Nairobi, Kenya: Two police officers were injured after a chopper they were using for a training mission crashed within Wilson Airport, Nairobi. The chopper was taking off from the airport for a training session with an instructor and a trainee when it went down. It is not clear what caused the accident. Pictures of the chopper after the crash show its tail broken.
Those on board sustained non-life threatening injuries in the 1 pm incident and were taken to hospital. Officials said the helicopter reg 5Y-COP was in good condition at the time of the incident. Emergency services were mobilized at the scene after the incident which also affected the taking off and landing of planes.
The Bell type is one of the choppers that are available for police operations and the accident takes the National Police Service back as it will take long to replace or repair it.
The wreckage was preserved as investigators moved to the site to probe it. Police recently purchased a new helicopter and two other MI-17 helicopters are being refurbished to improve police ability to quickly move troops to any trouble spot and generally improve their mobility.
The National Police- both regular and Administration Police air wing currently has 14 aircrafts- six fixed wing and eight helicopters that provide air support to ground forces including tactical reconnaissance, night reconnaissance, air observation, and casualty evacuation, especially in remote areas.
The Agusta Westlands, an Italian Company was paid Sh683 million in the 2014/2015 financial year for the helicopter that can cruise up to 300kph
