Saitoti copter ‘caught fire before crash’

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Mr George Sammy Onyango, an engineer, testifies before the commission investigating the Saitoti helicopter crash at KICC in Nairobi on November 2, 2012. Photo/JENNIFER MUIRURI   NATION MEDIA GROUP

By VINCENT AGOYA vagoya@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted  Saturday, November 3  2012 at  00:30

IN SUMMARY

• Flames melted down part holding the hydraulic pump and destabilised control of aircraft, engineer tells commission

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There was a fire in the helicopter carrying former Internal Security minister George Saitoti and five others before the fatal crash, a witness said on Friday.

The fire started in the hydraulic component of the helicopter that crashed, killing Prof Saitoti alongside his deputy Orwa Ojodeh, two pilots and two bodyguards before it came down, an engineer, Mr George Sammy Onyango, said.

The expert told the commission investigating the accident, which is led by Lady Justice Kalpana Rawal, that the fire was intense.

It melted down the part holding the hydraulic pump and destabilised control of the aircraft, he said.

The melt-down resulted in total failure of the helicopter’s parts depending on the hydraulic system, Mr Onyango added.

Mr Onyango, who examined the helicopter’s gearbox  salvaged after the June 10 Ngong accident, said the fire started “in the zone of the hydraulic pump”.

The witness, however, said he did not get to examine the pump itself as it was never found in the debris.

“The localisation of the severity of the effect of the fire lends credence to the theory of pressurised directional flame such as a flame torch,” the expert said.

Severely hit

Mr Onyango said his analysis also showed that the aircraft’s rotor blades moved against an obstacle, creating a significant bend that eventually ended in a brittle-like breakage on impact.

“It was severely hit by something and it broke in a brittle manner. There was a sudden severe force that broke it,” he said.

The engine, he said, was still delivering power at the time of impact and its parts got scorched much later.

Mr Onyango said further examination showed that the fire melted the inside casing and was directed upwards before touching the outer parts.

The witness said his summation of the analysis was that the fire damage occurred before the crash.

He said when he took the gearbox apart he found its units “as good as new”.

The expert said that incomplete  burning of the part caused  carbon monoxide gas.

“It was like combustion in a diesel engine which does not support complete burning,” he told the commission.

He explained that the canister may have been a tubing encasing a part of the aircraft and not necessarily a foreign object.

Lawyer Kennedy Ogeto, representing the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority, said the evidence the engineer adduced had raised crucial angles  in the investigation.

He demanded he be shown other photographs taken at the crash scene and a report on the helicopter’s engine before he is cross-examined next week.

The hearing will continue on Monday. (READ: Saitoti chopper was fitted with ‘fake’ part)