Travelling light

A state of insignificance

Here we are, over 10 kilometres high in the air, with 5 hours and 40 minutes remaining until landing. The clouds over North Africa look well below our aircraft, and you can see the shadows cast by each cloud formation, whose names I quite easily forget.

However, as recognisable names appear on my flight map, we have begun the cruise over the Northern Nigeria states, including Katsina, Kano, Jigawa, and the many hamlets that have become states for clannish gubernatorial contests.

Before you scoff, Agadez, a province in Niger, is nine times the size of Niger State, the largest state in Nigeria, which is about one twentieth the size of Algeria's Tamanrasset Province, the largest in Africa.

Many lessons aboard

I expected a bit of turbulence as we passed through these high-altitude clouds, but they soon fell behind us. The mystery of air travel is not one of bafflement but great interest.

I rarely watch films; I am more engaged by the stories, the history, the geography, and the culture of the places we fly over. There is much to learn, even on my tenth trip to South Africa.

If you have been flying since the age of five, you realise that no matter how far you are travelling, this case being 9,800 kilometres from Amsterdam to Cape Town, the world has become a smaller place.

What you need is time; the time to travel around it, at least once, and experience what makes our world a wonderful place.

Coronavirus streets between continents - LXVIII

It is still here

One statistic that rarely makes the news these days is the number of COVID-19 infections anywhere, back home in the UK, through countries that one does transit and now in South Africa where I will be for a month. When I left the UK last week, the rate of infections was rising, and the government website provides figures of 116,312 new cases in the 7 days to the 26^th of June 2022.

Every indication would suggest this dreadful virus is not beyond us, even for the fully vaccinated and boosted, the risk remains and so precautions are necessary which I barely see anyone adhere to. On my flight from Manchester to Amsterdam, there were a handful of face mask wearers. Apart from when I needed a sip of water, I had my face mask on the whole time.

Carefree and without

On the Amsterdam to Cape Town leg of about 11 hours, whilst it was advised we don face masks, it was neither enforced nor announced. Left to their devices, a majority chose not to wear a face mask for the entire flight, in my case, I was not ready to take the risk except for the times I had drinks and meals.

I was first to disembark the plane in Cape Town and first through health checks and passport control, and until during the Ebola virus times, there was no one standing around with a temperature gun, life has returned to uneasy normalcy that is as daring and it could be foolhardy.

On one Uber ride the driver half remonstrated that face masks were optional, we did not need to wear face masks, I would rather not have the option of getting infected in the remotest way, so I keep my face mask on and more times than not, I am the strange looking one because I have my face covered and everyone else is happily without.

No courting danger

Seeing that I have just come through a bout of flu after my arrival in Cape Town that took me out of effective ability to do much for myself, talk less of anyone else, much that I desired to attend church on Sunday, I was not up to it. The face mask is a temporary inconvenience and I have more than enough in supply to last months.

In my view, we still need to be careful, people who have had COVID-19 though mild in their symptoms have not had the kind of recovery that represents a complete eradication of the effects of the virus, I would rather err on the side of caution than walk bare-chested into the lion’s den of a raging pandemic. We have to learn to live with COVID-19, but smartly too.

Barcelona: On the trail of Gaudi's genius

Overcoming the fear of flying

I first visited Barcelona some 18 years ago, it was with my partner and it was an amazing experience. My partner then, a design engineering major had things he wanted to see, for me, it was one of discovery.

This was a time when I was trying to overcome my fear of flying, a strange development that took hold over a couple of years, for no particular reason I could explain. I was used to flying from childhood and at many times travelled alone even before I was in my teens.

However, this flight was quite a pleasurable one, I was sat between a father and son who had come over from Australia. The father had emigrated to Australia about 40 years before and now, he had brought his son who was born in Australia to Europe for the very first time and they were doing a modern sort of grand tour.

Gaudi’s Barcelona I learnt

I guess it was the engagement and conversation that took my mind off the fact that we were in the air and in the process, I somewhat defeated my irrational fear of flying.

In Barcelona, for the first night, we walked up a major street and passed an interesting building that seemed to have an eerie living quality about it, little did I know that it was a landmark building, I later learnt it was Casa Batlló and with that I was introduced to the architectural genius of Antoni Gaudí I Cornet.

From a knowledgeable perspective, Antoni Gaudi as he is commonly known was an early proponent of the Art Nouveau movement and particularly what is referred to as the Catalan Modermisme movement. However, to the untrained eye, meaning those who are essentially not architects, we have a different appreciation of these works, the aesthetics, the design and the appearance of buildings and other forms just show an exceptional quality of inspiration and workmanship unmatched.

A madman genius

When Antoni Gaudi received his diploma, the supervisor who granted his the title of architect wrote, “Who knows if we have given this diploma to a nut or to a genius. Time will tell.” Suffice it to say that seven of Antoni Gaudi’s buildings all in Barcelona have been listed as World Heritage Sites.

Then we were only able to access Casa Milà, Sagrada Familia and Park Güell, at that time, Palau Güell and Casa Batlló were not accessible to the public. Now, literally all the Gaudi properties have a form of access for the public to appreciate the work and genius of Antoni Gaudi.

Sagrada Familia, I have visited twice and both times before it was consecrated into a basilica in 2010. Work commenced on this church in 1882 and work is still in progress sponsored by anonymous donations made towards the building and the upkeep. The first time, I went up the bell towers, the building was fascinating but not such a tourist pull as it is now.

No hurry

Of the time it will take to complete the project, Antoni Gaudi said, “My client is not in a hurry, God has all the time in the world for this to be completed.” It is likely, it will take more generations before the work is finally completely.

Yet, on this my fourth visit to Barcelona, I find myself on the Gaudi trail again, with a better appreciation of the uniqueness of this amazing genius, gifted beyond measure and whose life tragically ended as a result of being run over by a tram.

There is much to Antoni Gaudi’s work and legacy, the fact that he defied convention and boldly took strides that were somewhat unpopular, then there was Eusebi Guell, an industrialist who was a patron and sponsor of his work. He championed some of Gaudi’s listed works being respectful of the talent and a very good friend of the man.

The Gaudi trail cannot be done in a hurry, beyond seeing, there is much to observe. You cannot have done Barcelona without seeing what its most famous citizen did in the city. Here is to more Barcelonas.

Nigeria: Every reason to believe our airspace is not safe

These are not coincidences

I find myself trying to juxtapose the stark realities with the press briefings of bluster and vacuous lip service to performance and efficiency that dogs our aviation regulatory organisations in Nigeria.

In the aftermath of two events, a fatal crash in Lagos with flight 5N-BJY operated by Associated Aviation and flight 5N-JRM operated by Kabo Air in a near-miss, in Sokoto, the Aviation Minister insisted that the Nigerian air space is safe. [5N-BJY – Aviation Safety Network] [5N-JRM – Aviation Safety Network] [Daily Times]

Lapses in compliance

Along with the unfortunate, ‘Act of God’ comment posited by the Minister, in another report, she suggested broadly that there were “operational lapses and non-compliance with the policy”.

“What we did by suspending Dana’s operations is not making scapegoat of anyone. To suspend means that there must be operational lapses and non-compliance with the policy but it is always in tandem with international practice.” [This Day Live]

In the same report, she alluded to shared responsibilities and possibly gaps, and then she touched on a diverted return of another flight because the destination airport was closed as if either no flight plans were posted or other extenuating circumstances meant the trip could not be completed.

Having excoriated the people who have questioned reforms in the aviation sector, the Federal Government “also insisted that the safety and security of the sector cannot be fully achieved without funding.” The question then is whether there is adequate funding to ensure the safety and the security of our airspace.

The people in charge

The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) is empowered with “the Authority to regulate Aviation Safety without political interference, but also to carry out oversight functions of Airports, Airspace, Meteorological Services, etc. as well as economic regulations of the industry”. [NCAA]

Under the safety oversight functions of the NCAA, it is important to understand in detail what the NCAA does in Nigeria, the detail of which I have lifted from their website.

In Nigeria, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) is the apex regulatory body, overseeing the activities of all airlines and their pilots, engineers and cabin staff, airports, airstrips and heliports, navigation aids, all service providers including the airport authority and the air traffic service provider, aviation training institutions, etc. NCAA watches over the entire industry. Its role can aptly be described as that of "general overseer" or "referee:' For want of a better sobriquet, NCAA has even been address as the "police" of the industry.

While all these are correct, NCAA is essentially a facilitator of compliance of aviation safety and economic regulations. [NCAA]

We are left in no doubt about where the responsibility for safety lies; it lies with the regulatory, oversight and policing operations of the NCAA.

Going in broke

Which takes us back to that question, the question of adequate funding, because another news story suggests that the NCAA is broke; the more serious allegation is that the NCAA inspectors take bribes; they are apparently taking bribes because of the non-payment of NCAA inspector allowances. [PM News Nigeria]

Now, there is no excuse for taking bribes to overlook the functions and the duties necessary to protect our aviation industry. From the basic checks through airworthiness of aircraft to safety procedures and all the elements of responsibility as stated by the Aviation Minister, we cannot condone the dereliction of duty leading to the unnecessary loss of lives.

What is key is that we must realise that there is a shared responsibility, there is a collective responsibility, pilots are responsible, operators are responsible, regulators are responsible, government is responsible and all these must work together otherwise there will be a gap in the system. [This Day Live]

Temptations and pressure

An unnamed NCAA inspector, talked of compromise safety, dwindling training, struggles to procure basic needs and much else.

“Aircraft inspectors’ allowances are not being paid as at when due, leaving us to the open temptations of bribe and compromise from corrupt and desperate airline operators who want their planes to fly at all costs.” [PM News Nigeria]

The source went on to say, “Some of us that are due for training overseas are asked to fund our training and come back for a refund after the training. This is absurd, and they keep saying they are broke.” [PM News Nigeria]

A crisis and great doubt

Taking all this together, we can assume as the very best there is a crisis in the Aviation Sector. The matter of safety is compromised by acts of men; those in management in the NCAA and probably the Aviation Ministry because the NCAA people cannot do their work without interference and inducement caused by not paying their allowances and not ensuring proper training.

This situation probably needs verification, but it cannot be left without investigation because it casts great doubt on the idea that Nigeria’s airspace is safe and the ICAO report that suggests Nigeria is way above average in compliance and regulatory management of her aviation industry.

At worst, we do have an emergency played out in the number of accidents and near misses that have made the news recently.

Related Blog

Nigeria: Acts of God in our Aviation Industry or Rank Incompetence?

Nigeria: Acts of God in our Aviation Industry or Rank Incompetence?

The power ignorant

I started this blog over five days ago and abandoned it after about 300 words because it seemed too difficult to write, but in another sense, it was not ripe for writing, it needed the incubation of time in passing and event to be ready – Now, I complete it with quite a number of links for reference.

Sometimes you wonder why Nigeria is plagued with a pestilence of elite in power that find ways to do the unfortunate, revel in the unmentionable and speak without consideration, emotion or feeling on matters that demand empathy, compassion and a sense of participation in our humanity.

An air of chaos

The last weekend greeted an air crash with the loss of lives on an Embraer 120RT Brasilia aircraft with registration 5N-BJY [Picture taken in August] operated by Associated Aviation in Lagos and a precarious event where landing gear tyres exploded on landing at Sokoto Airport (SKO/DNSO) of a Boeing 747-521B with registration 5N-JRM operated by Kabo Air. [BBC News] [Fox News] [Aviation Safety Network]

A former Aviation minister recently listed a series of air disasters over the last few decades that indicated issues with the aviation industry, its infrastructure, its management and its regulation, but I am not here to cover that. [Nigerian Eye] [Timeline - ChannelsTV] [Nigerian Air Accidents – Aviation Safety Network]

A siege mentality

My concern is with the inability of the current regime to recognise a serious and possible crisis with the aviation sector, assume responsibility that suggests an understanding of all the elements whilst implementing ideas, strategy, and plans to ensure that air disasters do not become the norm in Nigeria.

The government needs to emerge from its siege bunker and take a whiff of the air everyday Nigerians breathe whilst taking a sure grip of reality, coming out on the defensive to excoriate those asking difficult and uncomfortable questions of the Minister, the Ministry and other regulatory bodies is hardly the solution we need at this pressing time.

Safe to avoid?

In a news story yesterday, the Federal Government Insists Nigeria’s Airspace is Safe, I suppose if we ignore everything that has happened recently in terms of air crashes, one might be tempted to agree, but this is far from the truth. [Daily Times]

In aftermath of the crashes, we read of the immediate suspension of Dana Air’s operating licence; why they ever had the suspension in the aftermath of the June 3^rd 2013 crash promptly lifted remains a mystery. [The Nation]

By Monday, the Aviation Minister, Princess Stella Oduah, flailing and swinging with vehemence and fury, first dismissed her predecessor with the words to the effect that he was “a drunk and a drug addict”, and accentuated that with the view that his comments “had little bearing with reality”.

Then she proceeded to give us her version of the bearings with reality of the Aviation Industry. Starting with a lamentation about security, safety and funding; implying the inadequacy of the former; then cosmetics of airport architecture before brandishing an International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) assessment that gave Nigeria a 65% rating [61%] and position of the 12^th safest aviation space in the world. [Daily Times] [The ICAO 2013 Safety Report - PDF] [Leadership Nigeria]

Act of God unproven

On the accident itself, she said and these words below:

“We do not pray for accidents but it is inevitable. But all we do is to do everything to ensure that we do not have accidents. But is an act of God! Again, we do not speculate on the cause of accidents until that happens you can say this is the cause or that is not the cause.

But what is obvious and is the truth is that, in aviation there are shared responsibilities, starting from the man that carries your luggage to the man that make sure that your boarding pass is issued to you. And so the regulatory agency, the operators, the management, everybody has their responsibility and all must work in tandem for there to be an optimal, secured and safe aviation sector. And that is what we have been working.” [Daily Times]

The Aviation suggests accidents are inevitable [(Adjective) - certain to happen; unavoidable; (Noun) - a situation that is unavoidable.], then in the morass of the inevitability of accidents in Nigeria’s safe airspace, these accidents are apparently Acts of God [Forces of nature completely outside the realm of control of man, inexplicable and left in the helpless hands of fate.]

We must clearly understand what is an Act of God – “An event that directly and exclusively results from the occurrence of natural causes that could not have been prevented by the exercise of foresight or caution; an inevitable accident.” [The Free Dictionary]

For an air crash to be remotely termed an “Act of God”, there has to have been nothing humanly possible to avoid the accident by reason of foresight or caution, to which I would add warning or instruction.

Acts of pilots - I

The first indication of human error with respect to Sokoto Airport incident, suggest the pilot ignored instructions from Air Traffic Control to land on runway 08, the plane landed on runway 26 damaging Instrument Landing System aerials and thereby sustaining deflated tyres. [Leadership Nigeria] [Aviation Safety Network]

We can safety say that the Kabo Air incident that led to the suspension of the said pilot was no ‘Act of God’.

Acts of pilots - II

In addition, on the release of a preliminary report with respect to 5N-BJY, the Embraer 120RT Brasilia Associated Aviation operated aircraft crash in Lagos, the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) and the Flight Data Recorder (FDR) warned the pilots of instrument conditions essential to safe take-off, which they ignored. [The Scoop] [AIB Preliminary Report - PDF]

These warnings included, three audible chimes then “Take-off Flaps…Take-off Flaps”. The report suggests, “This is a configuration warning that suggests that the flaps were not in the correct position for take-off and there is some evidence that the crew may have chosen not to use flaps for the take-off.”

As the crew, assimilated, understood, reacted and ignored these warnings, the report documents the following, from the aircraft automated voice “’Take off Flaps, Auto Feather’. Auto feather refers to the pitch of the propeller blades.  In the feather position, the propeller does not produce any thrust.” [Basics on Flap Aircraft - Wikipedia] [Autofeather - Wikipedia]

This report indicates that the pilots were aware of a whole range of circumstances that informed the need to abort take-off but proceeded to ignore the basic science of essential power for airlift and consequently crashed the airplane – this again was no ‘Act of God’.

We have problems

The week presented a catalogue of problems with our aviation industry in Nigeria which the Aviation Minister succinctly put forward as – “What is key is that we must realise that there is a shared responsibility, there is a collective responsibility, pilots are responsible, operators are responsible, regulators are responsible, government is responsible and all these must work together otherwise there will be a gap in the system.” [This Day Live]

There are gaps in the system, in fact, too many gaps that indicate poor regulatory oversight leading to knee-jerk responses after disasters. Then possible pilot training deficiencies exhibited in their ignoring air traffic control or aircraft instrument instructions; airworthiness and safety issues and a minister whose penchant for verbosity appears to demonstrate activity and performance but the evidence must always be in how safe it is to fly in Nigeria.

Honestly!

More pertinently, we cannot have a minister quick to suggest the inevitability of air disasters to ‘Acts of God’ when the reports suggest without equivocation that the most recent disasters are clearly pilot errors, which could have led to the loss of almost 600 lives in one weekend.

However, where we celebrate mediocrity, exertion without effect and incompetence as great achievement, we cannot expect the change we need in our aviation industry for the better and that is very sad, indeed.

May the souls of those dearly departed because of this rotten and atrocious dereliction of responsibility of all involved rest in peace.

Thought Picnic: Plain Clouding My Judgement

Plane clouds

It still remains a mystery much as it is supported by good science how we put mechanical birds in the sky, the way we harness the invisibility of air for fantastic motion faster than transport on land, in water or on water.

Like I noticed years ago, as we reside in the daytime under the gloominess of the weather brought on by clouds, beyond those clouds, the sun glows, albeit unable to penetrate the cloud cover that brings the rain and more.

So, we rose beyond the judder of the lower clouds to be bathed in rays of sunshine, whilst looking out of my window, as I seem to prefer window seats, to the horizon was a sea of levelled tranquillity as if we were on white sands of a desert far from civilisation, but we were just 10 miles up.

All shook up

Then just about 150 miles into our journey, we hit turbulence, quite violent turbulence that the plane shook, rising and falling like we were at rough seas.

The left wing was both rigid and flexible, it almost flapped to my sight that I had to calm myself, with great difficulty. The captain then announced that below us were severe thunderstorms, none of which we could see apart from knowing that the wind in which we flew churned that the pilot’s grip on the joystick was probably firmer than usual.

One piece of advice he gave was apart from keeping our seat belts on, we should keep our seats upright and face forwards because this will reduce the psychological effects of flying through turbulence, it worked for as long as I kept my eyes away from the window.

Suddenly and there

No sooner had he said that, we hit an air-pocket and the sudden dip of the plane had a few drinks hit the luggage compartment above – I was half expecting it, it was probably just 200 metres, like one had just taken a bungee jump – scary stuff.

After a good 30 minutes of this rollicking ride, things calmed down, clouds cleared up, the descent began and all that was left was the applause that came from a few as we landed. We were in sunny Berlin.

Thought Picnic: It's an Airfares scam, at best

Robbed blind

A few weeks ago, I visited London flying in from Amsterdam. When I looked at the pricing structure that added up to the total cost for that ticket, I decided it was important that a documentation is made of the different tariffs to indicate what a travesty the charade of airfare pricing had become.

Beyond explanation

The figures above were the breakdown sent to me in the confirmation email for my flight, they appear to speak for themselves and there are the many questions that you will find yourself asking on observation.

For instance, the cost of the flight itself is less than 50% of the total cost, why do the add-ons exceed the primary or principal cost?

It becomes daunting when you realise as in the fourth column; a comparison to the cost of the flight itself. I have to pay a Carrier-imposed international surcharge which as you can see is over a quarter of the total cost and by comparison almost two-thirds of the amount I am paying for the flight.

Indeed, it is a black box

KLM offers a lengthy but rather vague explanation of what goes into making up that number.

Due to varying costs outside the control of KLM, the carrier will impose an international surcharge per flight segment both on the outbound and return trips as well as any intermediate flights. The range of the surcharge amounts may vary according to your itinerary. Complete details on applicable carrier imposed international surcharge per itinerary can be found on the klm.us booking tool, at the bottom of the 'Flight Overview' page where the total fare is given.

No, I am none the wiser as to why I have to pay this surcharge which is literally an indeterminate tax composed of costs outside the control of KLM as if the four other charges and the duty are not also outside the control of KLM apart from the booking fee.

For a long time, I have tried to understand the inscrutable conundrum of airfare costs and I must say it was better when you were clearly able to see the fuel surcharge and other atrocious rip-offs that set the aircraft industry out as an outlier to every concept of common-sense.

Air brigandage

Maybe I should spare a thought for those leaving a USA airport because by the time you have reviewed every element of fees, taxes and charges in addition to the ones we get fleeced off in Europe – those who feared the highwaymen of old would have been visited by the mile-high bandits of the Wild West of Europe across the pond.

According to that KLM website, the following types of fees are charged when leaving a USA airport:

• US international transportation tax
• US INS user fee
• US customs user fee
• US APHIS fee
• USA passenger facility charge
• USA passenger civil aviation security service fee

How do they get away with this?

Nigeria: My Observations of the Dana Air Crash Aftermath

Untold tragedies

Last weekend, Nigeria was hit by unimaginable tragedies that would have far-reaching consequences and hopefully significant changes for the good in what we are and who we are as people and part of the greater humanity of the world.

To have two air crashes in the space of 24 hours was just unmitigated disaster that had to be systemic in its Genesis and utterly appalling to all concerned, only the whole truth can begin to assuage the pain of loss suffered by all affected, the loss of life in both tragedies just leaves one numb as questions linger.

From what has been observed, reported and gleaned from most especially, the Dana Air crash on Sunday on the outskirts of Lagos, it is pertinent that some fundamental issues be highlighted in our approach to disaster and emergency response in Nigeria – these need to be addressed by all forms of communication, information dissemination, education and public enlightenment.

Bad or negligent maintenance?

The comment I had with regards to the cargo plane crash in Ghana of an aircraft that took off from Nigeria was related to the assumption that the brakes had failed. I opined that no matter how badly an aircraft is serviced, brake failure is not what you expect to hear of, it would appear I had spoken too soon on the matter of airworthiness and aircraft safety.

The next day, with less than an hour in the air and approaching Lagos to land, Dana Air lost its two engines and crashed into a highly populated area of Lagos, there had to be something fundamentally wrong with the aircraft for it to lose two engines on such a short flight, we hope that the black boxes reveal much more about why this happened.

Initially, there are these issues, our preparedness for impending emergencies when Mayday calls are made and what possible action the crew might have taken after the Mayday call to avert ploughing into crowded areas.

Obviously, the matter of maintenance of fleets of aircraft, their airworthiness, the age of the fleet and the other issues surrounding the regulation of airlines in Nigeria are brought to the fore by these tragedies, one will hope that all systems and processes have been above board but serious doubts remain.

Feeding our bizarre appetites for the macabre

On the ground we were met with another set of troubling circumstances.

Crowds had gathered out of curiosity and interest to view and gawp, not doing much to help the victims of either the crash before the plane exploded or those whose houses had been demolished by reason of impact and collision.

Then the first pictures that appeared showed the crowds standing on parts of the destroyed aircraft risking the contamination of essential evidence that would have had to be gathered to determine the cause of the crash.

Soon afterwards, other pictures appeared in their full gruesomeness of the presumably dead in some cases and possibly gravely injured but barely alive. The picture takers had no scruples about posting the grotesque, macabre and downright intrusively disrespectful of the victims as if they were doing a great service of wholesome dissemination of information.

It behoves one to condemn in the clearest terms the inurement we have acquired to tragedy that we think nothing of sharing these shocking pictures almost for the fun of having the technology to project the utterly reprehensible – we have seen the same in the appetite for sexually explicit rape videos, the unfortunate blowing to smithereens of a bomb disposal officer and much else – you wonder where does the savage Neanderthal in us stop gaining ascendancy and allow a sense of civility and humaneness to make us cultured humans again.

The crowds and civic responsibility

What annoyed me the most was the way crowds impeded the access of emergency services to the accident scene. You wonder if we need basic civics classes to be told and to know that emergency services should and must have priority of access, right of way and literally no impediment to getting to an accident scene.

Their ability to access the scene without obstruction and then the ability to leave the scene freely with victims for medical care must not need for anyone to be informed. Alas! I learnt something of Nigerians I somewhat did not know in 46 years of being associated with that country, we are ostentatious, hedonistic and found with the most modern of things but are primitive, backward and ignorant when it comes to emergency response either by the services or by the reaction of the people at large – it was at first shameful, then unforgivable and ultimately beneath contempt.

That the armed forces had to use whips and twigs to beat away the crowds like animals to cordon off the place for the emergency services and investigation of the air crash site speaks volumes, there are issues of crowd control but more importantly as a matter of civic responsibility people should just know to make way, disperse and make allowances for constituted authority to have way.

It is something we most definitely have to address, probably to promulgate laws that criminalise people and owners of any obstructions in the way of emergency services when they are out to fulfil their urgent duties.

Fuelling oil fires with water

The fire services unpreparedness in dealing with an aircraft fires, was evident from one of the pictures I saw. Water? At first, they did not have enough to quench the fires, but more importantly, aircraft fires are doused with foam because the active propellent is kerosene – water is the very last thing you need to attack a burning inferno fuelled by petroleum products.

Now, the houses that caught fire by reason of the accident might well have needed fire-fighting with water but I doubt a distinction was made of what caused the fires and how to tackle each fire as they raged.

To read that rescuers clashed at the scene of the crash just took my breath away. What were they thinking? How could they not reach a compromise of coordination for the sake of those they came to help? Even in the midst of such great tragedy egos and megalomania reared its ugly head as if this was some competition or contest for a prize – it is shameful.

Rescue minded even when recovering

Then, the authorities had immediately switched to recovery mode as soon as the crash was announced saying there were no survivors when information suggested the plane did not catch fire for another 20 minutes after impact giving the impression some might have survived the crash only to die from negligence and the lack of sensibility of gawking crowds when at least some rescue attempts should have been made.

This informs our mind-set of disaster, we are so lucky in sub-Saharan Africa not to suffer from earthquakes else no one will care if people were buried alive and died weeks after, people discovering the bones many years after the event.

We need a new thinking to disaster response that all is not lost until we have done all possible to assess, access, investigate, review and confirm by examination that indeed, all is lost. The first action should always be to rescue possible survivors and the recovery of remains must be the very last resort without extinguishing all hope.

The last affront

As if the tragedy was not palpable enough, the flight manifest was made public long before all relatives and survivors had been informed of the tragedy. In a country where the management of data is poor and the collection of the same for use is sketchy, one might say the only way to get the information out was to publicise it but for people to first learn of bereavement on social media or the news wires before they were individually and personally addressed as they waited in vain at the airports or watched television at home does leave much to be desired.

We have to have better ways to handling this kind of information, with dignity for the victim, with respect and consideration for their relatives and survivors and much more with a sense of compassion. The press comes after those particular humane needs have been satisfied with all due care and attention.

People with hearts of gold

My friends, there is much to think about after this tragedy and I am moved at the way people have acted with great resolve and initiative to help the victims on the ground, to obtain therapy and counselling for families, to gather help and succour for all concerned – we have the capacity for great human compassion, you sometimes wish a few more of those with minds like that were there to help in the immediate aftermath of the crash. See #DanaCrashAction

#DanaCrashAction: Immediate Relief Aid, Relief Materials Drop-Off Points

Other views on the Nigerian Aviation industry can be found in the links below. Presented as tweets.

Nigerian Aviation: Break It Up To Make It Up – by @DoubleEph http://t.co/WVCUVanv Nigerians have no business running airlines.

Great reporting from @yibukun & @jongambrellAP on the horrible #Nigeria plane crash. http://soc.li/omx2vPE

BBC News - Lagos plane crash: Nigeria suspends Dana Air licence http://bbc.in/NeMq72

How old is your plane in Nigeria? http://is.gd/x3QNtm by@jeremyweate Then in the United States http://is.gd/ROplio Crikey!

BBC News – Global Air disasters timeline http://bbc.in/qMyUmf

Timeline of air disasters in Nigeria.

Incredible India: The Journey

Loyalty pays

My journey to India was wonderful, the morning started easy with the help of a friend who gave me a lift to the airport and his friend helping me ensure that I checked-in properly.

I could understand that many people like good flight deals but I have in most cases tried to build a sense of loyalty to one carrier or retain the services of airlines in the SkyTeam alliance.

I cannot say the alliance has the most exotic airlines but it offers decent global coverage if I do need to travel the globe. Most importantly, you accrue air-miles over a period of time that could come in useful.

Having more or less travelled around Europe a couple of years, I had accumulated just enough air-miles to travel in maximum comfort to New Delhi – basic lesson – loyalty pays.

Between speed and lift

This allowed me to have priority check-in, jump queues at the customs and then decide if I wanted to board early or late.

The aircraft was a 747-400 and somehow the seating plan on the website did not match the reality; I had booked an upper deck window seat towards the back but found that my seat was on the aisle in the front.

The window seat was not occupied, so I changed seats and caught a good view of events air-side.

We were to take-off at 11:00AM but there was a slight delay and a queue of 7 planes in front of us apart from the fact that we were taking the runway furthest from the airport, the taxi seemed to go on interminably.

When we finally took off, I was surprised to read the land speed was just 198mph (319km/h) to lift the jumbo jet off the ground. I had always thought a lot more speed was required.

New Delhi was just about 4058 miles (6530 km) for a journey duration of just less than 7 hours. The food was nice, the service very friendly, I started on the Steve Jobs biography and even got to watch the Harry Potter the Deathly Hallows Part I and almost all of Part II before we ready to land.

We are mosquitoes

The seat could recline to 170 degrees and really it was not as bad people made it out to be though there was a time I looked up and the flight tracking system showed an altitude of 0ft with almost a thousand miles to go, I did not think Boeing aircraft had altitude issues because that reading came up more than once.

As just before we got to India, we had to fill in forms and the cabin had to be fumigated which gave me such serious irritation that I almost coughed my guts out – this is a requirement for all flights arriving in India, I was on the verge of asking for oxygen as I gasped for air, but soon I was fine.

Easy through but waiting long

When we landed, I got a ride to the arrivals gate and by the time I got to baggage retrieval, my luggage was already on the carousel. Stepping out into the arrivals hall, I saw my name but I had to wait another 70 minutes for the other expected passenger before we left the airport.

My hotel is nothing like I have been accustomed to but it will suffice. We are in Incredible India.

I believe I cannot fly in Nigeria

4 crashes in a year

This is not only cause for concern but outrage, there have now been 11 fatal air crashes in Nigeria since 1995. One can say, the once good air safety record of Nigerian air travel where your could trust that you would get there leaves one in serious trepidation that it is all now more like a getting there on a wing and more prayers than you could mouth as your life flashes before you in milliseconds.

We have lost senior military personnel, precious children, politicians, leaders and everyday citizens to events that are in need of serious investigation and resolution as why air safety records have plumbed the depths of disaster, sorrow and fear.

Hardly a month ago, there was an air crash where senior military officers lost their lives, in the space on just a year there have been four.

There is the possibility that the Sultan of Sokoto was involved in this air crash, however, like all air crashes in Nigeria, we first hear there were survivors, such that history now informs us to fear the worst and hope for the best, till all the facts are out.

Of judgment and action

However, if as it seems, this plane took off in a raging storm and crashed just at the end of the runaway, I can only imagine what foolhardy dare-devilry allowed for this take-off in a tropical storm and the risk analysis that went into this take-off against what might have elicited an alternative expert decision.

That, however, would be speculating on half the facts.

There is a case for grounding all flights in that country with the emergency of getting to the bottom of why these crashes happen from pilot training, aircraft safety, weather monitoring for aircraft turn-around and whether the expert judgment of professionals gets overruled by influential passengers.

I do wish there are many who survived this crash and pray the good Lord grant strength and fortitude to those whose loved one’s perished as they bear their loss.

References

Plane crash near Nigeria capital

Plane with 100 on board crashes in Nigeria

Fly away holiday

Work hard play hard

Going on holiday is an integral part of my work-life balance, I work hard but reasonably within the hours God provides rather than all hours as if we have reached the end of time.

A whole stretch of working is always followed by a period of holiday that would last a minimum of 15 days and can go up 22 days.

The holiday we get in Europe is one reason why I will not cross the pond for work, productivity should always include the ability to have more time off, productivity is not living in fear of losing your job and only having 2 weeks off a year – that, in my view is slavery. Period. To borrow an Americanism.

For good reason you need the first week to wind down, the second to get out and do stuff beyond the routine of bathing, beer and beach.

By the third week you should be ready to return and be the freshest proponent of your calling and career as well as have stories to tell about your experiences and adventures – my stories are told in my blogs and pictures – I take plenty of them and throw them up on flickr.

Routine or adventure?

Planning a holiday is not too difficult, it settles somewhere between seeing something new which I do at least once a year and returning to old haunts which have their benefits of comfort, security, knowledge and service.

Packing for holiday is however a completely different conundrum and one struggles between what one wants and what one needs. Not to forget anything I might need is what I want but I never end up with what is really needed.

So, after shopping for holiday things – first aid kit, vitamins, batteries and reading material it was left to me to pack for 3 weeks holiday in the sun, not just shorts but other things that would allow you to turn out well without having to go shopping for those things whilst away.

Scheduled for a charter

Usually, I travel to Gran Canaria by scheduled flights but that includes a stop-over in either Barcelona or Madrid and a 4 and a half hour direct flight from Amsterdam ends up run for 7 hours or more.

The benefits of scheduled flights are myriad, 4 trips to my frequent flyer account, double the miles and rights if things go wrong – though I was miffed when I found that flying on my own accord was almost EUR 400 more expensive than if I went by the included charter flight.

Besides, I am able to take up to 35kg as opposed to a paltry 20kg, that is just about enough for basic makeup and lip gloss.

So, I packed and weighed the stuff on a set of two scales, one digital the other analog and it came to 24kg, so I unpacked everything and struggled to jettison some stuff, it came down to 22kg on my contrived measuring system – it was in fact 24.5kg and I had to pay excess baggage to Transavia, a KLM company that KLM does not accord any flyer bonuses.

The way they get you to pay up is to ask if you want to jettison stuff at the check-in desk – how you could ever do that, I do not know, the suitcase alone is probably 8kg – I should have asked if I could have sealed mailbags.

My boarding pass was ripped up and I was given an invoice to pay up at a KLM window where I was issued with another boarding pass, but really, I could have just had it printed out at one of the terminals again – my suitcase was already on its way onto the plane.

For the witching hour

Did I say, my taxi picked me up at 2:00AM? I do not enjoy charter flights for all sorts of reasons and that is one of them – our flight was to take-off at 5:15AM and it was already airborne at 5:08AM – we were the second flight out of Schiphol.

My seat was on the second row, typical of when I travel on scheduled flights and I always have the window, a magazine or two and a Sudoku puzzle book, my Creative Zen Mozaic MP3 player was playing back the classical playlist as I settled down to a nap, a snore and the occasional jolt.

The seat belt was quite extended, the person who occupied it before me must have been wider than they were tall, but there was no heat from the last sitter.

Front row seats also have that unusual situation of being sparsely populated, the middle seat was unoccupied, and travelling Economy really did feel like I was travelling Business Class.

The man behind me must have been in his 60s but he fidgeted like a kid, banging at the back of my seat that I first gave his wife that look, she restrained him for a while and it continued, then I gave him that look and it stopped.

Observing people dropped off

On arrival at Las Palmas, at baggage collection you could see a study in bizarre human behaviour, I am no anthropologist but the baggage comes out on a conveyor belt meaning eventually no matter where you are stood along the 70 metres of conveyor belt, your baggage will eventually get to you, but they all bunch up that the starting point and wreak havoc on each other collecting their stuff.

I now arrange a personal transfer from the airport to the hotel because when we travelled on the coach we had a tour of all hotels in Maspalomas and Playa del Ingles until we are the last to be dropped off 75 minutes later.

I arrived at the hotel to the greeting – Welcome to your second home, Sir – it is my 4^th time at the Riu Palace Maspalomas Hotel and I am a creature of habit because the staff here have the habit of making my stay the complete absence of stress the epitome of ease.

The rooms are not that luxurious, I have been in bigger suites, but it is people that make hotels not the building – as I remember, when leaving home, the heavens were open with rain pouring down, I arrived at my second home and the heavens were open with rays of sunshine kissing my body and making me tan naturally.

It is too far away to think of the 25^th, I’ll just have a cocktail and put my feet up today.