Some passengers in Dana Air, a Nigerian domestic airline expressed fear when the door of its aircraft fell off upon landing.
Dapo Sanwo, a passengers on the flight, said the door panel was loose all through the flight, a situation he described as an indication of “lack of maintenance.”
Another passenger, Ola Brown, who took to his twitter page to vent his frustration, said the experience was scary.
Mr. Brown narrated that the exit door of the aircraft was unstable all through the flight, adding that it fell off as soon as the aircraft landed.
He wrote “Flew Dana. Exit door was unstable throughout flight. As we touched down, it fell off. Scary stuff,” he wrote on twitter.
“I was closer to the front so when I heard the sound, i thought it was an explosion. I couldn’t quite comprehend that it (the door) had just fallen off.”
Dana Air Media Communication Manager Kingsley Ezenwa in a statement said the Air line’s attention has been drawn to some online publication that the door of one of our aircraft fell off after landing and whilst taxing in Abuja today.
We wish to state categorically that this could never have happened without a conscious effort by a passenger to open it.
By design, the emergency exit door of our aircraft are plug-type backed by pressure, which ordinary cannot fall off without tampering or conscious effort to open by a crew member or passenger.
We also wish to enlighten the author that, when an aircraft is airborne, it is fully pressurized and there was no way the seat or door could have been ‘shaking’ as insinuated.
A thorough inspection was however carried out on the said aircraft upon landing in Abuja, by our engineers and a team from the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), and no issue was reported. There was also no threat to safety at any point.
The flight was only delayed for 8 minutes as we needed to demonstrate to the regulators that the safety and comfort of our guests is at the centre of our operations.
We wish to apologize to our guests for any inconvenience such report may have caused and for the slight delay on the return service to Lagos.
A thorough investigation of the concerned passenger is ongoing.
As one of the oldest and most experienced airline in Nigeria, we remain committed to global best practices.
