Backlash over flight crash report findings
The families of three crew members, who died in a calibration flight crash in 2020, are considering legal action following the release of the final accident report.
The accident involving a Cessna Citation operated by the South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) claimed the lives of captain Thabiso Tolo, first officer Tebogo Lekalakala and flight inspector Gugu Mnguni.
The crew were performing an instrument calibration flight at George airport when the aircraft crashed into a mountain, reports the Sunday Times Daily.
Their families yesterday said they were not ruling out legal action as the report contained damning findings about the crash and the SACAA.
Lekalakala’s father-in-law, August Lekalakala, said those who allowed the non-airworthy aircraft to fly must be held accountable.
‘If the (Transport) Department doesn’t do that, we will charge them privately.’
He said the final report differed from a preliminary report the families disagreed with.
‘It also confirms concerns we raised with the Minister in terms of the preliminary report issued by the SACAA. We did not agree that it was pilot error. Second, the SACAA cannot be a referee and a player at the same time, so this matter is very sensitive and requires an independent investigating team. That was what we requested from the Minister at the memorial,’ he said.
The final report found a host of irregularities in the operation of the Cessna, including its certificate of airworthiness being invalid at the time of the crash due to the flight data recorder not having been updated annually.
The investigators found the aircraft conducted multiple operations in 2021 without proper flight inspection unit authorisation, there was insufficient evidence that the pilot-in-command performed mandatory altitude recovery training on a simulator and there were irregularities in assigning the pilot-in-command to the flight.
The aircraft did not trigger the recording of all mandatory parameters on the flight data recorder and there was no indication of whether the installed terrain-avoidance warning system was operational at the time of the crash.
The initial investigation was carried out by the Accident and Incident Investigation Division, an independent unit reporting to the Transport Minister, but operationally attached to the SACAA.
Lekalakala said they were studying the final report, compiled by the Ethiopian Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau, reports the Sunday Times Daily.
Article disclaimer: While we have made every effort to ensure the accuracy of this article, it is not intended to provide final legal advice as facts and situations will differ from case to case, and therefore specific legal advice should be sought with a lawyer.
