Experts offer clues on missing pilot

Dar es Salaam. Aviation experts say the plane which went missing since October 18, 2021 is most likely to have encountered communication faults mid-air, explaining why it has remained untraceable despite ongoing surveillance efforts.

Mr Juma Fimbo, a retired trainer at the National Institute of Transport (NIT) told The Citizen that in such incidents the plane, which was flying from Matemanga Village in Ruvuma Region to the Selous Game Reserve, may have landed safely or crashed.

“Aircraft use GPS so it can be seen in its course but if the communication system is flawed the plane becomes dark. It is a common occurrence for these small planes with lightweight systems that do not have as much material as large aircraft,” said Mr Fimbo.

“If the Black Box is found, it is the answer to what happened but at the moment it remains a closed story until it is found,” he said, as he gave insights on the plane, which was being flown by 31-year old pilot Samwel Gibuyi of the conservation organization Pams Foundation.

Gibuyi was flying solo to join his workmate in the Selous and conduct an aerial surveillance in search for black rhinos, but failed to arrive as expected.

The family of a pilot remains in big shock, as search efforts remained futile until press time yesterday. The pilot’s young brother, Salvatory Gibuyi appealed to the authorities not to lose hope in the search for the plane.

However, Pams Foundation project manager Max Jenes told The Citizen yesterday that they had suspended tracing of the aircraft using tracing technology from Spidertracks because it has not shown them any signal of the whereabouts of the aircraft. “We have done a lot of aerial surveillance since the plane disappeared but we have opted to use physical searching and we believe we could more precisely locate the aircraft and Gibuyi by physical search,” he said.

According to him, the family is eager to provide any assistance that anyone can to ensure the pilot is found.

“In short it is a sudden issue to us, it has really shocked us and we don’t know where to start and where to end. We did not expect this to happen, especially that he just worked for the company for only six years,” he said.

The acting director general of the Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority (TCAA), Mr Daniel Malanga, told The Citizen that the incident is rare and the actual location of the missing plane is complex considering the aircraft itself is small and was flying at short altitudes.

“It is not uncommon for a plane to get lost and its pilot in the country. It often happens a day or two after the plane is found, this geography is probably contributing to the difficulty,” he said.