Interim report gives no clue on cause of accident

 Malawians will still have to wait for a year to know what caused the plane crash that killed vice-president Saulos Chilima and eight others in Chikangawa Forest in Nkhata Bay on June 10 as the interim report from Germany is short of these details.

In a statement posted yesterday on their website, the German Federal Bureau of Aircraft Accident Investigation (BFU), which is probing the Chikangawa crash, said the investigation is ongoing.

“Further facts concerning the areas of people, technology and environmental factors need to be determined. In the final report of the BFU, the analysis of the facts will occur, conclusions will be drawn and the causes of the accident named,” reads the statement.

According to the BFU, the final report “will probably be published in the summer of 2025” on their website both in German and English. Summer, in this case, would be around August next year at the latest.

While the preliminary report does not state cause of the plane crash, which was highly anticipated, it shares some details of circumstances surrounding the accident.

It is these details that raise questions regarding the aircraft’s fitness to carry passengers, especially Very Very Important People (VVIP) such as the vice-president and former first lady. President Lazarus Chakwera himself is on record as having used the plane as well while in office.

The report shows that the plane was without a Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) or a Flight Data Recorder (FDR).

According to the US-based National Transportation Safety Board, the Cockpit Voice Recorder “records radio transmissions and sounds in the flight deck to aid subsequent investigation should an accident or incident occur”.

We engaged an aviation expert, who did not want to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter, to understand the implication of flying a plane without this recorder.

The expert said this gadget would have aided investigations.

The expert said: “The only issue regarding an aircraft flying without CVR is that in case of an accident, recordings between air traffic controllers and pilots may not be available to assist in the investigation while trying to establish the cause of an accident or incident.”

Our source said the FDR is required for all civilian aircraft from certain maximum take-off weight or having a certain number of passengers. However, said the expert, the ill-fated Malawi Defence Force (MDF) aircraft is considered a State Aircraft as per Article three of the Chicago Convention and, therefore, is not bound by civil aviation regulations.

The interim report also says the investigation found that the Emergency Locator Transmitter (ELT) was not functioning in the plane.

“The ELT was examined. It was determined that it was not functioning because its battery had expired in 2004. According to the Malawi Air Force, for such devices there were no spare parts and no budget for new 406 MHz,” reads the report.

Our expert, who was close to this investigation, says the MDF aircraft had an older version of the ELT, which was no longer in production and, as such, batteries were not available. The source said the ELT batteries can go for years, but are checked or inspected once every year.

“The implications of not having a serviceable ELT are that emergency messages may not be triggered once the aircraft has gone down. Each time ELT is triggered, location may be picked by other aircraft while flying and they can send out coordinates for search and rescue,” said the expert.

The Germans have since recommended to the Ministry of Defence to ensure that MDF aircraft transporting people should be equipped with functional ELT.

Reacting to this recommendation, Minister of Defence Harry Mkandawire said he will call for an emergency meeting to look into the matter, but could not state when, as he said he is outside the country and will return tomorrow.

Another recommendation targets the Minister of Transport and Public Works who should ensure that up-to-date information concerning radio navigation aids in Malawi is available to aircraft crews all the time.

Minister responsible Jacob Hara had not responded to our questionnaire as we went to press yesterday.

The report also indicates that the plane crashed into the slope of a hill in marginal weather conditions. Marginal weather condition refers to “abnormal or adverse” weather situation.

Asked if this may have posed a danger, our expert said that the aircraft was certified to fly in such weather and it is normal, but “maybe it may have to do with experience of the crew”.

The expert recommended consistent investments in annual ‘stimulator’ training where crew members are equipped with up-to-date skills.

The expert also indicated that the loss of radio communication was mainly due to low level flying in a mountainous area.

Our expert argues that a possible reason to fly low was to “keep ground visual contact all the way to Mzuzu due to marginal or bad weather and this could have been an option maybe due to limited skill” because, he said, such a maneuvre should not be done when visibility is less than 10 kilometres.

“We only do this with visibility of more than 10 kilometres. Reason: so that you should be able to avoid obstacles on the way. They were scared of weather and also lack of recurrent training,” said the source who also blames “operation pressure to take the VP to Mzuzu and back to Lilongwe to see-off the President and to return to Mzuzu” as another bad decision.

The source said all aircraft under Civil Regulations are subjected to periodic inspection by the competent Civil Aviation Authority and all crew are licensed and certified. The maintenance organisations are also approved, but State aircrafts are exempted in line with Article Three of the convention.

“Examples of State aircraft are those such as for the Air force, Presidential, police etc. These ones are not required to follow Civil Aviation Regulations because of the nature of their operations.”