Survivor recounts ordeal

THE sole survivor of the helicopter crash on Sept 13 has told investigators that the pilot encountered bad weather before the incident four nautical miles south east of Silur Mission on New Ireland.
According to a preliminary report by the Accident Investigation Commission (AIC), the (unnamed) passenger on the helicopter flying from Buka on Bougainville to Tokua in East New Britain said the pilot tried to divert to the nearest land.
The pilot and the passenger were the only two on board.
“The passenger informed the AIC investigators that they flew through bad weather and had to divert to the nearest land on the south east of New Ireland province,” the report stated.
“The cloud was very low and visibility was significantly reduced because of the rain.”
The helicopter however did not make it to its destination and crashed into the sea.
“The passenger was uninjured and swam to shore. The pilot was fatally injured and his body was later found in the water by local residents, about 200 meters from the impact point.”
The Airbus Helicopters BK117 C-1 helicopter registered P2-TAH was operated by Tribal Aurora Helicopters.
The PNG pilot had more than 11,500 hours of flying experience.
It left Buka airport at about 10.15am and was expected to arrive at Tokua airport at 1.25pm.
“At 00:45, the pilot made a routine report to Air Traffic Services that his operations were normal, below 5,000 feet and he was estimating arrival at Tokua at 1.25pm,” the report stated.
But the flight track data on Spidertracks showed that the aircraft had diverted from its planned track about 50 nautical miles north-west of Buka.
“The helicopter failed to arrive at Tokua and wreckage of the helicopter was subsequently located approximately 0.9 nautical miles off the coast about four nautical miles south east of Silur Mission.”
AIC Chief Commissioner Hubert Namani said the purpose of the investigations was not to apportion blame or liability. “Fact based statements in the report should not be interpreted as apportioning blame,” Namani said.
“The investigation is continuing and will include all circumstances surrounding the accident including, but not limited to the flight operations, maintenance, weather, human factors and post-accident survival aspects.”