Helicopter crash in Mali: an investigation report points to communication errors
Radio exchanges thus reveal "disorderly and degraded safety communication" between the two helicopters (illustration).
AFP PHOTO / DOMINIQUE FAGET
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On November 25, 2019, 13 soldiers were killed in a collision between two helicopters, during a counterterrorism operation by the Barkhane force west of Menaka, Mali.
The State Aeronautical Safety Accident Investigation Bureau (BEA-E) released its report on Saturday.
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For the investigation office, the causes of the
crash which caused the death of 13 French soldiers
in November 2019 in Mali "
relate exclusively to organizational and human factors
".
The BEA-E report thus points to several failures in communication, which led to an "
erroneous awareness of the situation by the crews
" who did not, in concrete terms, "
not detect the presence of the other aircraft
".
Responsible for supporting the ground units, the Tiger combat helicopter and the Cougar used to transport the commandos flew at low altitude, on a pitch black night, alongside four other helicopters.
A delicate situation which required, according to the investigators, to prioritize their collective security.
But obsessed with what was happening on the ground, the crews neglected certain rules: the radio exchanges thus revealed "
a disorderly and degraded safety communication
", indicates the report which lists an accumulation of bad choices and small failures, such as that the absence of a safety briefing common to the two devices which came from different bases, an excessively large number of communication channels or even the omission of essential messages under stress.
The investigators are also careful not to overwhelm the military, forced to manage the often contradictory objectives and the risks to their security in the context, insists the report, of a tense mission marked by differences of analysis between ground and flight teams.
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