FG partners French, US experts to investigate Rivers helicopter crash

Festus Keyamo, minister of aviation and aerospace development, says it has enlisted the services of aviation experts from the United States and France to examine the wreckage of the helicopter crash in Port Harcourt, Rivers state.

On October 24, a helicopter operated by East Wind Aviation and hired by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited crashed while travelling from the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) base in Port Harcourt to NNPC’s floating, production, storage and offloading (FPSO) facility.

The aircraft, carrying six passengers and two crew members, went down in the Atlantic Ocean near Bonny Finima, off the coast of Calabar.

A week later, the Nigeria Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB) reported that a fifth body was recovered from the site of the crash — and announced the retrieval of the helicopter’s black box on November 8.

Speaking during a press conference in Abuja on Wednesday, Keyamo said the experts from both countries would collaborate with Nigeria to investigate the wreckage, given the aircraft was designed and manufactured in the USA and its engine produced in France.

“The NTSB is an accredited representative of the NTSB in America, assisted by a technical advisor nominated by Sikorsky Aircraft,” he said.

“Meanwhile, France, as the state of design and manufacturer of the engines, has appointed an accredited representative, assisted by a technical advisor from Safran, the engine manufacturer.”

Speaking further, the minister said on November 9, “the wreckage departed the collection site on a ferry and arrived at the airport on Sunday, November 10”.

“After completing the formalities at the port, the wreckage was loaded onto a low-bed truck on Monday, November 11, and is now on its way to Abuja. Principally, the NSIB must take possession of that wreckage,” Keyamo said.

He said the NSIB would review the helicopter’s maintenance and certification documents, as well as the crew’s training and medical data.

‘NSIB TO PUBLISH PRELIMINARY REPORT IN 30 DAYS’

The minister said the preliminary report will be published on the NSIB website within 30 days.

He said a full report with possible safety recommendations could take up to a year or more to complete.

Keyamo further commended the cooperation of various aviation agencies involved in the investigation.

“All the agencies of aviation — NCAA, NAMA, and NIMET — are all cooperating with the NSIB. We are running all of them together as one because they are all aviation agencies administering to cooperate on this issue,” he said.

“Our objective is to conduct a thorough investigation using available techniques to find a safety issue or recommend a safety change to prevent a tragedy like this from happening again,” Keyamo stated.

Keyamo said the investigation would consider multiple factors, including “the roles of man, machine, and the environment that might have directly or indirectly contributed to this accident”.