Much Ado About Boeing MD80s

By Christopher Omojefe

Following the tragic accident that befell Dana Air flight 9J-992 on June 3 a debate has been raging about the possible causes of the crash as people across the country seek to understand how such an event can occur and search for someone to hold responsible. Unfortunately, as part of this debate many spurious theories have been put forward as possible explanations, before the results of an investigation have been put forward. I want to focus on two of these and explain some of the facts around them in this article.

The first is the type of aircraft involved in the crash, an MD80 series aircraft, manufactured by McDonnell Douglas. Specifically, flight 9K-992 was an MD83 manufactured in 1990 and acquired by Alaska Airlines in the United States of America. At the time of the accident the aircraft was 22 years old, which brings me to the second point of the debate, whether or not the age of the aircraft could have played a role in the crash.

Let’s start with some basic information on the MD80 series of aircraft. There are 594 of this aircraft type in operation around the world of which 209 are the MD83 variant. 396 of these MD80 type aircraft are operating in North America and a further 74 are operating in Europe. The average age of all the MD80 series aircraft that currently exist globally is just over 23 years. The two largest fleets of MD83 series aircraft belong to American Airlines, who currently operate 198 of them, while Delta Airlines in the US also operate 117 MD80 88 series models and SAS Scandinavian Airlines and Alitalia also rely on them. The MD 80 is known as the workhorse of the fleet for these airlines and they have been successfully in service for many years, in fact, American Airlines affectionately refer to it as the Super80.

An analysis of the safety record of the MD80 type over the last 5 years also sheds light on whether or not the model can be used as a potential cause. Since 2005 there have been 4 fatal accidents globally involving MD80 series aircraft, in the same time period there have been 4 fatal accidents and a further 3 major incidents involving the Boeing 737 700 or 800 series aircraft, which were introduced by Boeing to succeed the MD80 series in 1998. The average age of the global fleet of Boeing 737 700/800 aircraft is considerably lower than that of the MD80. Believe it or not, an average fleet age under 22 years is relatively young in aircraft terms.

Given the number of aircraft in service, the comparative safety statistics and the prestigious airlines which operate them still, I do not believe that we can single out the type of aircraft as being a major factor in the tragic accident of June 3. Nor I think can we simply blame the age of the aircraft, which I have already said was relatively young in relative terms, to do so would be to do dismiss and ignore other potentially much more serious reasons for why this aircraft suffered its fate. An aircraft’s safety is judged by its airworthiness, and not by its age, and airworthiness is a function of maintenance history. In fact, the Boeing 737-800 series aircraft involved in an accident in South America recently had only been in service for 3 weeks. We must not allow ourselves to think that simply by requiring airlines to operate younger fleets of aircraft we will solve the problems that afflict the industry. We will not. In fact, we simply create the conditions within which the wider problems in the industry are not addressed. It is sad that despite all of the progress made in enhanced regulation and standards since 2005, it is still possible for a tragedy such as this to occur.

I urge everybody now to focus on ensuring that the investigative process being conducted by the Accident Investigations Bureau is allowed to be concluded, but encourage you to demand full disclosure and transparency on the causes of the crash. There are much wider potential issues emerging. The suggestion that the crash could have been caused by dual engine failure bought on by contaminated fuel is perhaps the most worrying. If this aircraft was supplied with contaminated fuel then how can we be sure that others are not? What safety standards and regulations exist for the suppliers of this fuel?

Christopher Omojefe writes from Lagos