Captain Paul Forjoe, a retired pilot and senior aviation engineer with the Aircraft Accident and Incident Investigation and Prevention Bureau (AIB), has confirmed that the pilot and co-pilot involved in the August 6 helicopter incident were in good standing.

According to Captain Forjoe, findings indicate that the flight crew met all professional and regulatory requirements before the incident. He made this known on Tuesday, November 11, while presenting the outcome of the investigations at the presidency.

Below are the findings on the two pilots;

Regarding the cause of the crash, the Aircraft Accident and Incident Investigation and Prevention Bureau determined that a sudden and powerful downdraft led to the catastrophic helicopter accident that claimed eight lives in Ghana.

Read also: Z-9 Helicopter crash caused by sudden loss of altitude and lift due to downdraft – Investigative Committee

Background

On August 6, 2025, a Ghana Air Force Harbin Z-9 helicopter carrying eight people to an event about fighting illegal mining crashed into a forested mountainside in the Ashanti region, killing all eight people on board.

Among the dead were Ghana's defence minister Edward Omane Boamah and environment minister Ibrahim Murtala Muhammed.

The rest were acting deputy national security coordinator Limuna Mohammed Muniru, vice chairman of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) Samuel Sarpong, former parliamentary candidate Samuel Aboagye, Squadron Leader Peter Bafemi Anala, Flying Officer Twum Ampadu and Sergeant Ernest Addo Mensah.

According to the Ghana Armed Forces, the helicopter took off from Kotoka International Airport in Accra at 9:12 a.m., heading northwest into the interior toward the gold-mining area at the Obuasi Black Park in Obuasi, when it went off the radar.

The helicopter's wreckage was found later, with all of the victims burnt beyond recognition in a post-crash fire.

Footage of the crash site showed debris on fire in a forest as people circled around to help.

The crash was one of Ghana's worst air disasters in more than a decade.