On the 5th of March, 2021, a
Robinson R44 helicopter crashed in the outskirts of Xumabee near
Sojwe in
Botswana. There were two people onboard the
R44: The pilot, Leonard Matenje, director for Air Technology Services, treasurer of Professional Hunters Association and the Botswana Wildlife Producers Association, who survived, and Sasa Klaas, a Motswana musician, who died at the scene.
Aircraft
The helicopter involved in the accident was a Robinson R44, with registration ZS-SBM. The helicopter was previously involved in a minor accident the resulted in the left skid collapsing. The cause of this accident was the result of a student performing an auto-rotation landing with decaying rotor RPM.
Investigation
The Ministry of Transport and Communications released a statement stating the Directorate of Accident Investigation in the ministry and the
Civil Aviation Authority of Botswana had started to investigate into the accident.
According to the final report released by the Directorate of Accident Investigation in the ministry, the report stated that:
"The probable cause of this occurrence was the helicopter's tail rotor colliding with terrain and leading to the helicopter's crash."
Contributing factors include:
-Flying low (i.e. at tree-top level) in a compromised visibility due to inadequate
natural lighting (i.e. approximately 1 hour after sunset), with the possibility of
spatial disorientation
Spatial disorientation results in a person being unable to determine their position or relative motion, commonly occurring during periods of challenging visibility, since vision is the dominant sense for orientation. The auditory system, vestibular ...
and/or
substance influence.
-The pilot in command's first late arrival at the Ranch, compounded by the fact that during
training at Hover Dynamics, according to documentation all his night flying was
dual flying (and nothing solo), whereas he was also aided by the cosmopolitan
street lighting and other sources of light as compared to Western Sand Veld.
-The fact that the PIC departed Matsieng Airstrip rather late in the afternoon of
the day of the occurrence flight (i.e. Friday, 5 March 2021).
See also
*
List of accidents and incidents involving helicopters
This article is a list of accidents and incidents involving helicopters and which are notable enough to have an article on Wikipedia. It is grouped by the years in which the accidents and incidents occurred.
1968
*22 May – Sikorsky S-61L N3 ...
*
List of fatalities from aviation accidents
References
{{Authority control
2021 in Botswana
Aviation accidents and incidents in Botswana
Aviation accidents and incidents in 2021
Accidents and incidents involving helicopters
March 2021 events in Africa
Kweneng District