The scene of the crash where Kenya's Internal security Ministers and  other four members perished.  Photo courtesy

Kenya has witnessed many deaths of senior government officials in light aircrafts. The skies have become a symbol of death as opposed to the convenience, safety and speed associated with air travel. These deaths have given birth to speculations, myths and even suggestions that cast fear to air travelers.

As the appointed team by the president embarks on the investigation into the police helicopter accident that saw the country lose two Internal Security ministers and four other crew, one thing they must take into account is that the aviation world does not operate in an environment where absolutes are achievable. It is impossible to bring all variables that can precipitate an accident or incident under control.  Accidents have happened in the past and will continue to happen as long as man and machine interact. Hazards will remain an integral component of aviation. Failures and errors will occur despite the best efforts to prevent them.

It’s against this perspective that the foul play assertion by most politicians is misplaced during this phase of the investigation. Such irresponsible outbursts should not be entertained and must be backed by facts from investigation, unless the politicians are privy to some information about the accident that the general public is not aware.

Justice Rawal’s team should adopt a holistic approach towards the investigation, as events that lead to an accident are extremely complex and in most cases  combined. According to James Reason’s Model, rarely, is an accident a consequence of a single point failure, but rather, a combination of both latent and active failures. The police helicopter crash is just but a trigger of events that should have been dealt with earlier, and presents the country with an opportunity to reassess its aviation operational environment right from the Ministry of Transport through to the Civil Aviation Authority and all the way to the detailed flight plan and path of the ill fated police helicopter.

The answers to the crash may not necessarily be found on what happened on the morning of 10th June, but on events, activities and omissions far removed from that morning and place of the accident. As already revealed by some media houses, despite the helicopter not having insurance, it continued with flight operations and was even tasked to ferry VIPs.  This fact provides telling insight into the safety culture of not only the police air wing but also a number of government run service providers.

The revelation should direct the investigation team to audit how far the Police Air wing operations deviated from the organization’s Philosophy, policies and procedures and what exactly was or is the actual practice on the ground when conducting daily flight operations. It is highly probable even at this early stage that some organizational factors may have contributed to the accident.

How would you explain why an established organization such as the Police Air wing would fly without insurance? Many organizations seem to have succumbed to economic hazards brought about by recession, cost of materials and fuel prices. But for government affiliates as the Kenya police, the hazards seem to include bureaucracy.

The economic hazards have led to violations by operators as they try to optimize devices to continue with same operations but at low cost through purchase of cheaper spare parts, reduction in training and even salary cuts among others. All these have negative outcome that the pilots and operators are well aware of, but while it is easy for a civil pilot to refuse a flight with flimsy excuses, military and police pilots may find themselves under undue pressure to take flights that they would rather not. The consequences for turning down a flight especially VIP flights may result in dire repercussions from top management.  In some cases, flights have been conducted amid recurrent hazards to the extent that the hazards are considered normal. 

The Ministry of transport and in particular the KCAA is mandated to ensure that flights conducted by all licensed operators comply with the regulations and no violations are entertained from government or commercial air service providers. All service providers including those aligned to the government, as the Police Air wing should be required to implement a Safety Management System (SMS) and ensure their crews are conversant with safety and human factor issues affecting flights. This will go along way in ensuring that flights are operated within safety margins. Yet another setback is that most Kenyan flying schools are yet to introduce human factors and safety courses as separate units where graduates should be presented with licenses that would require periodic renewals just as the Pilot licenses.

The ministry of transport on the other hand should show how far it has gone in implementing the State Safety Programme as required by the international Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). The Programme provides safety operational minimums that should be subscribed by the various Air service providers including the Kenya Police. The KCAA should also be put to task and show how they have been carrying out the safety oversights, inspections, audits and ensuring compliance by all operators. It is without question that such an investigation will find loopholes that need to be repaired to minimize future accidents.

While the investigation team may find itself under immense pressure from both the politicians and the general public to come up with results that apportion blame.

They should be guided by Annex 13 to the Chicago Convention, ICAO Charter which states that the purpose of air accident investigation is to prevent future accident and not to apportion blame or liability. The team should seek information on what, who and when events leading to the accident happened or did not, but their focus and emphasis should be on why and how certain occurrences led to the accident. Their recommendations should be objective and must be made available to the general public who are rarely informed of air investigation findings.

As for the politicians, general public and aviation stakeholders, it’s important that they realize that this is not the first air crash and neither will it be the last, as there is no such thing as absolute safety. Every time we board a flight, there is a chance that anything may go wrong. The aviation organizations and front line operators can only work to postpone incidents and accident, but occasionally, the barriers break and accident will occur.

Our country has the unfortunate reputation of not learning important lessons when faced with such tragedies.  It is imperative that this accident present the aviation industry with an opportunity to improve standards, control and streamline operations leading to reduction of risks to as low as reasonably practical and ensure that if accident take place, the severity is mitigated. The deaths of the minister and his deputy together with the crew and body guards must not be in vain.

By Maj (R) Edward Kadima Lutta
The author is former helicopter Pilot and holds a Master of Aviation Management (MaAvMgt)
Email: [email protected]