MERLYN....
Are you sure ??
Wouldn't say for certain, but the picture looks something like the skipper of a Dana flight when I deplaned in Abuja a couple of months ago....Didn't know him at all, but remember being quite surprised to see a white, American accented skipper as all the Dana flight crews that I have met here are of either African or Indian ethnicity....
Whether the picture is right or wrong, can't help but have tremendous sadness for the crew, who must have known their chances were miniscule if they couldn't make the threshold....Not too many green fields anywhere around MM if you needed to put it down short of the tarmac, even though there are acres and acres and acres of empty grass once inside / over the perimeter fencing, and where a dead stick landing from almost any direction except directly over the terminal buildings would have been possible if only they could have made it that far....
And in relation to Dana - always believed that they are a decent outfit by West African standards with ' intelligent ' management....And from what I've seen on the apron, I can't say the MD's looked to be in obviously poor condition compared to to some of the other rubbish which passes through here on a daily basis....So until proved otherwise, I think I'd discount any suggestions that the aircraft was known to be u/s before departure and the crew were under any sort of pressure from the company to carry out the flight....
I'm not going to speculate on any particular reasons for this sad accident, and just put this one down to bad luck of one sort or another....Problem will be the Nigerian Government's tradition to never actually issue accident reports, with or without assistance or pressure from other countries aviation authorities and so it is unlikely that we will ever know the full cause....
Having said all that - the combination of American ambulance-chasing lawyers and opportunistic Nigerians with American connections could become the mother of all nightmares for anyone and everyone with even the remotest association with the manufacture / maintenance / operation of the aircraft and this particular flight....I doubt, therefore, that we will see Dana even wish to continue in existence with those prospects on the horizon....