This article was originally published on Malawi24 ">Malawi24, Malawi's #1 independent news platform. Joseph Moyo who gave warning to pilots of the Chilima plane that later crashed, had no Met certificate Read the full article and more Malawi news at Uncertified officer gave crash weather warning ">Malawi24 — Breaking news, politics, business, sport and entertainment from Malawi and Africa, updated 24/7.
A non-certified airport officer stepped into a critical aviation role and issued a weather warning to the pilots of the military aircraft that later crashed with former Vice-President Saulos Chilima and eight others.
Joseph Moyo, the officer-in-charge at Mzuzu Airport, admitted to parliamentary investigators that he had no formal meteorological certification when he told the pilots visibility had dropped to five kilometres.
His admission triggered a grilling from Zomba Thondwe MP Dumisani Lindani, who questioned why Moyo was providing aviation weather information when certified meteorological officers were available at the airport.
Moyo has no MET certificate
Lindani questioned why Moyo altered the information provided by the meteorological experts and communicated different conditions to the Dornier 228 crew without alerting the experts or updating official records.
“You are not an expert and you have changed information of the experts, relaying it to pilots,” Lindani said.
Moyo acknowledged that he had no formal qualification in meteorology but defended his decision, saying the weather experts had reported clear conditions at 8am, while he later observed that visibility had deteriorated.
He told the inquiry that his visual assessment prompted him to inform the pilots that visibility had reduced to five kilometres.
However, Lindani questioned whether Moyo appreciated the potential consequences of giving pilots weather information that differed from the assessment of certified meteorological officers.
“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?” Lindani asked.
Lindani squeezed Moyo
The exchange has placed Moyo’s decision under scrutiny as MPs seek to establish what information was available to the aircraft crew and how weather conditions were communicated before the fatal crash.
The testimony, however, does not by itself establish that Moyo’s weather warning caused or contributed to the crash.
The parliamentary inquiry continues to examine the actions, information and decisions surrounding the final journey of the aircraft.
