‘Pilot in Lagos crash an American’

The pilot of yesterday’s Dana Airlines commercial aircraft that crashed at Iju, Lagos, was an American, a CNN report has said.

According to the report, the pilot of the ill-fated flight which claimed about 170 lives, radioed that the plane was having trouble just minutes earlier, an airline official told CNN on Monday.

Meanwhile search and recue operations continued Monday morning as two cranes arrived to clear debris and allow rescue workers better access to the building on Popoola street, off Toye junction at Iju near the airport.

The pilot declared an emergency as the plane was on final approach to Murtala Muhammed International Airport, and witnesses said it appeared the plane was having engine trouble, said Oscar Wason, Dana Air’s director of operations.

The airline did not release the pilot’s name or hometown.

The co-pilot was from India, and the flight engineer from Indonesia, Wason told CNN.

It was gathered that a team of Boeing engineers were en route to investigate the crash, Wason said.

According to Wason, ‘the airplane that crashed was 22 years old, and was purchased from Alaska Airlines. It underwent a routine maintenance checkup every 200 hours, and it had just been inspected three days earlier.’
Source: CNN