Visibility was poor at time of plane crash -Ghana Meteo Agency

Last Saturday night’s disaster which claimed the lives of ten persons on board a passenger bus around the El-Wak Sports Stadium in Accra has been attributed to many factors such as complacency on the part of the pilot and poor weather conditions at the time the accident occurred.

The accident, which involved a Nigerian Allied Air Boeing 727-200 cargo plane and a 207 Benz bus, has got many questioning the credibility of the Ghana Meteorological Agency with regards to communicating weather conditions to the air traffic control room at the Kotoka International Airport.

However, Senior Meteorologist at the Ghana Meteorological Agency, Muller Tsatsu Siameh, has come clear that at the time of the incident, the GMA had communicated clearly to the pilot.

He explained Monday on e.tv Ghana’s morning show, Awake, that the rain fall pattern at the time had changed from slight rainfalls to moderate rainfall, which according to him, had the possibility to impair the visibility of the pilot.

“In the hour, visibility was low and GMA communicated it effectively. Visibility was less than 10km and so that could be a possible factor to the accident,” he explained.

Throwing more light on the accident being caused probably due to complacency on the part of the pilot, Mr Siameh did not dispel the possibility, indicating that, the pilots never relent on the efforts to get weather information from the air traffic control room.

“Every 30 minutes we give them the weather update. When the weather is bad we warn them and they take their own decision. They never relent on their efforts,” he said.

Paired in the studio with Mr Siameh was a pilot, Captain Nasser Sinare, who has had 20 years of experience as a pilot in and out of Ghana.

Preliminary reports by the Ghana Airport Company indicated that the airplane landed in a pool of water creating some challenges for the pilot.

Others have also called for the relocation of the airport due to the up springing of high rising buildings.

However, Captain Sinare thinks otherwise saying, “the Kotoka runway is one of the best in Africa. The runway is not short. It is about 3400 metres long.Ghana is one of the few countries in Africa with a radar and Ghana has one of the safest airspace in the world.”

He also admitted that such an occurrence considering the making factors which could have led to the crash was unavoidable since the El-Wak Stadium is very close to the end of the runway.

He also explained that the pilot could have had a sudden take off, adding that “I believe the air traffic control gave the pilot clearance to land.”

The Nigerian Allied Air Boeing 727-200 cargo plane, according to preliminary reports from the Ghana Airports Company, “overshot the runway" in an attempt to land at the Kotoka International Airport.

It was confirmed that, having overshot the runway, it was unable to stop and crashed through the airport's fence, into oncoming traffic including a loaded passenger bus, which has incurred the majority of recorded casualties at present.

Meanwhile, a five member committee chaired by Captain Alex Sam has been set up by the Ministry of Roads and Transport to investigate the cause of the accident and come out with recommendations.

Jasmine Arku / etvghana.com