Bristow chopper crash: Pilot called for help twice, says AIB

The Accident Investigation Bureau, AIB, yesterday said that the pilot of the Bristow Helicopter crash that occurred on February 3, where all the eleven passengers were rescued called for help twice, adding that the first was declared by the crew at the 78 Nautical Miles from Lagos when he complained of instrument problems.

Disclosing this development at the AIB headquarters at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA, Lagos, AIB Commissioner Felix Abali, added that the aircraft descended from 3,000 feet to 1,500 feet noting that at that time, it was the Flying Officer, FO, who was the Pilot Flying, PF.

According to him "The Captain took over control expecting to stabilize the helicopter but the aircraft was not responding to control inputs."

The pilot again called for help from the Radio Operator at the offshore platform, which was relayed by two separate aircraft.

One aircraft was following the communication and relayed the ditching, which occurred at 10:20am at 29 Nautical Miles away from the platform.”

The AIB boss also said it will send some of the black boxes abroad to determine the actual cause of the crash. Abali further pointed out that a thorough investigation was on-going to determine the actual cause of the crash adding that the black boxes would be sent outside the country because the AIB equipment at its laboratory in Abuja could not download one of the black boxes.

He said, "The black boxes will be flown outside the country especially one of the boxes that we have is Cockpit Image Recorders, and these boxes, unfortunately, we do not have the equipment to download them here. We are taking them to the United Kingdom (UK) Essential flight recorders will be flown out for downloading while TRIM actuators will be sent to the manufacturers for investigative testing.

"Initial field investigation was carried out by the Accident Investigation Bureau, AIB and vital components relevant to the investigation including Flight Data Recorder FDR/Cockpit Voice Recorder, CVR and the Cockpit Image Recorder, CIR, were retrieved for further investigation."