Wigwe’s helicopter crash caused by company’s negligence, Pilot disorientation— Report

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has reported that the helicopter crash, which resulted in the death of the former Group Chief Executive Officer of Access Holdings Plc, Herbert Wigwe, along with his wife, son, and other crew members over a year ago, was probably caused by “pilot disorientation” and deficiencies in safety protocols by the operating company.

On 9 February 2024, an Airbus helicopter with registration number EC 130B4, crashed near Halloran Springs, California. The two pilots and four passengers, which included Mr Wigwe, his wife Doreen, their first son, Chizi; and the former group chairman of Nigerian Exchange Group Plc (NGX Group), Abimbola Ogunbanjo, were killed in the ill-fated aircraft.

The helicopter was operated by Orbic Air, LLC, as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 135 on-demand flight.

The NTSB, in its final aviation investigation report published on Tuesday, 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).

“We determined 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,” the investigators said.

According to the 31-page report reviewed by this publication, the NTSB explained that 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 NTSB is an independent agency charged by the US Congress to investigate every civil aviation accident and significant accidents in other modes of transportation across the United States of America.

More findings

According to the NTSB, in the days preceding the helicopter accident last year, the helicopter had been undergoing routine maintenance that involved work on the radar altimeter, which was a required instrument for Part 135 flight operations.

“About 1727 on the day of the accident, the accident pilot and a company mechanic/pilot repositioned the helicopter from the maintenance facility to the company’s flight operations base, and during the flight, the accident pilot noted the radar altimeter was not functioning,” the report noted.

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It said during the return flight, the pilot texted the director of maintenance (DOM) about the issue, and 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,” the investigators’ report partly read.

“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, the NTSB found.

About 2 minutes before the accident, the NTSB explained that the helicopter’s airspeed and altitude increased, with a slight deviation to the south of the freeway.

“It is unclear if the pilot was attempting an inadvertent instrument meteorological conditions (IMC) recovery maneuver. The helicopter continued the right turn for about 10 seconds when the helicopter began a rapid descent into terrain while maintaining the right turn,” the report noted.

It said witnesses, who were traveling in their vehicles, reported observing a fireball to the south of the freeway, and that the witnesses reported that the weather conditions in the area were not good as it was raining with a snow mix.

Wreckage

The investigators report also revealed that search and rescue efforts were difficult due to weather conditions that included low visibility, rain, snow, and high winds.

“The helicopter wreckage, which was highly fragmented and not survivable, was located about 1 hour and 40 minutes after the accident,” the report said.

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It said postaccident examination of the airframe, engine, rotor blades, flight controls, rotor drive, main rotor, and fenestron components identified no evidence of pre-impact malfunction or failure that would have precluded normal operation.

The engine displayed rotational damage signatures and resolidified metal deposits consistent with powered operation at impact, the report said, stating that all recovered instruments, avionics, and portable/personal electronic devices sustained damage that prevented data extraction.

The NTSB emphasised that the helicopter wreckage was consistent with a high-energy, right-side-low attitude impact with terrain.

While emphasising that the two pilots, identified as both male aged 25 and 22 with “commercial flight instructor certification”, were properly trained, the NTSB stressed that the pilot may have been susceptible to the Coriolis illusion when maintaining a constant turn if he moved his head, for example, to look from inside the cockpit to outside the cockpit.

In addition, the report said the helicopter also began to accelerate as it descended, which could have resulted in a somatogravic (false climb) illusion that led the pilot to believe the helicopter was climbing.

“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 said.