Saitoti pilot certified by untrained instructor

Saitoti pilot certified by untrained instructor

FRIDAY, 03 AUGUST 2012 00:03 BY CAROL VUTAGWA AND MAXWELL MASAVA

ADMISSION: Capt Sigilai

An untrained examiner certified the pilot of the helicopter that crashed on June 10 killing Internal Security minister George Saitoti, his deputy Orwa Ojode and four other government officers. Captain Nancy Gituanja, who died in the crash, was certified by former Air Force pilot Evans Sigalai on November 23, 2009 and scored a "high average" score on her ability and skill in flying helicopters. That was the highest grade possible, the others being "average" and "below average". The test was done at the Wilson Airport.

Under cross-examination, Captain Sigilai yesterday said he was appointed by the Kernya Civil Aviation Authority to supervise and examine Capt Gituanja even though he was neither a trained instructor nor examiner. Sigilai retired from the Air Force in 2005. Sigilai was being cross-examined by his former boss and now commissioner, Maj (Rtd) Harold Tangai, who pressed him hard to tell the commission whether he was a trained instructor or examiner.

Sigilai said he examined the pilot using the Bell 206 model copter and found her performance satisfactory. He found her to be above average in most subjects including the handling of fire drills, engine failure, electric and hydraulic malfunctioning. Gituanja scored "good" in hover manoeuvring although most of the scores were based on theory rather than practical. Sigilai said they did not have a grading system to show the marks scored by candidates instead of "below average", "average" and "above average" ranking.

Sigilai was pressured by the Saitoti family lawyer Fred Ngatia who wanted to know whether the one-hour he spent examining Gituanja was enough to have certified her as a helicopter pilot. Sigilai said he knew Gituanja and had met her before the examination day. He said she had clocked only 220 of flying hours then. Sigilai said he did not have a standardised manual but relied heavily on the training manual provided by the manufacturing companies to train and examine local pilots.

He said there was a shortage of helicopter training instructors and pilots and Kenya had only one certified helicopter instructor and examiner — Çaptain Solo Nyanjui. He said Nyanjui was away at the time he was called to examine Gituanja. “Maybe the authorisation was based on experience since some of us pilots have done more than 20 years of flying and we can be called upon when instructors are not there,” said Sigilai.

Sigilai, who was also a member of the tender evaluation committee that recommended the purchase of the Eurocopter, said among the factors considered was the aircraft's cruising speed, shaft horsepower and seating capacity besides the costs. He described as a "typing error" the discrepancy in the tender document which indicated the Bell 407 copter is manually propelled; it's actually automatic, just as the Eurocopter.

Sigilai declined to comment on the nearly 60 per cent discrepancies in the tender document which were exposed by Ngatia who claimed the tendering process might have been done to favour the Eurocopter instead of the Bell 407 which met all specifications given except for the cost. The Police Air Wing acquired the Eurocopter at Sh272 million knocking out Africair Inc which wanted to supply the Bell 407 valued at Sh315 million. The hearing, chaired by Appeals Court judge Kalpana Rawal, resumes this morning with the seventh witness expected to testify.