Stephen Mburu
29 June 2008
Nairobi — The pilot who perished in a plane crash in Narok with two ministers and a minister's aide could have relied on his own eyes to navigate the aircraft. According to his former college mate, the pilot was conversant with the area.
Captain Peter Verheyen said his friend, Captain Christoph Schnerr, could have found it unnecessary to use a guided flight plan to Narok, although the aircraft was equipped with flight instruments.
Captain Schnerr owned the six-seat chartered Cessna 210E that he had purchased in the United States in 2006.
He had leased the aircraft to Wilson Airport-based Skytrade. He and his passengers died when the aircraft crashed in a hill in Enoosupukia area on June 10. The pilot's body is awaiting cremation.
Investigating accident
A four-member team led by the head of the Aircraft Accident Investigations Unit, Mr Peter Wakahia, is looking into events surrounding the crash. Other team members are Mr Anthony Kirokien, Mr Enos Ndoli and Mr Peter Munyao.
Mr Wakahia has since said that the report on the cause of the crash would be ready in three months.
On Wednesday the government attributed the crash to a technical problem and human error.
Transport assistant minister Harun Mwau told Parliament: "The pilot was using visual aids. In other words, he was to see the skyline so that he could detect where there was a mountain. He was flying at 8,000 feet above sea level before the crash."
On the same day Captain Verheyen, a pilot with Aeronav Air Services, gave the Sunday Nation an interview on his relationship with the deceased.
The interview at Aeronav's offices at Wilson Airport's was interrupted for about an hour when the Wakahia team arrived to question Captain Verheyen on the condition of the crash aircraft.
Aircraft cockpit
Captain Verheyen, who showed the team pictures of the aircraft cockpit, told the Sunday Nation that he and Captain Schnerr had attended Sun State Aviation College in Florida in the United States for advanced flight courses.
Captain Schnerr bought the aircraft there, and the two men took turns flying it to Mombasa over a period of 75 hours; 35 of them on instruments through clouds, guided from various control towers in different countries.
They took two weeks to overfly 14 countries in North America, Europe and Africa. The trip began in Florida on May 26, and ended in Mombasa on June 11. Two years later, a trip from Wilson to Narok would end tragically in Ennoosupukia.
Captain Verheyen, a Belgian, said contrary to reports, his friend was not a tourist but an investor in the Kenyan aviation industry.
He said that his friend was a highly-qualified pilot married to a Kenyan woman, Immaculate Kanini.
According to Captain Verheyen, his friend sold a pharmacy back home in Germany and had settled in Kwale.
"Chris was a pharmacist in Germany. He sold his pharmacy and came to invest in Kenya. He built a house in Diani seven years ago. He was not a tourist. He also had a clean record," he said.
He explained that the only run-in his friend had with authorities was when the two were held by aviation officials in Mombasa after arriving from Florida in 2006 following "confusion" of their flight numbers between Addis Ababa and Mombasa.
"We were at the KCAA (Kenya Civil Aviation Authority) offices for only an hour before everything was sorted out," he said.
Captain Verheyen said it would be insincere for anyone to claim that a pilot who had safely flown an aircraft from Florida to Mombasa could be unqualified.
"It is totally impossible for an unlicenced pilot to fly out of the United States. There is no kitu kidogo (bribery)," he said.
He said that although the aircraft was manufactured in 1965, it was as good as new.
Engine overhaul
"Aircraft are checked after 50 hours, 100 hours and yearly. They usually get an engine overhaul. They are always as good as new," he explained.
Captain Schnerr's aircraft initially bore a United States registration number. But Captain Verheyen said his friend had to change the registration number from 5Y-BUM to 5Y BVE, partly because some pilots would use the initials (BUM) to imply the pilot was poor and irresponsible.
"He told me the name had derogatory meaning. Other pilots would taunt him as being poor and irresponsible," said Captain Verheyen.
The managing director of Aeronav Air Services, Captain Joseph Ririani, said it was unfair for critics to imply that Captain Schnerr was inexperienced.
"It is not fair to make the pilot look like a crook. He was highly qualified," he said.
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