The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has
concluded its investigation into the helicopter crash that killed Herbert Wigwe
and his family last year.
In the final aviation investigation report,
the NTSB said the probable cause of the crash was the pilot’s decision to
continue the flight under visual flight rules into instrument meteorological
conditions (IMC).
On February 9, 2024, Wigwe, the former group chief executive
officer (GCEO) of Access Holdings Plc, died in a helicopter crash alongside his
wife, Doreen; their first son, Chizi; and Abimbola Ogunbanjo, the former group
chairman of Nigerian Exchange Group Plc (NGX Group).
The crash which occurred in California, near the Nevada border, involved the helicopter with registration N130CZ and claimed the lives of all six passengers on board.
Over a year after the incident, the NTSB report revealed
that the “pilot likely experienced spatial disorientation while maneuvering the
helicopter in IMC, which led to his loss of helicopter control and the resulting
collision with terrain”.
The report added that the helicopter company’s inadequate
oversight of its safety management processes was a contributing cause of the
crash.
The NTSB found that the company failed to ensure that pilots
accurately completed and updated the flight risk analysis, logged maintenance
discrepancies, and adhered to Part 135 regulations before departure.
The investigation report revealed that during the return
flight, the pilot had texted the director of maintenance (DOM) about an issue
with the radar altimeter.
“The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) determines
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,” a part of
the report reads.
“Contributing to the accident was the company’s inadequate
oversight of its safety management processes, including ensuring the pilots
were accurately completing and updating the flight risk analysis, logging
maintenance discrepancies, and ensuring the helicopter met Part 135 regulations
before departure.
“During the return flight, the pilot texted the director of
maintenance (DOM) about the issue. After arriving at the company’s flight
operations base, the pilot discussed the issue with the company flight follower
(who was also the company’s president).
“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 were aware
that the radar altimeter was not functioning, yet they departed at 1822 on the
positioning flight to pick up the passengers.
“About 40 minutes later, the positioning flight landed at
the airport to pick up the charter passengers. After arrival, the pilot and
flight follower had a phone conversation and exchanged text messages, but they
did not discuss the status of the radar altimeter or weather conditions.”
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