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 Report on Garangs Chopper
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Was it a pilot error ,mechanical faliure ,bad weather or External factor
The World waits for the report on the helicopter crash that killed the sudanese Vice-President Dr. Jhon Garang and all aboard
The crack team of the aviation experts includes the Us National Transportation saftey board NTSB, but all interested parties should prepare for for an inconclusive report.
Given the many possible factors for the crash ,it will be near impossible even for experinced experts in aviation accidents to file a sure - file report that will satisfy everyone (including conspiracy theorists)
infact while it will be relatively easier to eliminate wether the helicopter was brought down by hostile ground fire or an explosive device inside the craft it is much tougher to ferret out causes due to mechanical faliure ,pilot error, weather related or acombination of the above ,was there a blinding lightning that caused the piolt to hit the wrong control sending the aircraft into a fatal tail-spin and eventual collision with the ground , or was there a malfunction by one or several of arrays of sophisticated electronic navigation instruments, giving false reading of, say, the altitude of the craft
those are questions that seldom get clear and definite answers . for instance ,a nine year
data compilation 1996/2004 by the NTSB of Us civil helicopter accidents showed that human factor was by far the leading cause in crashes followed by engine faliure and mechanical faliure . in 2004 for example of 180 helicopter accidents in the US , human factor counted for 51% ,engine faliure 23% and mechanical faliure 19%
Here is a good example of an inconclusive finding that was possibly a combination of a piolt decision errors and bad weather . on September 7,2000, about nine in the morning , a bell UH-1H , operated by the north carolina forest service crashed in fog killing the pilot and a crewman while manoeuvering in the vicinity of waynesville ,north carolina . Among others , the NTSB concluded that there was an 'incounter flight with bad weather' . Yet , the question never answered was why the pilot kept flying when the weather was so bad he could not see where he was going . To complicate the work of the investigators
In the Garang helicopter crash there is the safety record of the family of helicopters that include the Mi-172. The downed Mi- 172 was one of the two acquired by Uganda in 1997 directly from its manufacturer Kazan helicopters of Russia .Essentially , the Mi-172 is an executive upgrade of the workhorse the Mi-8 identifiable from the latter by the additional air filters on the turbine air intakes , as well as left hand side mounted tail rotor .
The Uganda Mi-172 was fitted with the latest navigational electronics including the advanced moving map system (AMMS) which supports live satellite information feed for easy navigation in all weather conditions at night and during the day. It also had GPS (Global Positioning Systems) that continuously plotted the helicopters position, its course, speed and exact time. Finally, it was equipped with Terrain Awareness and Warning System (TAWS) to sense terrain changes from flat to mountainous and to provide insistent warning. In short, as they say on the street, this machine could virtually fly itself back home without any help. The problem though, keeping in mind that there are around 12,000 Mi-8 variants deployed world wide, is questionable safety records of the Mi-8 the Mi-17 and Mi-172 .In the last five years alone, there have been more than two dozens accidents involving the Mi-8 or its of spring the Mi-17 and the Mi-172. This year alone there have been at least eight serious accidents involving the Russian helicopters. Here is a list. On July 30 2005 an executive class Mi-172 carrying Sudanese Vice President John Garang crashed at The Uganda – Sudan border killing all aboard.
On July 25, 2005, the Sudanese government Mi-17 crashed in Sudan's western Darfur region, killing all 19 people on board.
On June 21, 2005, 14 Indian army personnel were injured when an Mi-17 helicopter crashed after hitting the tree in Poonch district in Kashmir.
On July 16, 2005, an Mi-8 Russian helicopter crashed in a mountainous area of Southern Chechnya, killing 8 people. On June 2 2005, a Mi-17 crashed in Everest base camp injuring several people.
On March 29 2005, several Russian servicemen suffered injuries when an Mi-8 helicopter crashed a 100 kilometers from Dushanbe in Tajikistan.
On March 22 2005, 2 people died when an Mi-8 helicopter crashed in Chechnya Grozny district. On January 25 2005, 2 Mi-17 helicopters of the Mexican (FAM) collided in flight near Mexico City killing 5 crew members and wounding 3.
So, was it pilot error, mechanical failure, bad weather or a combination of several factors that doomed the helicopter that killed John Garang? The short answer is that it will likely never be fully explained left for ever dangling as a sad footnote in the history of post – colonial African struggle.
Article from New Vision Online Division
Ragaa Makkawi
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ragaa makkawi
فيس بوك
تويتر
انستقرام
يوتيوب
بنتيريست