The Accident Investigation Bureau has said that the Opebi Helicopter crash Investigation may be delayed as the aircraft has no black box.
The investigating body in charge of all aviation-related accidents and incidents in Nigeria said the black box that could have recorded what transpired on the aircraft, including the pilot’s last conversation is not a component of the aircraft’s model.
Recall that the Bell 206-B3 helicopter with Nationality Registration marked 5N-BQW crashed on Friday at Salvation Road, Opebi, in the Ikeja area of Lagos State.
AIB said the investigation process would have been faster if the model of the aircraft carried a black box.
The agency has, however, commenced investigation without the black box.
In a statement, AIB urged eyewitnesses to aid its investigation to unravel circumstances which led to the crash by contacting them on their social media platform.
They said, “We want the public to know that we would be amenable to receiving any video clip, relevant evidence, or information any members of the public may have of the accident; that can assist us with this investigation.”
According to a Punch report on the incident, AIB General Manager, Public Affairs, Tunji Oketumbi, said, “It is not every aircraft that carries black boxes, especially helicopters, some of them have but some of them don’t have based on the manufacturer’s design. But in this case, the Bell 206-B3 helicopter did not carry any black box”.
“A black box is just to show us the way and shorten the duration of the investigation and narrow the process but we can still do an investigation without it”.
