The Accident investigation Bureau AIB says it is at the stage of evidence gathering in the on going investigations into the cause of the crash involving a bell helicopter with registration number 5N-BQW operated by Quorum aviation, on the 28th Aigust 2020
Commissioner AIB, Akin Olateru who made this known Tuesday in lagos said that they have been receiving cooperation from Quorum Aviation Ltd, the owners and operators of the ill fated aircraft.
Olateru noted that from the evidence gathered so far, the helicopter has a valid certificate of Airworthiness C of A, till October 29 2020 and Quorum Aviation has a valid Air Operator’s Certificate (AOC) that will expire November 20, 2020.
The AIB noted that the Bell helicopter accident is the first Aviation fatalities in over 5years in Nigeria.
The flight originated from Port Harcourt with Lagos as its intended destination .
He stated that the aircraft had established contact with lagos tower, the pilot had reported sighting the airfield and was instructed by ATC to report downwind for Runway 18L., the ATC later tried unsuccessfully to establish contact with the aircraft but was later informed by a MMIA fire station that the helicopter had crashed.
Olateru stressed that contrary to speculations, the agency did not retrieve Flight Data Recorder FDR, also known as black box.
He said “We would like to clarify that AIB did not retrieve an FDR from the aircraft as the Bell 206 is certified at approximately 1,519kg and featured five seats. It does not meet the necessary criteria for an FDR and was not featured with one”.
He stated that an FDR on the aircraft would have aided the investigation, but however the world class trained AIB investigators are competent to retrieve information about a crash from the wreckage and several other components of the aircraft without the FDR.
AIB appealed to media and general public to entrust it to be thorough transparent in the ongoing investigation and await the formal report of findings and recommendations which will be released after its conclusion.
Olateru commended all emergency responders for their role at ensuring that evidence at the crash site were not tampered with.
The preliminary report of the investigation is expected to be out in a few weeks
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