wrong.

Light
By Harry on Tuesday, Apr 23rd 2024 20:37Z

@Don Carlo: it was only a light thunderstorm though

PILOT ERROR ONCE AGAIN
By Don Carlo on Tuesday, Apr 23rd 2024 17:10Z

AIM RULE NO1. Do not Land in THUNDERSTORM PERIOD HOLD DIVERT 2 choices

By (anonymous) on Tuesday, Apr 23rd 2024 16:12Z

Dana Air did it again...fortunately no injuries.

Africa, , , , ,
By DRC on Tuesday, Apr 23rd 2024 14:15Z

, , , , where many Mad Dogs go to live and die.

By (anonymous) on Tuesday, Apr 23rd 2024 14:06Z

What a shame. This airline is/was barely surviving.

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