Report Reveals Cause of Chopper Crash That Killed DP Ruto's Pilot
The helicopter, owned by (KIDL), crashed with five people on board. Four were American nationals and one (the pilot) was a Kenyan, Capt. Marious Magonga, who was the pilot to Deputy President William Ruto.
Marvin Chege 
Transport Cabinet Secretary James Macharia on Wednesday, March 10, released an investigation report on the crash of the Bell 505 helicopter in Turkana County.
The crash occurred at the Central Island National Park in Lake Turkana, Turkana County on March 3, 2019.
CS Macharia slammed darkness, the pilot’s unfamiliarity with the helicopter, and also on the pilot’s negligence in the crash that killed 5 people.
“Investigations of the accident involving 5Y-KDL determined the facts, conditions, and circumstances of the accident and concluded that the accident was most likely due to the pilot’s spatial disorientation in the dark night conditions that led to the loss of control of the aircraft and subsequent inflight collision with terrain.
“Another contributing factor to the accident was the initiation of the flight without a comprehensive pre-flight evaluation, consequently assigning the flight to a pilot who was not in conformance with the necessary flight experience requirement of the aircraft type,” the CS said.
The investigation on what caused the crash was conducted by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Department (AAID). The department also issued safety recommendations in its Final Report to Helicopter manufacturers and Kwae Island Development Limited (KIDL).
The recommendations include manufacturers fitting turbine-powered helicopters with crash-resistance systems to record flight data, cockpit audio as well as images.
KIDL was tasked to ensure compliance with their approved procedures and the enhancement of training of flight crew in threat management.
The helicopter, owned by (KIDL), crashed with five people on board. Four were American nationals and one (the pilot) was a Kenyan, Capt. Marious Magonga, who was the pilot to Deputy President William Ruto.
The four Americans were identified as Andres Asher, Jesiah Burke, Brandon Howe, and Kyle John Forti. Capt. Magonga had been trained in the Kenya Defence Forces(KDF) and recorded more than 5,500 hours of experience on single and multi-engine types.
At the time of the crash, the helicopter was headed to Lobolo camp from Lake Turkana.
According to the Director-General of the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) Gilbert Kibe, rescuers found the wreckage early morning of March 4, 2019.
“Shortly after take-off, unfortunately, one of the helicopters, a Bell 505, registration 5Y-KDL, lost contact and crashed on the island,” Kibe said.
