Saitoti probe: VIP air travel faulted
PHOTO | JENNIFER MUIRURI Mrs Margaret Saitoti (right), the widow of former Internal Security minister George Saitoti, with a relative during the Ngong helicopter crash inquiry at the KICC in Nairobi on November 6, 2012. NATION MEDIA GROUP
By VINCENT AGOYA vagoya@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted Wednesday, November 7 2012 at 00:30
IN SUMMARY
- In countries with a travel policy in place, the commission was told, pilots flying VIPs would be the best trained and highest rated
- Special operators would also be identified for the task, Saitoti family lawyer Fredrick Ngatia said
- The remarks emerged during a presentation by Captain Isaac Munyi, an aviation expert who agreed with the lawyer that VIP transport in the country was being managed in a casual and ad-hoc basis
Kenya lacks a VIP air transport policy rendering travel a make-shift arrangement between operators and their passengers, the commission investigating the Ngong helicopter crash in which Internal Security minister George Saitoti was killed heard on Tuesday.
In countries with a travel policy in place, the commission was told, pilots flying VIPs would be the best trained and highest rated.
Special operators would also be identified for the task, Saitoti family lawyer Fredrick Ngatia said.
The remarks emerged during a presentation by Captain Isaac Munyi, an aviation expert who agreed with the lawyer that VIP transport in the country was being managed in a casual and ad-hoc basis.
Mr Munyi had been requested to advise the commission on general aviation, focusing on training of pilots and the challenges of maintaining safety standards in the industry.
The witness repeatedly assured the commission that his presentation had no bearing on the June 10 accident and neither was he making allusions to what may have caused the crash.
He also said he had not been requested by the commission to make an input on the VIP transport policy and the type of helicopters recommended for police operations.
Denying a suggestion by Mr Ngatia that he intended to skew his discussions in a particular way to influence the commission, Mr Munyi reiterated that “he was not a party to the selection of topics and had merely been approached to give information as an expert.”
The commission heard that the national regulator, Kenya Civil Aviation Authority, had been having problems with organisations challenging its authority on safety issues.
During cross-examination by KCAA lawyer Kennedy Ogeto, the witness said challenges of maintaining standards stretch from ingrained retrogressive organisational cultures to outright resistance to new ideas.
He said a study had shown that most aviators had been resistant to new standards introduced to regulate air safety in the country.
The captain said training facilities in the country were deplorable and churned out half-baked graduates.
He added that students enrolled for such courses must meet strict selection requirements, including mental aptitude tests aside from the medical and academic qualifications as has been the case locally.
Mr Munyi said that employers ought to align knowledge to specific aircraft and provide the manuals to guide competent handling of the machines.
Also killed in the June 10 crash were Prof Saitoti’s assistant Orwa Ojodeh, their two bodyguards and two pilots.
Saitoti probe: VIP air travel faulted
PHOTO | JENNIFER MUIRURI Mrs Margaret Saitoti (right), the widow of former Internal Security minister George Saitoti, with a relative during the Ngong helicopter crash inquiry at the KICC in Nairobi on November 6, 2012. NATION MEDIA GROUP
By VINCENT AGOYA vagoya@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted Wednesday, November 7 2012 at 00:30
Posted Wednesday, November 7 2012 at 00:30
IN SUMMARY
- In countries with a travel policy in place, the commission was told, pilots flying VIPs would be the best trained and highest rated
- Special operators would also be identified for the task, Saitoti family lawyer Fredrick Ngatia said
- The remarks emerged during a presentation by Captain Isaac Munyi, an aviation expert who agreed with the lawyer that VIP transport in the country was being managed in a casual and ad-hoc basis
Kenya lacks a VIP air transport policy rendering travel a make-shift arrangement between operators and their passengers, the commission investigating the Ngong helicopter crash in which Internal Security minister George Saitoti was killed heard on Tuesday.
In countries with a travel policy in place, the commission was told, pilots flying VIPs would be the best trained and highest rated.
Special operators would also be identified for the task, Saitoti family lawyer Fredrick Ngatia said.
The remarks emerged during a presentation by Captain Isaac Munyi, an aviation expert who agreed with the lawyer that VIP transport in the country was being managed in a casual and ad-hoc basis.
Mr Munyi had been requested to advise the commission on general aviation, focusing on training of pilots and the challenges of maintaining safety standards in the industry.
The witness repeatedly assured the commission that his presentation had no bearing on the June 10 accident and neither was he making allusions to what may have caused the crash.
He also said he had not been requested by the commission to make an input on the VIP transport policy and the type of helicopters recommended for police operations.
Denying a suggestion by Mr Ngatia that he intended to skew his discussions in a particular way to influence the commission, Mr Munyi reiterated that “he was not a party to the selection of topics and had merely been approached to give information as an expert.”
The commission heard that the national regulator, Kenya Civil Aviation Authority, had been having problems with organisations challenging its authority on safety issues.
During cross-examination by KCAA lawyer Kennedy Ogeto, the witness said challenges of maintaining standards stretch from ingrained retrogressive organisational cultures to outright resistance to new ideas.
He said a study had shown that most aviators had been resistant to new standards introduced to regulate air safety in the country.
The captain said training facilities in the country were deplorable and churned out half-baked graduates.
He added that students enrolled for such courses must meet strict selection requirements, including mental aptitude tests aside from the medical and academic qualifications as has been the case locally.
Mr Munyi said that employers ought to align knowledge to specific aircraft and provide the manuals to guide competent handling of the machines.
Also killed in the June 10 crash were Prof Saitoti’s assistant Orwa Ojodeh, their two bodyguards and two pilots.
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