- Chopper model has a history of crashes
- Wigwe’s love for the Super Bowl
- How his Special Assistant cheated death
United States’ National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), on Sunday, provided details on some of the items recovered from the scene of the helicopter crash that led to the death of the Group Chief Executive Officer of Access Holdings Plc, Herbert Wigwe, his wife, son and other crew members onboard.
The board also provided a brief insight into the aircraft’s flight trajectory before crashing near Halloran Springs in California.
The details were provided by a board member with the NTSB, Michael Graham, during a press briefing held Sunday afternoon in Barstow, California.
At the briefing, Mr. Graham notes that they were at the crash scene to gather evidence on Sunday.
Law & Society reported that on Friday, a chopper ferrying Herbert Wigwe, the CEO of Access Holdings, his wife Chizoba, son and Abimbola Ogunbanjo, the group chairman of Nigerian Exchange Group Plc (NGX Group) crashed, killing them and some others near the California-Nevada border in the United States.
The NTSB, an independent agency charged by the US Congress to investigate every civil aviation accident and significant accidents in the other modes of transportation across the United States of America, has since moved to the location to commence investigations into the possible causes of the crash.
Faleye Olushola, Wigwe’s Special Assistant was lucky. Olushola, whose name was listed on the manifest, narrowly escaped death as he opted to travel by road.
On arriving Palm Springs, Olushola made the decision not to board the helicopter bound for Boulder City in Nevada, citing concerns about night-time weather conditions.
The helicopter model and history of crashes
The ill-fated aircraft model – Eurocopter EC 130B4 suffered five crashes in 2023. The history of the Eurocopter EC 130 can be traced to several fatal accidents in the past.
Manufactured by Airbus Helicopters SAS (formerly Eurocopter), the single-engine aircraft and its variations have a long history of accidents.
Timeline:
A similar crash occurred on December 1, 2023, involving the same Eurocopter EC 130B4, which struck power cables during takeoff and crashed into a ball of flames near Ex Hacienda el Hospital, Cuautla, Morelos in Mexico. Three people died in the accident, and it was the last of 11 crashes involving Airbus models in 2023.
The same aircraft model crashed in the Grand Canyon in 2018 and claimed the lives of five people.
The 2018 crash involving another Eurocopter EC 130B4 killed five people, all of them Britons, in the Grand Canyon.
Two brothers, Stuart and Jason Hill, 30 and 32, were among the dead. Stuart Hill’s girlfriend Becky Dobson was also killed in the crash. The three were pronounced dead at the scene.
Husband and wife Jonathan and Ellie Udall were also victims of the deadly crash. They both died of complications from burns days later.
The pilot Scott Booth and Jason Hill’s girlfriend Jennifer Dorricott survived. But both sustained life-altering injuries.
The aircraft burst into flames after crashing. The pilot told American investigators that the helicopter encountered a “violent gust of wind” and started spinning.
In January 2023, two EC130B4s operated by Sea World Helicopters collided in Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, killing four people and injuring eight.
Following these accidents, it is now required all helicopter fuel tanks be shielded from fuel tank rupture on impact.
Since 1975, 100 crashes involving the aircraft and previous models manufactured by Airbus Helicopters SAS have been recorded.
Crash scene
Mr Graham said the team began the day’s activities with aerial drone mapping and site documentation of the wreckage, and that the airworthiness group began a detailed examination of the debris field.
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“The debris field was approximately 100 yards in length,” he said, noting that all major components of the crashed helicopter were accounted for and identified at the accident site.
The investigators listed the components to include three main rotor blades, the main transmission, the engine, tail rotor landing and gear skids.
Mr Graham said the ADSB data (flight track data) shows that the helicopter was travelling along Interstate 15, approximately 1000 to 1500 feet above ground level.
He noted that near the end of the flight, track data showed a slight right turn, turning south of the interstate and a gradual descent and increasing ground speed.
The official explained that the flight track data ended about a quarter mile from the wreckage location, while the wreckage site shows the helicopter impacted the terrain in a “nose low and right bank angle”.
“Various electronic devices and onboard equipment were recovered at the scene for further examination and Analysis,” he said, adding that the wreckage will moved to a secure location on Tuesday for further examination and analysis.
Rain, wintery mix
Meanwhile, he recalled that during his first briefing on the incident he had mentioned that witnesses reported rain and a wintery mix at the crash location. This, he said, was confirmed by his team.
“Our NTSB meteorologist through weather radar images and data can now support witness reports of precipitation at the time and location of the accident,” Mr Graham said.
“We’re working with Orbic to schedule interviews with key personnel.”
Mr Graham said Sunday’s briefing will be the last on-scene press briefing by the NTSB.
However, the official stated that the unseen portion of the investigation will continue until complete.
“As a reminder, a preliminary report of the accident is expected within 30 days and a full NTSB investigation lasts 12 to 24 months before a final report is issued. Any additional information about the status of the investigation will come from NTSB headquarters in Washington,” he said.
Wigwe’s Love for the Super Bowl by Chukwudi Iwuchukwu
Every year, Herbert Wigwe had this culture that he did not miss.
He was a big fan of the Super Bowl, the biggest sports ritual in America, and so he cleared his table to travel to California to watch a sport that helps him relax and rejuvenate and which he considers one of his guilty pleasures.
He left Nigeria on Wednesday and sadly, he would not be coming back again.
Let me digress.
In 2002, the late Herbert and his partner, Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, had a dream.
To own a bank of their own
At that time, they were working for Guaranty Trust Bank as executive directors.
However, the boardroom politics of GTB were so intense and toxic that they knew they had to exit and do their own thing.
So they incubated and hatched a dream to buy a bank of their own.
Even when they did not have the resources to buy a bank, they were not discouraged; rather, they started looking for investors who could invest in their dream.
One of the investors they met who eventually bought into their dream was Cosmas Maduka of Coschsris Motors.
With enough money in the bank, backed by solid dye in the wood investors, the Access Bank project was launched by these two ambiguous young men who were in their 30’s.
AIG was 36.
Herbert was 35, but his young age did not stop him from dreaming big and dreaming what was possible.
Their age at that time eventually became an albatross, an Achilles hill, as the CBN staff told them to their faces that they were too young to own a bank, and rightly so.
But they were unwavering and never allowed the pessimism of the CBN staff to discourage them.
Access Bank—at the time, the 65th largest of the 89 banks in the country—was a small bank before AIG and Herbert took over in 2002.
A midsized, small bank.
AIG was the CEO of the bank when they started before handing it over to Herbert in 2013, who took over from where he stopped and then turned Access Bank into the monstrous beast that it is today.
Access Bank was not this big when Herbert took over.
That a small bank in 2002 is today the biggest bank in Nigeria by assets is a testament to Herbert’s drive and the kind of business leader he was.
Not only that Access bank grew to be the biggest bank in Nigeria by asset under his watch, three years ago, he put it on course to become a top 10 Pan-African financial institution with vast interest and subsidiary in banking, insurance, pension and payments.
A transformational business leader in every aspect
He dared to dream and showed the world through his story and examples that nothing is too daring or too big to attempt if you believe in yourself.
But beyond this, he was an impactful leader who pushed everyone around him to be a better version of themselves.
Bold, daring, and full of courage.
He believes everything is possible, and he has pushed himself to be an example of that possibility.
And he empowered a lot of young people.
Both those who worked directly with him as subordinates and strangers who did not know.
Editi Effiong, the CEO of Anakle, a digital marketing agency in Lagos, once shared a story of how Herbert gave him his biggest break in business.
Herbert saw a viral app on Twitter, the Bride Price app, built by Editi and team.
Herbert was impressed by the vision and innovation that went into the development of the Bride Price app, invited Editi and her team, and then handed over Access Bank’s social media accounts for Editi and his team to manage with a hefty monthly retainer.
He went beyond the management of Access Bank’s
social media.
Most of the Access Bank TV ads shown on CNN were done by Editi and his team because Herbert believed he could do it.
This genorisidy and belief changed Editi’s life into the big man he is today.
And that is Herbert for you.
Who he was
A man who took a bet on himself and other people to scale, evolve, and do big things.
A man whose imagination changed his life.
He loved his wife Chizoba so much, and it is quite ironic that they died together, entwined in each other’s arms.
I thought briefly when the news of his passing broke what went through his mind during his last moment, when it dawned on him that this was the final moment on earth.
Was it a painful transition for him?
So sad that what he enjoyed doing most, his guilty pleasure, took his life on his way to watch tomorrow’s Super Bowl, but we are consoled that Herbert is in a better place, and the businesses he built, which include Access Bank and Wigwe University, will speak eloquently of his legacies in years to come.
For Herbert Onyewumbu Wigwe CON, his watch has sadly come to an end.
May his soul rest in peace.
A native of Osiokpo in Ikwerre Local Government Area of Rivers state, Wigwe was born on August 15, 1966, in Ibadan, Oyo state, to the family of Pastor Shingle Wigwe, who retired as Director-General of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), and Mrs. Wigwe, a nurse.
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