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Kenya: Bad Weather Likely Factor in Crash, Says Pilot
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The Nation (Nairobi)
15 June 2008
Posted to the web 16 June 2008
David Okwemba
Nairobi
A pilot who flew over Enoosupukia an hour before the doomed plane carrying Cabinet minister Kipkalya Kones has described the weather conditions in the area at the time as "horrible".
Captain Solomon Nyanjui of the Kenya Wildlife Service said: "The weather was very bad. I could hardly see beyond three kilometers".
Mr Kones, Home Affairs assistant minister Lorna Labosos and two others, were killed when their plane, a chartered Cessna 210E, ploughed into a hillside.
The pilot of a fixed wing plane flying without instruments, such as the Cessna 210, is required by aviation regulations to be able to see eight kilometers ahead. If visibility is less than eight kilometers, the pilot is required to turn back, according to Captain Nyanjui.
"I managed to get through the fog in my helicopter by flying low and because I have good knowledge of the terrain", the KWS pilot said.
The plane, operated by Skytrade of Wilson Airport was flying at 9000 feet above sea level, according to a statement by the Transport ministry, when the accident occurred at 2.45 p.m. on Tuesday.
On Friday the head of the Aircraft Accident Investigations Unit Engineer Peter Wakahia said the report on the actual cause of the air crash will be ready in three months.
The accident is being investigated by Mr Wakahia, Mr Anthony Kirokien, Mr Enos Ndoli and Mr Peter Munyao.
According to the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) regulations, western bound planes flying without instruments fly at three levels of 8,500, 10,500 and 12,500 feet above sea level.
Any flight that exceeds 14,500 feet above sea level must be operated using instruments.
A source at the KCAA, who did not wish to be quoted commenting on an issue under investigation, told Sunday Nation that for any fixed plane to go through the route, the pilot must be flying over 10,500 feet above sea level.
"Melili Mountain and the Mau Escarpment stand at 10,165 feet above sea level", the source added. Mount Longonot is 9110 feet above sea level.
The plane's pilot, Schner Christopher, was reported to have been flying at 9,000 feet above sea level at the time of the crash.
Efforts by the Sunday Nation to get access to the pilot's flight plan proved futile as the document had been taken by the investigators, according to KCAA spokesman Mutia Mwandikwa. But he confirmed that the pilot had filed his flight plan as required by the KCAA.
The chief executive of the Kenya Association of Air Operators Col (rtd) E. K. Waithaka said although the pilot of the ill-fated plane was a German national, he had a Kenyan license. He said KCAA was making all efforts to ensure the aviation industry in Kenya met international standards.
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"Kenya and South Africa have highly regulated standards in Africa. Kenya has fairly safe air transport", Col Waithaka said when asked whether Kenya had compromised its safety standards.
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