Ghana Air Force helicopters grounded

Defence Minister Dr Kwame Addo Kufuor on Tuesday ordered a thorough investigation into the causes of the crash of the Ghana Air Force helicopter and instructed that all others in the service be grounded and thoroughly checked to prevent a similar incidence.

The manufacturers of the Agusta Bell helicopter that crashed and their local agents have been requested to assist the Ghana Armed Forces in reviewing the current state of the helicopters, Dr Addo Kufuor said when he briefed the media at Burma Camp in Accra.

He said all other aircrafts of the GAF were also to undergo stringent examinations to ensure their airworthiness and to forestall future accidents. The Minister denied that the move was an indication that the GAF's aircrafts were obsolete and said, "when such incidents happen, the standard procedure is to thoroughly examine other aircrafts for defects".

He commended the Chief of Defence Staff, Lieutenant General Seth Obeng, the Air Force Commander, Air Vice Marshall Edward Mantey, other service Commanders, the Police, Ghana National Fire Service, Forestry Commission, members of the search and rescue team as well as the chiefs and people of Bomaa, Sagyimase and Asiakwa for their efforts in locating the crash site and to retrieve the bodies of the deceased.

The Minister advised the media to be more circumspect in their reportage of such tragedies, saying; "Some of the photographs on the front pages of some of the dailies would only serve to aggravate the suffering of the families of the deceased".

He said at a later date, a decent burial would be accorded the deceased in recognition of their "sacrifice". Air Vice Marshall Mantey said at no point would an aircraft take off without going through a set of chronological checks and that the pilots of the crashed helicopter went through all these checks before the flight, adding that this had been documented.

Asked why the helicopter could not be found on radar, he said the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority's radar covers the whole country but the helicopter was flying rather low making it impossible to detect its whereabouts.

He said there was no black box - flight and cockpit data recorder- on the aircraft because helicopters normally did not have them adding that as a result it would be difficult to determine the cause of the crash. The Air Force Commander said other aircrafts particularly the Fokker 27 and 28 in service were all equipped with flight and cockpit data recorders.