Poor visibility, cause of Osinbajo’s 2019 helicopter crash — AIB

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo’s helicopter crash on February 2nd, 2019 was caused by an inflight visibility restriction, the Accident Investigation Bureau, AIB, has revealed.

The ill-fated Augusta Westland (AW139) helicopter, operated by Caverton Helicopters Limited took off from the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja to Okene via Kabba at about 1:36 PM local time.

At about an hour later, it crashed at Kabba, Kogi state with all 12 persons on board including Professor Osinbajo evacuated uninjured.

In a report released by AIB on Tuesday, the agency said “the flight crew encountered a brownout condition during the hover to land, which led to the loss of external visual references, spatial disorientation and loss of situational awareness resulting in misjudgment of distance and ground clearance, as the flight crew tried to control the helicopter’s movements for landing. The helicopter landed hard and rolled over on its right side.”

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