Pilot’s spatial disorientation, negligence, cause of Wigwe’s helicopter crash – Report

A report by the NTSB, a United States National Transportation Safety Board, has concluded its investigation of the helicopter crash involving the late Billionaire Banker, Herbert Wigwe and implicated the pilot’s decision to continue the flight under visual flight rules into instrument meteorological conditions (IMC) as the probable cause of the crash.

On February 9, 2024, Wigwe, the former group chief executive officer (GCEO) of Access Holdings PLC, died in a helicopter crash alongside his wife, Doreen; their first son, Chizi; and Abimbola Ogunbanjo, the former group chairman of Nigerian Exchange Group PLC (NGX Group).

The crash, which occurred in California, near the Nevada border, involved the helicopter with registration N130CZ and claimed the lives of all six passengers on board.

Over a year after the incident, the NTSB report disclosed that the “pilot likely experienced spatial disorientation while maneuvering the helicopter in IMC, which led to his loss of helicopter control and the resulting collision with terrain”.

The report added that the helicopter company’s inadequate oversight of its safety management processes was a contributing cause of the crash.

The NTSB found that the company failed to ensure that pilots accurately completed and updated the flight risk analysis, logged maintenance discrepancies, and adhered to Part 135 regulations before departure.

The investigation report showed that during the return flight, the pilot had texted the director of maintenance (DOM) about an issue with the radar altimeter.

“The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) determines the probable cause of this accident to be: The pilot’s decision to continue the visual flight rules flight into instrument meteorological conditions, which resulted in the pilot’s spatial disorientation and loss of control,” a part of the report said.

“Contributing to the accident was the company’s inadequate oversight of its safety management processes, including ensuring the pilots were accurately completing and updating the flight risk analysis, logging maintenance discrepancies, and ensuring the helicopter met Part 135 regulations before departure.

“During the return flight, the pilot texted the director of maintenance (DOM) about the issue. After arriving at the company’s flight operations base, the pilot discussed the issue with the company flight follower (who was also the company’s president).

“A company mechanic performed some troubleshooting on the radar altimeter; however, he was unable to rectify the issue, and the radar altimeter remained non-functional.

“The mechanic reported that the pilot and the DOM were aware that the radar altimeter was not functioning, yet they departed at 1822 on the positioning flight to pick up the passengers.

“About 40 minutes later, the positioning flight landed at the airport to pick up the charter passengers. After arrival, the pilot and flight follower had a phone conversation and exchanged text messages, but they did not discuss the status of the radar altimeter or weather conditions.”