The pilot of the helicopter crash that led to the death of the chief executive of Access Holdings Plc, Mr Herbert Wigwe, and two other members of his nuclear family and a friend on February 9, 2024, in the United States has been blamed for the incident.
In its report, the United States National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) also blamed the company for “inadequate oversight of its safety management processes.”
Mr Wigwe died in the air mishap alongside his wife, Mrs Doreen, his son, Mr Chizi, and a friend, Mr Abimbola Ogunbanjo, who chaired the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Group Plc.
They died after the small aircraft with registration number N130CZ carrying six persons crashed near the Nevada border in California. They were going for a match in the US when the unfortunate incident happened.
In the report released on Wednesday, the safety board noted that the crash occurred due to the pilot’s inability to navigate effectively in some conditions.
“The probable cause of this accident [was] 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,” a part of the report stated.
It was observed that during the flight, the pilot had communicated with the company’s Director of Maintenance (DOM) about an issue with the radar altimeter, which remained non-functional despite attempts to fix it.
The NTSB further revealed that after arriving at the airport to pick up the passengers, the pilot and a company flight follower engaged in a phone conversation but failed to discuss the status of the radar altimeter or the current weather conditions, both of which could have impacted the flight’s safety.