On 20th February, 2018 at about 1750hrs, an MD-83 aircraft with registration 5N- SRI belonging to Dana Airlines Ltd departed Abuja for Port Harcourt International Airport (DNPO) on a scheduled flight 9J 0363. An Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) flight plan was filed. There were 44 passengers and 5 crew on board.
The First Officer was the Pilot Flying (PF) while the Captain was the Pilot Monitoring (PM).
The aircraft took-off at 1806hrs. Following an uneventful flight, the crew reported that the aircraft arrived overhead DNPO at about 1843hrs and was vectored by Air Traffic Control (ATC) to descend to 3500ft and on a heading to cross extended centre line of ILS runway 21. Having crossed the extended centre line, the crew assessed and discussed the approach: the weather as depicted on the weather radar, and noted that there were no clouds from 7nm to the threshold. The aircraft was cleared for a localizer approach runway 21 and to descend initially to 2400ft. The PF executed a left turn and a gradual descent, intercepting the localizer at 17nm on the POT VOR/DME while descending to 2400ft on QNH 1008. Localizer was captured while in the descent on Auto Pilot 2 (AP2). The Minimum Descent Altitude (MDA) was adjusted to 460ft for Glide Slope out approach. The crew observed there was weather between 17nm and 7nm on the VOR/DME, but the ride on the approach was comfortable. At this time, the aircraft was in a landing configuration, flaps 40.
