So sad the whole event! Really does take the fun and pleasure of flying in Africa when things like this happen. My thoughts are with the families and friends involved.
Pointer41- I agree with you that we must all stick together and learn from this! We do not know what went wrong yet, and it is always easy in hind sight to speculate. But I do feel that having flown in many a region around this treacharous continent including the Kivu region, that not enough emphasis is based on regional knowledge. The so called contract pilots do not have a very good reputation in the well established airline, more SOP orientated environment, and yet they are a special breed of pilots that make do with the little support and information available to them. The dispatch rate of aircraft on contract is too high considering what the real operating minima would be in the more controlled Airline or Charter market. I have been there and done that many a day with several of the African contract operators and been lucky to live to tell the story. Companies are too money driven to get contracts and make profit to actually stop and take time to think how they could improve safety. Hour requirements drop each year and more and more inexperienced crew are placed to do the job that years ago high hour crew were doing. Crew get hired with lower experience then ever before and are put in the field to fill shoes of much more experienced ones. There is no short cut to experience!
It all ofcourse boils down to time and money again on the companies behalf. But with us crew not enough regional knowledge is passed on from more experienced crew to new arrivals. There are regions on the continent that I have been placed into by several operators to do a job with no handover. As crew you have to try and absorb as much information from other operators in the area and try and survive. Operatators should place more emphasis on passing required important operational information to new crews.
It is hard to do but still there should be more open discussions on region specific advice. In the deepest darkest corner its the inside/infield information that allow for the task on hand to be completed safely. Operating minima take a whole new meaning when out in the field.
Contract flying has improved over the last decade and has become more SOP orientated with better maintenance. It is only due to the good operating skills and judgement of each experienced pilot out there that there have not been more accidents and incidents.
Lets learn from this and prevent future accidents!
In Africa there is always tomorrow... no pressure pilots!
KESHO