Team named to probe air disaster
A five-member team was on Monday named to investigate Sunday’s helicopter crash which killed Security minister George Saitoti, assistant minister Orwa Ojodeh and four police officers. Read (Ministers Saitoti, Ojode killed in chopper crash)
Court of Appeal Judge Kalpana Rawal will head the team that will also have a former Kenya Air Force Commander, Maj Gen Harold Tangai, the Chief Investigator of Aircraft Accidents, Mr George McOwenga, and state counsel Charles Mutinda and Faith Irari as members.
They will inquire into the accident in Ngong Forest just outside Nairobi and its causes.
The team does not have a specific time frame within which to submit its findings.
“There is no time frame. They have all the time to come out with the truth regarding the accident,” Mr Kimunya said.
Though details of their mandate were not immediately released, the team will be looking into the common possible causes of aircraft accidents: weather or human error, mechanical failure and sabotage.
Kenya Wildlife Service Director Julius Kipngetich denied that the Eurocopter helicopter was assembled at KWS yards.
“We do not assemble Eurocopters at our yards and we do not even know who does it for the police” said Dr Kipngetich. “We are licensed to assemble and service Bell helicopters from the United States of America but we do not do it for Eurostar,” he added.
Dr Kipngetich confirmed that KWS engineers assemble and service Bell helicopters for the police and other operators in East and Central Africa but not Eurocopter.
A security commentator Simiyu Werunga said the outcome of the investigation would point either at pilot error or a mechanical problem.
In the past years, he noted, investigations showed a poor record of maintenance of aircraft that were involved in accidents.
The trend has since changed, following what Mr Werunga said was strict enforcement of regulations by the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority.
“Enforcement is so much now such that issues of maintenance being the cause of accidents have gone down. Examiners from KCAA carry out inspections to ensure the maintenance schedule is followed. Initially they were not very strict but right now, they are very strict on the issue of maintenance,” he said.
One possibility, according to Mr Werunga, is engine failure.
Mr Werunga, who has a military background, said this is supported by witness accounts of the plane coming down engulfed in a cloud of smoke.
“The burning in the air does not explain anything else. The smoke explains there was no combustion between the fuel and engine systems. That means the fuel was not burning. The aircraft must have hit the ground hard causing the fire,” said Mr Werunga.
And in the event that the pilot suspected that the engine was losing power, the co-pilot should have made a distress call to the control tower.
He noted the that the crash was made worse by the fact that the chopper had just taken off and so the fuel tanks were full, explaining the big fire.
Mr Werunga also praised the manufacturer of the ill-fated aircraft saying it makes some of the best helicopters in the world.
He said pilot error can not be ruled out at this stage in the investigation. In the event of engine failure, pilots are trained to manage the situation.
“It happened at an altitude where you can be able to manage it and bring it down,” he said.
Going by witness accounts, the helicopter was flying relatively low, he said.
This would also raise queries for the investigation, according to Mr Werunga who noted that the altitude should have been higher, considering the aircraft was moving over a high ground.
“Any time a plane takes off from a manned airport, the pilot has to file a flight plan giving the details and speed. That needs to be looked at because when flying over a mountain, the pilot should always look at the tip of the high ground otherwise can easily lose control. It brings out a lot of questions when we are told the aircraft was flying very low. Also strong winds can spin the chopper out of control,” he said.
Mr Werunga said the seniority of a VIP aboard an aircraft should dictate who should pilot it.
“The seniority of the government official should determine the seniority of the captain in charge of the aircraft,” he noted.
The helicopter in which the ministers died lost communication with the control tower just five minutes after leaving Wilson airport.
Investigators are trying to unravel what could have happened between 8.37 am when the helicopter left the airport and 8.42 am when it crashed, the Government announced on Monday.
At the same time President Kibaki ordered for thorough investigations into how the plane “lost direction.”
Others who were killed were pilots Nancy Gituanja and Luke Oyugi and bodyguards Thomas Murimi and Joshua Tonkei.
Transport Minister Amos Kimunya said the police helicopter, registration number 5Y CDT left Wilson Airport at 8.32 am enroute to Ndhiwa, with six people on board as per its capacity.
Briefing a Special Cabinet meeting that was expanded to include assistant ministers and MPs, Mr Kimunya said a preliminary report from airport video showed the flight was normal from 8.32 am to 8.37 when it was reported it was getting out of Wilson air zone.
The flight, Mr Kimunya said, was given new frequency at 8.38 am and that since then it had no other communication with the control tower.
The reconstructed video showed the control tower lost track of the aircraft at 8.42 am.
“Investigation is ongoing of what could have happened….The mystery is what happened between 8.37 am and 8.42 am. Investigators are trying to find out what happened,” Mr Kimunya told grief stricken MPs at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre.
Mr Kimunya said air accident investigators and police were at Kibiku Forest in Ngong where the plane crashed digging for evidence.
He said the weather at time of accident was good with visibility being eight kilometres.
“It is difficult to ascertain what happened from the time the contact was lost. The aircraft was new. It was manufactured last year and had done 32 hours when it was registered here in Kenya,” Mr Kimunya told attentive MPs, who included President Kibaki, Prime Minister Raila Odinga, Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka and deputy prime ministers Uhuru Kenyatta and Musalia Mudavadi.
The minister said both pilots, Nancy Gituanja and Luke Oyugi, were experienced pilots and were trained to fly the aircraft in South Africa in January.
“The plane had done less than 100 hours and it is a mystery what happened,” Mr Kimunya said.
Mourning the deceased ministers, the two pilots and two bodyguards, President Kibaki ordered thorough investigations.
“We need to decide how to honour them and to get full details on how the plane lost direction,” the President told the legislators.
The President, Mr Odinga, Mr Musyoka and National Assembly Speaker Kenneth Marende who spoke during the meeting to decide on how to honour the six appealed for calm as investigations continue.
He said the outcome of the investigations will be made public.
The President assured Kenyans of full investigations into the cause of the crash.
He called on the public to avoid speculation, saying they will be informed appropriately once the on-going investigations on the tragic helicopter crash are complete.
“As we embark on thorough investigations on the cause of the crash, I appeal to all Kenyans to remain calm,” President Kibaki said.
Reported by Lucas Barasa, Peter Leftie and Fred Mukinda
