The United States National Transportation Safety Board has attributed the helicopter crash that killed former Access Holdings CEO, Herbert Wigwe, his wife, son, and three others to pilot error caused by spatial disorientation.
The NTSB report, released on Wednesday, further indicted the helicopter company, accusing it of “inadequate oversight of its safety management processes”.
This was contained in the NTSB final report unravelling the reasons for the helicopter crash in February 2024.
Preliminary report had earlier shown that the helicopter, registered as N130CZ, crashed while operating under visual flight rules in what ultimately became instrument meteorological conditions, requiring different flight protocols and instrumentation.
According to the report, investigators determined the “probable cause of this accident to be: the pilot’s decision to continue the visual flight rules flight into instrument meteorological conditions, which resulted in the pilot’s spatial disorientation and loss of control.”
The crash, which occurred near the California-Nevada border on February 9, 2024, claimed the lives of all six people on board, including Wigwe, his wife Doreen, their son Chizi, and Abimbola Ogunbanjo, former group chairman of Nigerian Exchange Group Plc.
The US accident investigators further revealed that the helicopter company failed to ensure pilots properly completed flight risk analyses, recorded maintenance issues, and followed required regulations before departure.
“The pilot likely experienced spatial disorientation while manoeuvring the helicopter in IMC [instrument meteorological conditions], which led to his loss of helicopter control and the resulting collision with terrain,” the report stated.
Significantly, the investigation showed that the helicopter’s radar altimeter was non-functional before the fatal flight.
The report detailed that during an earlier flight, the pilot had texted the maintenance director about an issue with this critical instrument.
The report stated, “A company mechanic performed some troubleshooting on the radar altimeter; however, he was unable to rectify the issue, and the radar altimeter remained non-functional.
“The mechanic reported that the pilot and the DOM [director of maintenance] were aware that the radar altimeter was not functioning, yet they departed at 1822 on the positioning flight to pick up the passengers.
The investigation further found that after arriving to collect the charter passengers, the pilot and flight follower exchanged messages but “did not discuss the status of the radar altimeter or weather conditions.”
PUNCH
