National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) of the United States has completed its investigation into the tragic helicopter crash that resulted in the deaths of Herbert Wigwe, his wife Doreen, their son Chizi, and Abimbola Ogunbanjo, the former Group Chairman of the Nigerian Exchange Group Plc (NGX Group).
The incident happened on February 9, 2024, in California near the Nevada border and involved a helicopter that had six individuals on board, including the pilot and co-pilot.
The final report from the NTSB identified the probable cause of the crash as the pilot’s decision to continue the flight under Visual Flight Rules (VFR) despite encountering Instrument Meteorological Conditions (IMC). This choice led to spatial disorientation, ultimately resulting in a loss of control of the aircraft.
Also, the NTSB report pointed to insufficient oversight from the operating company as a contributing factor to the accident. It noted failures in managing safety procedures effectively, which included a lack of accurate completion and updating of flight risk analyses, failure to log maintenance discrepancies, and ensuring that the helicopter met the regulatory requirements of Part 135 before takeoff.
The investigation also highlighted that during the return flight, the pilot had communicated with the Director of Maintenance (DOM) about a problem with the radar altimeter.
“The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause(s) 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.
“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.”
The reported added that, ” 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).
“According to the flight follower, who also held operational control of the charter flight, during the discussions he told the pilot that the flight could not depart if the radar altimeter was not functioning. 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 pilots 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.
“The accident leg departure was delayed about 50 minutes due to a passenger’s lost passport. A review of surveillance video at the fixed-based operator showed the pilots in the lobby using their cellphones; it is not known if the pilots checked the weather on their cellphones during that departure delay.
“In addition, the pilot did not complete an update to the FRA (which was internet accessible) while waiting at the airport. There was no evidence that the radar altimeter began functioning normally before the accident flight.”
