Crew shut engines before Osinbajo’s chopper crashlanded – Report

The Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) yesterday released its preliminary report on the helicopter crash involving Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at Kabba, Kogi State, penultimate Saturday.

The report revealed the crew shut down the engines and the fuel to prevent explosion.

The Agusta Westland 139 chopper with registration number 5N-CML owned and operated by Caverton Helicopters Limited had crash-landed at Kabba stadium.

The chopper had on board Osinbajo and 11 others, including the crew members.

AIB Commissioner/Chief Executive Officer, Akin Olateru, said while investigation was still ongoing, preliminary findings indicated that the crew lost visual contact with the ground.

He said the helicopter which departed Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja at 1:46 pm experienced a hard landing at about 50 feet to touchdown around 2:34 pm.

He said the hard landing was caused by brownout, the dust generated by the police helicopter which had earlier landed at the stadium.

The AIB report further revealed that the Captain in Command, prior to landing, shut the engines; while the CoPilot shut off the fuel.

“The crew carried out Emergency Landing Procedures which included immediate engines shutdown, fuel shut off, battery switch off, and generators switch off”, Olateru said.

He stated that Caverton Helicopters Limited did not conduct site survey of the landing field prior to that flight.