Fortunately, only after it landed. But the only thing that kept the door on the plane during its flight was the air pressure around the fuselage. This story is even more gobsmacking when you read the updates from passengers on board. One warned the air steward that the door was rattling and appeared to be open but she fobbed him off basically saying mind your own business.
The business end of the door rattled once or twice more after the plane landed and taxi’d to the apron then it fell off.
“When we landed and the plane was taxiing back to the park point, we heard a poof-like explosion, followed by a surge of breeze and noise. It was terrible,” said Dapo Sanwo who was interviewed by the BBC.
Now the Airline responsible claims a passenger opened the door. This won’t be a first of course. There is a long list of doors being opened particularly in China after disgruntled passengers take the law into their own hands.
Dana Air of Nigeria has issued a statement saying:
“The emergency exit door of our aircraft are plug-type backed by pressure, which ordinarily cannot fall off without tampering or a conscious effort to open by a crew member or passenger.”
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Crew tried to stop passengers filming and photographing the shaky door, followed by the no door moment but failed. Its concerning that instead of instituting and inquiry, Nigeria’s Civil Aviation body has remained mute.
Dana Air recorded a terrible accident in 2012 when one of its planes crashed in a Lagos suburb and killed the 153 people on board. The Airline was then grounded by the NCAA in October 2013. As they re-ordered their systems, the airline then added two Boeing 737-500s to their fleet. They were granted permission to continue operations a year later in 2014.
But its not all bad news for Nigeria, the country’s aviation authority is trying to get to grips with their terrible air safety record. There were no fatal accidents recorded in commercial operations in 2017.
The latest is that the country may actually achieve the highest safety level possible under ICAO if there serious-accident free record continues in 2018.
Desmond Latham 