The Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) has released a preliminary report on last month’s helicopter accident in Opebi; saying the cooper ran out of fuel shortly before it crashed.
The Bell 206B helicopter marked 5N-BQW operated by Quorum Aviation Limited crashed into residential buildings in the Opebi area of Lagos on the 28th of August 2020.
According to the report by AIB there was no fuel left in the helicopter when it crashed adding that the helicopter do not have the capacity to jettison fuel.
The report also disclosed that the helicopter was topped up with 247 liters of fuel to full tank capacity on the ground at the Port Harcourt Military airport (DNPM) on the 27th of August 2020.
It was also revealed that after refuelling, there was an engine run for 10 minutes and a test flight of 20 minutes.
The helicopter was topped to full tank capacity on 27th August, 2020.
After refueling, 10 minutes of engine run and 20 minutes of test flight were carried out on 27th August, 2020 at Port Harcourt.
The helicopter was fitted with a range-extender fuel system.
The report disclosed that the helicopter has an endurance of 3:24h.
It further disclosed that the operational flight plan filed by the pilot indicated an endurance of 3:15h and an estimated flight time of 2:45h.
According to the AIB the helicopter engine was started at 09:15h and took off at 09:20h The helicopter crashed at 12:14h.
.”There was no fuel left in the fuel tanks after the crash. The mast and main rotor blades were found intact during the post-crash inspection”, it said.
The preliminary report on the aircraft however stated that the helicopter had a valid Certificate of Airworthiness as the Aircraft Maintenance Engineers’ License Validity was till 14th February 2022 while the Certificate of Airworthiness of the helicopter was Valid till 29th October 2020.
On the crew, the AIB report indicated that the pilot’s last medical examination was valid till 6th August 2020, as there was no evidence to show that an application for the exemption provided by the All Operators’ Letter AOL DG020/20 had been submitted to the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority.
Editor: Omor Bazuaye
