Chilima crash inquiry: Officer with NO meteorology qualification admits altering weather data for pilots
Members of Parliament investigating the June 10 military aircraft crash that killed former Vice-President Saulos Chilima and eight others turned their fire on Mzuzu Airport officer-in-charge Joseph Moyo on Friday, accusing him of relaying unverified weather information directly to pilots while bypassing the facility’s certified meteorological experts entirely.
Zomba Thondwe MP Dumisani Lindani led a fierce line of questioning, pressing Moyo hard over his lack of formal meteorology qualifications and his decision to alter official weather data being transmitted to the crew of the ill-fated Dornier 228.
“Why did you not alert the experts?”
Lindani demanded to know why Moyo had unilaterally informed the pilots that visibility had dropped to five kilometres, without first alerting the airport’s own resident aviation meteorological officers or formally updating official records.
“You are not an expert and you have changed information of the experts, relaying it to pilots… Why did you not alert the experts after conveying this information, which was different from what the experts had given you?” Lindani demanded.
Moyo admits he holds NO formal meteorology certification
In a striking admission, Moyo confirmed under questioning that he holds no formal certification in meteorology whatsoever.
Defending his actions, he told the committee that weather experts had insisted conditions were clear at 8am, leaving him to make his own visual assessment as visibility appeared to deteriorate later in the morning.
“A very dangerous situation” — MP warns of conflicting testimony
Unconvinced by the explanation, Lindani pressed further, warning that Moyo’s unauthorised intervention had introduced what he described as a “very dangerous situation,” directly conflicting with earlier testimony from meteorological officers who maintained that weather conditions that morning had, in fact, remained acceptable.
Lindani then posed a pointed and uncomfortable question to Moyo, challenging him to consider the potential consequences of his actions.
“Don’t you think that you could be blamed by the experts to say that you gave the pilots wrong information, when the experts are insisting that the information was not in line with what you’re saying?” he asked.
The tense exchange has thrust fresh scrutiny onto the chain of command and decision-making at Mzuzu Airport in the critical moments before the crash, raising troubling questions over whether an unqualified officer’s unilateral weather assessment may have contributed to confusion in the cockpit during the aircraft’s final, fatal approach.
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The line of questioning in this case is wrong. Met weather is updated every 2 hours by qualified personnel. Naturally, at end of all weather reports, there is a trend section which tells pilots about the 2 hours to follow-on the observation. This is general and for the whole control area as opposed to runway conditions. However, controllers are often asked for ‘controller’s observation’ of the weather which is as they observe through the tower windows. All pilots are aware that this type of weather is for guidance only.
Pilots and especially the Captain makes landing, go around and diversion decisions. Mzuzu airport is a non precision approach runway and any decision to descend below the 10,100 feet Minimum Safe Altitude above ground level in that area is for Captain’s to make even if the weather is good or bad.
The aircrew will have collected a weather briefing pack on departure from KIA and detailed how their flight would go in the filed flight plan with ATC.
Blaming the innocent ATC controller is wrong and makes for bad reading especially as it clearly shows those asking questions have only a lay man’s knowledge of aviation rules. As a pilot that has flown into Mzuzu airport on numerous occasions, I can vouch that the controller passed on what he could see outside his control tower windows. And there was no malice intended.
We should also factor-in that the crash happened several miles from the airport. He certainly could not have given the weather as observed from that area.