Shocking violations led to deadly crashes

Serious safety concerns have been unearthed within Namibia’s aviation industry, following investigations into the three aircraft accidents that occurred just outside the capital, in which a total of five people died.
A full-scale investigation has been launched into the January crash of the Cessna 425, in which three seasoned pilots were killed, after it was found that serious violations had occurred.
According to a document seen by Namibian Sun, the Directorate of Civil Aviation (DCA) has been requested to take the appropriate action in dealing with the violations that were uncovered.
The urgent internal memo was addressed to Works and Transport Minister Alpheus !Naruseb and DCA director Angelina Simana and signed off by Ericksson Nengola, the Director of Aircraft Accident Investigation.
On 29 January the Cessna 425 took off from Eros Airport for a licence renewal test and crashed on a private farm, killing three pilots on board - Uwe Herbert, Fritz Alpers and Ole Friede.

Deviation
They proceeded on a precision landing approach and then turned right on a non-precision high frequency omnidirectional approach, and thereafter crashed.
According to the document, there has been an increase in deviation from standard procedures during missed approaches, as stipulated in the Aeronautical Information Publication of the DCA.
“These normalised deviations have the potential to cause adverse flight conditions, especially when combined with other manoeuvres,” the document said.
It is pointed out in the document that the Air Traffic Control at the Hosea Kutako International Airport tower has two crash alarm buttons.
While one is regarded as an old system, another is regarded as a new system. Initial investigations have indicated that one of the crash alarm buttons did not work that particular day and might not have been regularly tested.
Furthermore, the investigation has found that the requirement for pilots to give a full read-back of Air Traffic Control instructions is not always adhered to. The readout of Air Traffic Control instructions aids in ascertaining the comprehension of these instructions by pilots.
“This is a standard and Standard Operating Procedures require full acknowledgement in standard phraseology.”
It has been recommended that the DCA, through its pilot education programme, addresses this this issue with urgency and comes up with a mechanism that ensures full compliance by pilots.
The Directorate of Aircraft Investigation launched a full-scale investigation in terms of the DCA’s Annex 13 and a full report is expected with regards to the cause of the accident.
It has in the meantime requested to take action with regard to these serious violations.
Nengola yesterday confirmed the probe into the accident and said that it has already started.
He confirmed that there are serious safety concerns and that it needs to be investigated.
“People are continuing to be killed in aircraft accidents and we are losing lives. We need to investigate, find the underlying factors and take the appropriate actions to rectify this,” said Nengola.

‘Pilot lied’
Meanwhile, an investigation into the recent helicopter crash on 20 April, in which one person was killed, has uncovered that the pilot Abe van der Merwe provided false information with regard to the number of people on board to the Air Traffic Control at Eros Airport prior to departure, as well as to the investigation.
While he said that there was one crew member and three passengers on board, there were actually five passengers.
The helicopter was also modified and not certified by the regulator and the seats for the passengers were removed and they were not properly restrained.
In the helicopter accident of 8 April, in which pilot Lambert Roux from Kamanjab was killed, it was found that he did not obtain weather information. He also departed during the non-operational hours of the Eros Airport and did not make radio contact with the tower at Hosea Kutako International Airport, as instructed.
His pilot’s licence also does not comply with current regulations, while the Air Traffic Controller’s licence was invalid.
Nengola did not want to comment on the findings with regard to the helicopter pilots.

ELLANIE SMIT