jaytimkonnoisseur

Nigeria is currently one of the most powerful, populous, and rich countries in Africa, but it had suffered near constant political unrest for decades before finally settling into a stable democratic government in 1999. It goes without saying that a short-lived military dictatorship is not going to be prioritizing public infrastructure projects, meaning that by the time the new millenium rolled around, the road and rail networks were not nearly sufficient for a populous urban nation. Several small local airlines popped up to provide easier travel between destinations within the country, one of which was Dana Air.

While airlines like this serve a vital role, that doesn't mean they're... good. In fact, it seems like Dana Air was pretty fucking bad. Airlines are businesses and operate on thin margins, so in countries where oversight is less well developed (like if, say, the government hasn't even existed for a decade yet), the less scrupulous will cut every corner to eke out a profit.

That's where our first major issue arises. Captain Peter Waxtan. If you're thinking that doesn't sound like a Nigerian name, you would be right. Captain Waxtan was from Florida. If you are the hiring manager of a small African airline, that should be a massive red flag. Working abroad is common for pilots, but an American pilot typically does not quit their day job at Spirit Airlines to fly for a struggling regional carrier in Nigeria. If they have ended up applying for a job at Dana Air, it's probably because there is some reason they're having trouble getting work elsewhere. In the case of Waxtan, this may have to do with the time his license was suspended by the FAA due to a series of hard landings and failing to adhere to proper maintenance procedures. Doesn't look great on a resume.

Captain Waxton and his First Officer, Mahendra Singh Rathore (who doesn't have a similarly checkered past- he came up through the company as a cabin attendant and this was probably just a small step in a normal career for him), were flying 147 passengers from Abuja to Lagos that day in a secondhand MD-83. Although the takeoff was normal, a problem presented itself soon after- the left engine stopped responding to throttle commands. It was still running, but it wasn't producing any more than idle power, and moving the levers did nothing to change this.

The crew discussed this issue at length, but at no point did they decide to just turn around and get it checked out. In fact, they didn't even ask the company for directions or let anyone on the ground know what had happened. They simply continued flying on one engine. Captain Waxtan seemed intent on getting the plane to its destination- maybe because Lagos was also the location of the company's maintenance base, or more cynically, because after this duty he was set to fly back to the USA for fifteen days off. In fact, he seemed more concerned about being investigated by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority than about the safety of the flight.

Let me just make this clear: this is completely unacceptable. The only reason an engine failure on a commercial plane isn't a complete emergency is because any aircraft with two engines is certified to fly with only one. But "certified to fly" and "fine to just keep going" are two very different things. Redundancy doesn't mean you can just keep going about your merry fucking way. If it saves your ass, that's great, but now there is no more redundancy.

That's the second issue. If you have a bizarre and unknown mechanical problem with your left engine, there's a slight chance that whatever caused that issue is also present in the right engine. On approach, descending at idle, the pilots had no idea their right engine had failed until they tried to increase thrust to slow their rate of descent. And... nothing. Neither engine was capable of producing more than idle thrust, and that was not going to get them to the runway in their current configuration. They tried several troubleshooting techniques, but at no point did they consult the dual engine failure checklist. The plane was descending rapidly over the suburbs of Lagos, and where it came down was a matter of chance.

Thankfully, the first building struck was an under-construction apartment block, which likely made the difference between a handful of deaths on the ground and dozens or hundreds. At least six people in Lagos were killed as the wreckage careened into a printing press and several houses. Not a single person onboard the aircraft survived the crash or the subsequent fire.

So why, exactly, did the engines fail in the first place? That was the first question the Accident Investigation Bureau had to answer, and believe it or not, it led them right back to Florida.

The engines had last been overhauled in 2011 by Millenium Engine Associates in Miami. During this maintenance, they had neglected to bring the left engine into compliance with a service bulletin intended to strengthen the fuel manifold. This exact weak pipe is what fractured in the event, leading to the engine failure.

But then... what about the right engine? It clearly suffered the same or a similar failure, but its fuel manifold had been brought into compliance with the SB before it was even sold to Dana Air. What happened to it?

Well, dear reader, that's the final "fuck you" in this case. If you're not already pissed off, this should help. The AIB had sent the remains of the engines to Millenium Engine Associates for analysis, and when asked to return them, the company just... didn't. They sent back the left engine, but the right engine has never been seen again. It's a blatant act of disrespect (and frankly, probably a coverup) by a company confident that they would see absolutely no recourse.

That's the unfortunate reality we have to face when discussing a crash like this. It is tempting for people in so-called "first world countries" to blame any and all accidents in the "third world" on the simple fact that these countries are poorer and less developed. But time and time again, whether it's this incident, UTA 141, Ethiopian 302, or dozens of other crashes, the blame instead lies with the way the rest of the world actively abuses these nations who are not powerful or rich enough to stand up against it. Sometimes, like in these cases, it's quite literal. But even when it's not, the legacy of colonialism and the years of political unrest that follow it make countries like this often incapable of maintaining the high safety standards their people deserve. Yet people in the rest of the world click their tongues. Of course something like that would happen there, they say, bloody hands and all. The people there just aren't as advanced as us.

I don't have a quippy closing statement or an uplifting ending. Fuck the system that allows hundreds of people to die for some asshole in Florida to make a buck. Fuck colonialism, fuck capitalism, fuck you, fuck me, fuck planes. I told you this story would make you angry. You should be angry.