Govt. to send crashed plane’s black box to U.S for probe
He said the investigation committee would investigate and submit the final report after the black box is taken to the laboratory of the manufacturer to determine cause of accident
By James Chatim
The national Minister of Transport, Madut Biar Yel said the black box of the plane that crashed in Unity State will be sent to the United States, the country of the manufacturer to identify the cause of the crash.
He said the investigation committee would investigate and submit the final report after the black box is taken to the laboratory of the manufacturer to determine the cause of the aircraft crash.
“The government is going to take investigation measures by sending a team of Air Crash Investigation Department in the Ministry of Transport and South Sudan Civil Aviation Authority to go and investigate tomorrow morning site investigation,” he said.
“And then now retrieve the black box and voice recorder from the cockpit. Then it will be brought to Juba and will be sent to the country of manufacturer which is the United States to go and actually analyze and read out the cost of the aircraft.
Biar said apparently the Ministry of Transport and South Sudan Civil Aviation Authority so far have not managed to figure out the cause of the plane crash.
On Wednesday, a Beechcraft 1900D operated by Light Air Services, performing a scheduled charter flight, crashed in Unity State, killing 20 of the 21 occupants onboard just three minutes after taking off.
The aircraft was carrying oil workers, transporting them to the capital Juba.
Following the tragic Wednesday crash, various leaders called for investigations to uncover the cause of the accident.
The national Minister of Petroleum, Pout Kang, stated that the government would investigate the incident.
He expressed government’s commitment to cooperating with relevant authorities to ensure that the examination is conducted.
“I am here making a statement after consultation with the leadership of the country, the President, about the incident involving a light air service plane at Unity Oil Field.”
On his part, President Salva Kiir instructed the Ministry of Transport and all relevant authorities to conduct a thorough and swift investigation to determine the cause of the crash and provide answers to the grieving families.
However, the chairperson of the South Sudan Pilots Association, Dau Mayak, challenged the aviation authorities to consider involving professionals in their assessment and investigations into plane crashes.
Speaking to The City Review on Wednesday after the plane accident, Mayak explained that investigations into aviation accidents are essential as they help to avoid repeated crashes from happening in the future. He added that there is need to examine the types of aircrafts that come into the country.
“In some of these investigations, pilots are sometimes not included. We wonder how they conduct these investigations. There has to be an engineer, and a pilot,” he explained.
Prof. Daniel Kwasi Adjekum, an experienced airline pilot, aircraft accident investigator and professor of aviation at the University of Dakota says accident investigation calls for massive collaboration, a process is laid out by the standards and recommended practices in an international agreement called Annex 13 of the Convention on International Civil Aviation.
“That document outlines the process of gathering and analyzing information and drawing conclusions – including determining the causes of a crash and making safety recommendations,” he says.
