AIB releases preliminary report on cause of Lagos helicopter crash

A preliminary report on the crash of a Bell 206B Helicopter operated by Quorum Aviation Limited into residential buildings in Opebi area of Lagos on August 28, 2020, has been released by the Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB).

The report which revealed that the chopper was topped to full tank capacity on August 27, 2020 but failed to make it to the Lagos Airport a minute before the estimated time, also indicated that the pilot’s last medical examination was valid till August 6, 2020.

According to The Nation, the preliminary report revealed that there there was no evidence to show that an application for the exemption provided by the All Operators’ Letter (AOL) DG02020 had been submitted to the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).

The AIB report disclosed that the helicopter had no fuel left in the fuel tanks after the crash, leading to speculation of the crash occurring due to inadequate fuel that could not get it to the Lagos Airport.

The report also indicated that the pilot’s last proficiency check was valid till August 24, 2020. There was no evidence to show that an application for the exemption provided by the AIL DG018/ 20 had been submitted to the NCAA.

The report read;

“The helicopter crashed into the roof of a building and a wall fence impacting two vehicles parked in the compound. The mast and main rotor blades were found intact during the post-crash inspection. Post occurrence examination revealed that the fuel tanks were empty.
“The helicopter was not equipped with a flight data recorder or a cockpit voice recorder. Neither was required by the relevant aviation regulations but equipped with a Garmic GNC Global Positioning System.”

According to the AIB, the helicopter took off from Port Harcourt at 9.20am and was estimated to land in Lagos after two hours forty minutes. It crashed into a residential building in Ikeja at 12:14pm.