Concerns of an unreliable aviation body are abound due to the recent cases of plane crashes. But Ericsson Nengola, an Acting Director charged with investigating aircraft accidents in the Directorate of Civil Aviation, wants the public to refrain from finger pointing saying “as long as we have aircrafts there will be accidents”. “What we do is investigate to find the cause factor and avoid such re-occurrence in the future. We try by all means and eliminate what we can avoid. The reason for an investigation is not to punish anyone or point accusing fingers to any direction,” he said.

In an interview with the Economist, Nengola chose to give a general comment without focusing on any specific accident.
Yet speculation is rife following the recent fatal crash of a Cessna 210 into a house in the Olympia residential area just minute after taking off from Eros Airport. All six passengers were burnt beyond recognition. The passengers were five Israelis and the pilot.
Unconfirmed reports say that the pilot was given conflicting instructions during take off by the air traffic controller. The pilot, who is said to have been unfamiliar with flying over inland plateaus, was also put under further stress by the air traffic controller after being asked to make a choice over which runway he would use for take-off instead of being given straight forward instructions.
The situation was compounded by the absence of a meteorological office at Eros Airport, which made it difficult for the pilot to notice the presence of windsheer at 400 feet.
This windsheer almost crashed a different Cessna which took off earlier from Eros Airport before the fateful crash.
The purpose of the investigations, said Nengola, is to promote and maintain safety in the aviation sector. In cases of negligence, drastic actions are taken against those responsible, he said.
Statistics from the Ministry of Works, Transport and Communication indicate that in the period between 2005 and 2007 a total of 168 “occurrences” were recorded in the Namibian air space.