Cargo 747 Incident at Lagos

[Kato747]

Anyone have any further info on the 747 "low-pass" incident of the presidential lounge at Lagos airport yesterday 2 Oct?

Contrary to news report..... this was NOT Air Atlanta!!! ..... Who was it? Surely not Hydra! :}

http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=91164

[TyroPicard]

The cargo plane, Boeing 747, which approached the lounge through the new domestic terminal, MMA2, caused panic

I'll bet it did!

[Aspen20]

Hydro no more. They wrecked their 747 on landing in Lagos last year.

[patrickal]

I would say from the outset that portions of the article beg questioning the accuracy of the report. Specifically, this portion;
Journalists and officials at the Lounge were afraid when they saw the airplane flying overhead, its under-carriage fully retracted for landing, but as it flew very low, about five meters to the roof of the Lounge, it suddenly went up again, gaining altitude and veered-off towards runway 18R.
Based upon my limited experience, in most cases, the under-carriage is extended for landing, and retracted for flight. My guess would be the five meter estimation would be less than accurate also. It will be interesting to see what knowledgeable people observed, and how it differs from this report.

[Kato747]

...may save on rubber... but it damn well would promote skid marks of a slightly different colour !!! :}

[Hussar 54]

If my memeory serves me correctly, Hydra's 747 was bent beyond economic repair in 2005....and was still parked at a gate next to the International PAX terminal the last time I was in Lagos about 5 months ago.....Gave a wonderful and impressionable welcome to first time visitors to God's Own Country....


And talking of Hydra - anyone have any ideas who was behind it and what business they were doing ? Rumours at the time was that it was quite possibly a money-laundering operation that, due to the unfortunate mishap with the aircraft, all went a bit sour and left whoever it was more than a little angry with the crew who had to hot foot it out of the country pretty sharpish....

[11Fan]

I liked the line...

"The cargo plane, Boeing 747, which approached the lounge through the new domestic terminal, MMA2, caused panic among passengers at the terminal who scampered for safety."


The hallways must be pretty wide at MMA2.

I wonder if the aircraft went through security first.

[jetstream7]

Nice link Kato747..
I liked this description of a Chanchangi Airline flight in the same article too...
The pilot of the B727-200 aircraft owned by the airline was forced to abort a Lagos bound flight after discovering that the cargo hole was left opened as the aircraft was taxiing for take-off.;)

[cwatters]

Another version of the lagos story here
http://allafrica.com/stories/200710030101.html
doesn't add much except to clarify that the wheels were down.

Edit:.. and that it was Air Atlas

[John Boeman]

Might not add much but it sure got a chuckle out of me! :)

[Union Jack]

An eyewitness account said the aircraft flew very low and close to the new MMA building and VIP lounge with its full tyres out for landing, a development that caused onlookers to scramper for cover.

And if I had been there, I'd have "scrampered" too - what a lovely descriptive word!

Jack

[NG_Kaptain]

Loved this part ..."The aircraft owned by Air Atlas and allegedly coming from Dubai, Daily Champion gathered missed its course into the airport even when the pilot had properly positioned its landing gears and other sundry devices.":)

NG

[Union Jack]

" ... even when the pilot had properly positioned its landing gears ..."

Surely that is exactly what he didn't do!:)

Jack

[Capot]

Oh very good, you chaps chortling away at the mistaken English in the article...creased me up too.

"Retracted the undercarriage for landing", "cargo hole", "scrampering for cover".

Christ, I nearly wet myself.

And now, for an encore, why not give us your versions of the report in Nigerian?

[prospector]

In which Nigerian would that be??? Yoruba, Ibo, Hausa or perhaps some other??

[Union Jack]

Well, Capot, having had a mercifully brief look at some of your previous postings I would simply propose, as en encore of course, that you spend the rest of the evening trying to fit the words "pot", "kettle" and "black" into a well-known English saying!:)

And, for the record, let me just mention that English isn't my first language either, monniker notwithstanding, but I do try my best.

Jack

PS And I don't blaspheme

[Kato747]

Good Banter, Gents ...
... but WHO is Air Atlas? ATLAS? AIR? ATLAS AIR?
Anyone admitting to this yet?
:confused:

[jayemm]

Somewhat off thread but I lived in Lagos years ago and one of the best uses of English I came across was in one of the National newspapers that had the front page headline "Shagari gets clap". This followed the then President Shehu Shagari's big speech at the National Stadium. :}

[APC77Z]

A spokeswoman for Atlas verified to me that one of their aircraft was indeed inbound from Dubai and flubbed the ILS at Lagos. Whether it was the fault of the ILS, the aircraft equipment, or the pilots, we're not told...

[Tex]

I'm just supposing, of course, but I'll bet the "locals" are so accustomed to seeing a lot of the shade-tree operators just land instead of considering a go-around, regardless of the fate of the airplane and other people. I guess seeing a go-around for safety's sake was a bit unusual and looked like a "buz" of the airport to them.

Makes for good, juicy gossip, too.

I was supposed to do Dubai-Jo'berg to Lagos today, but got hung-up in Hong Kong.

OK, you hens don't mind me or other professional pilots who don't judge without knowing the factcs. Just keep on gossiping, and make-up more tales.

[Shore Guy]

Atlas confirms 747 in missed approach at Lagos
Atlas Air has confirmed that a Boeing 747 cargo aircraft belonging to the
airline was involved in an October 2 missed approach incident at the Murtala
Mohammed Airport in Lagos, an event detailed in several African
publications.
Local newspapers reported that the aircraft, with landing gear extended,
“flew very low” over the roof of the terminal with landing gear
extended, causing a panic among passengers in the presidential lounge at the
airport. Atlas confirmed the flight was inbound from Dubai.
Reporters estimated the aircraft had descended to within :eek::eek::eek:16ft (5m) of the
terminal building, and afterward began climbing out. The aircraft then
returned to the airport and successfully landing on runway 18R.
An Atlas spokeswoman tells ATI the crew suspected problems with the
instrument landing system at the airport and decided to perform a go-around.
She did not provide details on what altitude the aircraft had descended to
before climbing.
“They suspected something was amiss and they elected to be safe and go
around,” she says, adding that the crew had been “absolved” of any
wrongdoing and was free to leave the airport.
Atlas was not able to confirm whether the aircraft was a 747-200 or 747-400
model.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news

[johan_jnb]

no offence to This Day newspaper, but they are notorious for 'sensationalism' when dealing with aviation related events...:)

Also, 18R missed approach at LOS requires straight out climb or immediate right-hand turn to 2200' and go back to VOR LAG, the terminals are in the centre of field and presidential/vip apron on the other side of 18L... :ugh:

[Tokunbo]

I was at Lagos airport on the day in question and watched in some amazement as I suddenly noticed the aircraft carrying out a missed approach somehwat to the left of runway 18L (though it did seem ne further left than the Eastern taxiway and some way from the domestic terminal buildings. The reason for my surprise is that runway 18L has been closed for some time for repairs and the ILS frequencies for the two runways are quite different.

johan_jnb
Only the international terminals (from which Arik and Virgin also operate their domestic flights) are in the centre of the field. The passengers referred to in the news report were in the new domestic terminal to the east of runway 18L. Not surprised that passengers there would have been most alarmed when runway 18R is some considerable to the west of there and that's where all fixed wing approaches have been for a while now. The only things normally seen flying on the eastern side of the field are helicopters arriving and departing from the eastern taxiway.

[thabo]

its under-carriage fully retracted for landing



Saves wearing out the rubber perhaps.


they should try it some time... ill be happy to help them try and patch the plane backk together again...

if it wasn't for idiots i'd have no work to do as 747 maintenance and liaison engineer.