Cargo plane escapes crash at MMA

A Boeing 747 cargo aircraft made a missed approach at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, on Tuesday afternoon and sent airport workers and bystanders scampering for safety.

The aircraft, operated by Air Atlas, barely missed crashing into the Presidential Lounge and the new terminal building, as it aborted landing on its final approach to the airport runway. No official explanation has been offered for the incident. The plane was coming from Dubai.

Aircraft pilots execute a missed approach if it is discovered that a runway is blocked or the aircraft is not properly aligned to the runway just as they are about to land.

They then engage full throttle and climb to a higher altitude to make another landing attempt.

According to eyewitnesses, the aircraft, which was flying at a very low altitude with its landing gear lowered, swept over the new terminal building and the VIP lounge at about 1pm.

This caused a stampede as onlookers, fearing for the worst, scattered in several directions.

The plane, however, gained altitude, circled the airport once and eventually landed at the international wing of MMA.

An initial assessment by an independent source, however, indicated that the pilot probably did not get the proper alignment with the Instrument Landing System to guide him for landing on the designated Runway 18 Right.

Speaking to newsmen shortly afterwards, the General Manager, Public Affairs, Nigerian Airspace Management Agency, Mr. Supo Atobatele, confirmed the incident, but said that investigations were on going to unravel the possible cause.

Atobatele disclosed that himself and the Managing Director of NAMA, Captain Ado Sanusi, witnessed the scene and that the agency immediately began asking questions about the incident.

Near mishaps have been a recurrent problem in the sector of late, thereby raising concerns about air safety.

This incident is coming just as the spokesman for the agency disclosed that a Dakar-based French Calibration Company, ASECNA, had commenced the calibration of MMA and other airports.

Atobatele stated that the calibration was part of the upgrade on navigational aids that would facilitate smooth take off and landing of aircraft.

According to him, the aircraft used by the calibrating company has the necessary equipment to detect any malfunction of navigational aids in the airport, such as ILS, Very High Omni Directional Frequency Radio Range and Distant Measurement Equipment.

The exercise began on Tuesday in Lagos with an ATR 42 aircraft, which had made about 10 flights around the airport and is expected to move to Owerri and Abuja on Wednesday.

A similar exercise is billed for Sokoto and Kano airports on Thursday.

In a related development, Chanchangi Airline has promised to make safety its watchword after its aircraft cargo hold was mistakenly left open at the Abuja airport as one of its planes prepared to depart for Lagos on Saturday.

http://www.punchontheweb.com/Article-pr ... 0310541042

Are they exagerrating? I wonder. Could have been a normal missed approach, whichpeople don't realize is common.

Sounds like a run of the mill missed approach to me.

I can tell you its no fun if you don't know whats going on to have an airliner inexplicably sweep over a terminal building.

Back in the late 1960s I was one floor below the controllers at JFK tower and an Eastern Boeing 720 had a problem with the landing gear. No one on my floor had a scanner that day, and lo and behold while airliners were approaching 31L and 31R along comes this one, flying straight for the tower. I watched it approach for a about a minute, that began to feel like an eternity, first with interest, and then with concern.

I found myself taking a few brisk but futile steps towards the stairs .... it flew over at an extremely low altitude rattling the whole airport (jets made good amount of noise in those days and it was probably a better show for those few seconds thinking back on it now, than any few isolated seconds attending a Thunderbirds or Blue Angels display). Since that time, I have seen the same procedure at different airports (to confirm if the gear is in fact not deployed) but never near so low as that day.

Eventually the plane landed on 31L with only one side of the landing gear and a good amount of the sparks and flame. Took hours before the aircraft was removed from the runway. No media follow up if I remember correctly. If there was, not much :D

Another time, while I resided on the 17th floor of a high rise in Manhattan, with a building half a block away that was 21 stories tall, a private prop flew between the buildings at about 15 stories...not even straight, but maneuvering/banking as it went. I thought for sure it was about to crash near to my apartment and relieved but feeling guilty for a moment at my relief that it was now going to crash into someone else's building.

Of course it never crashed at all, and simply flew on into the distance, but its hard not to exaggerate the danger when you recognize an aircraft where it generally does not belong and bearing down in your general direction.

Tom

Quote:

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Originally Posted by hiss srq

Sounds like a run of the mill missed approach to me.

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Is that what happens at LGA? Airport workers and bystanders go running for cover?

TT