Dana Plane crash site
By Chinedu Eze
Airline operators who have been dissatisfied with the quality of aviation fuel, known as Jet A1 and its system of supply by oil marketers are corroborating the allegation that contaminated fuel might have contributed to the dysfunction of the engines of Dana Air’s flight J9 992, which crashed on June 3 in Lagos, killing the 153 persons on board. However, some aviation operators have faulted the claims based on the complex system put in place by aviation authorities to determine the nature of the fuel before it gets to the end users.
A major operator, who has been in the industry for almost two decades, told THISDAY that there was a strong indication that the use of bad fuel contributed to the engine problem that eventually led to the crash of the aircraft, arguing that the quality of aviation fuel sold to airlines in Nigeria is below par when compared to the quality of Jet A 1 distributed in Europe.
“Believe me, bad fuel may have contributed because the quality of fuel we have here is inferior to the fuel sold in Europe. I suspect that the cause of that crash is environmental. I have taken my aircraft to Europe for microbiological test on the tanks. They will be tested and cleaned and I advise other operators to do the same,” the operator said.
Last week, there were reports that aviation experts from the United States and Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) suggested in their preliminary report sent to the federal government that impure fuel could have caused the two engines and throttles of the crashed Dana Air aircraft to fail midair.
But THISDAY investigations revealed that the experts quoted might not have existed as inside source from AIB said that the agency did not send any initial report to the federal government.
But before the June 3 tragic acciden one oil marketing company was alleged to have been importing kerosene which it was said to be selling as Jet A1.