Ghana’s Aircraft Accident and Incident Investigation Bureau (AIB Ghana) has ruled out sabotage and mechanical failure in the August 6 Z-9 helicopter crash that claimed eight lives, concluding instead that the aircraft encountered a rare turbulence phenomenon over rugged terrain.
Flight Captain Paul Fordjour, Head of Investigations at AIB Ghana, at a press briefing on Tuesday [November 12, 2025], said the pilots faced extreme turbulence conditions that “even the best anywhere would have struggled to get out of,” dismissing earlier speculation about possible foul play.
“There cannot be any other reason for that sudden loss of altitude for a plane climbing with power, with a pitch attitude,” Captain Fordjour said after presenting the final report of the investigative committee. “It is an aviation phenomenon that unfortunately they fell into.”
He said the investigative team listened to the cockpit voice recorder several times and analysed 93 parameters recorded every second by the flight data recorder, including 48 analogue readings and 45 switch positions covering the helicopter’s final 10 hours of flight.
“What we are seeing is from informed data. It’s not that we have conjectured something. We have the data. We have looked at it,” he added.
Captain Fordjour explained that the Ghana Air Force Z-9 helicopter experienced severe downdrafts and turbulence created by eddies and rotors, which occur commonly over steep terrain. The conditions caused the aircraft to lose altitude suddenly despite climbing normally with full power.
Addressing claims of an explosion before impact, he said the helicopter only exploded after hitting the ground when its fuel tank, located beneath the passenger compartment, ruptured on impact.
“There was no explosion before,” he stated. “On impact, that is when the explosion took place. The eyewitness accounts tally with what we are saying.”
The report confirmed the helicopter was airworthy and that maintenance postponements were in line with accepted military aviation practices. Captain Fordjour noted, however, that the absence of advanced avionics and safety systems reduced the pilots’ situational awareness.
“It would have put them in a much better place to have taken decisions which could possibly have avoided this,” he said, while stressing that the lack of such systems was not the cause of the crash.
He called for urgent modernisation of the Ghana Armed Forces fleet, saying “tomorrow is even not fast enough.”
“We owe it to ourselves as a nation to make sure that we have aircraft fit for purpose, aircraft that have the highest technology, to make sure that everything is very safe,” Captain Fordjour said.
He also urged the installation of flight monitoring systems on all Air Force aircraft.
He explained that although the helicopter going off radar was normal given its route and altitude, proper tracking systems, which are mandatory for civilian airlines, would allow authorities to know an aircraft’s location at all times.
“We’re not asking for the moon. It’s something that must be done,” he said.
