Inside Dana’s Flight 9J353 to Abuja

Simon Ateba/Aviation correspondent

A Nigerian journalist shares his experience on Dana’s re-inaugural flight to Abuja Friday 4 January. The airline’s licence was suspended in June last year, following its crash in the suburb of Lagos, killing 159 people.

My editor, Mr. David Odey, had on Thursday jokingly cast a tentative headline for my trip to Abuja today aboard Dana Air whose plane crashed in Lagos on Sunday 3 June 2012.

“The headline will be ‘Ateba’s Last Flight To Abuja’,” my editor told me, a smile betraying his attempt to sound serious.

“There will be a kicker,” he said, “Dana Air uses journalists as guinea pigs,” he added, this time both of us bursting into laughter.

Tokunbo Olajide, a colleague, overheard us and made a quick request: “Please make me your nex-of-kin for the $100,000 compensation given to relatives of crash victims.”

Many other colleagues asked for details of my bank account, properties and will.

They all joked about it for sometime but finally wished me a safe trip before I left the office.

“Have a safe trip. Nothing will happen,” my editor reassured me as I was beginning to get wary.

The sad memories of the 3 June plane crash in Lagos which claimed more than 150 lives resurfaced.

I went home not sure I would gather enough strength to make the trip the next day.

But at 7am on Friday, I left home, jumped into a commuter bus and arrived the airport at about 8am.

I met other journalists there and I joined the queue for check in. Some of the journalists who had been invited changed their minds at the last minute and returned home.

“God told me not to make the trip,” one journalist said sounding as if fear was holding him back instead of God warning him.

Photo journalists who were not making the trip took a cornucopia of photographs of us as if we were going on our last trip.

Not long after the check in, we joined other passengers,including celebrities for boarding.

Seeing Comedian Basketmouth reassured me. I thought, at least I will die smiling as he may be cracking jokes for us as we transit from this world to the one beyond.

But once on the plane, Basketmouth and other comedians and musicians were given Business seats a few metres from the cockpit while journalists and other passengers were sent to the Economy Class.

However, because my seat number was 11F, I was not far away from the Business Class and I said to myself Basketmouth’s voice would be loud enough for me to die a peaceful and happy death as I hear some last jokes.

On the plane, an MD83, there were some courageous passengers who parted with N17,000 for the one way trip.

But most passengers were journalists, celebrities and Dana staff who were handed free tickets to make the trip.

The plane was not full as many people remain wary and will need to watch Dana perform for sometimes before they make up their minds.

Once the plane landed, even those who pretended to fear nothing began clapping, smiling and shaking hands.

It was as if we had just escaped something tragic, as if we were given a second chance in life, as if we were not sure to make the trip.

But everything was just on our minds. The take off in Lagos and the landing in Abuja were smooth.

The sky was clear and the weather was excellent. The journey was just enjoyable and on normal day, there would have been nothing to fear.
Besides, the in-flight service was also excellent and the plane seemed to be in very good condition.

However, in-between tale off and landing, only a small group of people spoke aloud. An even smaller percent cracked jokes while the journey lasted. Many passengers remain quiet during the 55-minute journey.

The passenger next to me was a 57-year old Mrs. Adetoun Adetokunbo, a staff at the Federal Ministry of Water and Mineral Resources whose office is in Abeokuta in Ogun State, southwest Nigeria.

At 30,000 feet above Sea Level, we began exchanging pleasantries about plane crashes.

I asked her if she was scared. She told me she had faith in God and was not afraid.

Mrs. Adetokunbo lost her husband in a plane crash in Saudi Arabia in 1991 when she was just in her early 30s and had four children for him.

Three years later, she survived an ADC plane crash in Monrovia, Liberia, while returning to Nigeria from Gambia.

While she sustained some injuries, other passengers were not lucky and died, she said.

“The plane crash-landed. Some people died but I was lucky. I sustained some injuries but I survived,” she said in a quiet and confident voice.

Since she had been lucky in the past, why take a second gamble, I asked her.

“Do you just want to kill yourself or you believe you cannot die in a crash?” I asked.

She smiled and said: “I have had an accident in a ship but I did not die. I had survived a plane crash in which some people died. I believe if you trust in God, everything will be fine. It is God that protects us,” she said.

Hearing her reassured me a bit but looking through the window and seeing how small big houses looked as we approached Abuja reminded me of how high we were and how tragic a crash at that altitude could be.

I said my prayers again, pretended to sleep but could not until we the plane landed in Abuja and came to a standstill.

Once we landed, I informed my office and online friends and some of them sent me congratulatory messages.

It was as if I had kidnapped few days ago and had just regained freedom and reunited with loved ones.

The return trip to Lagos was smooth as well and there was no indication that the plane was not in good shape.

But feeling the way I did, I realised that it is not easy to build trust in people or brands and it may take Dana Air some time before the airline regains the trust and confidence of air travellers.
Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN