Friday, April 19, 2024

Prof Clive Chirwa offers to be part of ZAF plane crash probe

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Professor Clive Chirwa walks away with the Distinction of the Year Award during the UK Zambia Excellence awards ceremony in London
Professor Clive Chirwa

Professor Clive Chirwa has offered to be part of the investigations team probing the cause of the plane crash in which ZAF Deputy Commander Major General Miliokela Miliokela and his co-pilot Colonel Brain Mweene were killed.

Professor Chirwa who is former Zambia Railways Limited Chief Executive Officer, says if government does not invite him to be part of the investigations team, he will ask the families of the two senior ZAF officers to use the courts in order to establish the truth about the plane crash.

He has told Qfm News in an interview that he is particularly interested to know what caused the plane crash as he understands the current fleet of planes the country has is an ordinary and is prone to engine failure caused by crankshaft fracture.

Professor Chirwa says he suspects that it could have been the same crankshaft fracture that may have caused the plane crash, but that he does not understand how it could have happened considering that both Maj Gen. Miliokela and Col. Mweene were said to be good pilots.

He says he does not understand how they managed to stay in the air for three hours when the plane was said to have a failing engine while in the air.

Professor Chirwa says an ordinary thing and a norm in aviation was to crash land the plane when it was realized the plane’s engine was failing.

And Professor Chirwa who is also a leading engineer in the field of Structural Crashworthiness and Impact has described Zambia’s Highway Code as a fraud.

He says this is the reason why the country has continued to have many traffic accidents as any driver trained using the current Highway Code is bound to make many mistakes on the road.

Professor Chirwa has since suggested a complete overhaul of the country’s Highway Code in order to avoid further traffic accidents and carnages in the country.

39 COMMENTS

  1. Come on now, let’s first finish the ZRL probe where you’re thought to have abused your office. Stop overrating yourself!!

    • Clive Chirwa is a world renowned mechanical engineer, engineering runs in his veins. He’s been involved in high profile engineering planning and designs across Europe and beyond.His offer to help must be divorced from jealous-driven PF court cases and taken as a blessing. I doubt if there is anyone better to lead the enquiry than Clive, this is what he does with passion.

  2. Prof. Chirwa – Crankshaft fracture Ka? Babepe mdala wandi. From farm machine/equipment repairing (as trained in Russia) to railway engineering and aviation. I bet, its high time I also came up with a fake CV and started ukulilapo kwati ba prof.

    • @MASHA
      this man has a Bsc in Machenical or machine whatever from Russia, and went on to have a Phd in which he specialises in structural crashworthiness and has been dealing with machines all his career be it theoretical. so please shade more light on what you maen at fake CV?

  3. He is not over rating himself the man is number one in his field of work unless you know nothing about him if the Americans and the British can use him who are you in Zambia to say he can not help. Change your mind set in that country.

    • Ha! So it is true you’re fine and fighting to alleviate poverty! The British and Americans using Chirwa to investigate plane crashes…..now that is a first!

    • I only asked if he could concentrate on his cases after he was rejected rather than embark on a new assignment for which he is very likely to be rejected. Rating someone is personal, so if you think he is a genius, you are entitled to that thought. You can’t influence public opinion.

    • No1 in which field? Please just take this Chirwa of yours with you back to your village. You can use his so called expertise to dig wells and pit latrines for your village. We are tied of this never ending Chirwa sales pitch of yours.

    • Already these are the fellows who would rather hire a foreign with fake qualifications at great cost as long as he is willing to share 10 – 20% of the earnings (loot) with them. It is not easy to be Professor and go on to work for governments like US and UK in one’s area as Chirwa has done.

    • This is good for the families of the soldiers but he is starting one fight when he hasn’t finished the other. Not tactful and another reason why I believe this man cannot head a big firm as he lacks managerial shrewdness which you acquire from hands on experience.

    • @JayJay, I doubt on that one. “..managerial shrewdness which you acquire from hands on experience”. Obama had NONE, but the guy has tried his best. The other example is Sata who had years of “managerial” experience, and the man has simply done nothing, especially in 2014.

  4. might i remind you ba Prof, that if government wants you, you will join in, one way or another, but if they do not, i do not believe that even the families and the courts put together will help in anyway, not in Zed. but in the event were you are allowed to join, you will make all the proposals and everything blah blah blah, before you materialism them, ba zaku teyesani ka RED NA KA BLACK and before you know it, newspapers will be calling you INTERNATIONAL CONMAN.

  5. This is a brilliant offer by the prof. Yes, Zambia who are qualified in certain fields should be included when it comes to research and deriving the facts. Therefore, offer from Clive Chirwa who is an authority airframes is just timely and in order.

  6. I hope families have ready this. The man has knowledge on what he does, he should just be careful with politicians who would want to destroy him because they are afraid of him.

  7. Doesn’t this man like the lime light. The chap grossly overrates himself. How ridiculous can you get with all this misplaced ambition.

  8. I am an ardent believer in Professors capacity but i feel he needed to approach the authorities responsible instead of making his offer through the media especially that this is a military aircraft we are talking about. Otherwise he may land himself into another problem.

  9. yes it is crank shaft failure so what? and the plane managed to be in the air for two hours so what? lack of maintainance is what killed those guys…how can a plane crash and all what I saw was paper box and some tires as if it was a toy

  10. Firstly, this guy Pro Chirwa is a touch too arrogant. Must learn some diplomacy if he hopes to be taken seriously. I have come to notice he talks down to fellow Zambians back home. You don’t say “Include me in the investigations or else” to a sitting Govt even if it is as shaky as Sata’s if you want your findings to be taken seriously. Would he use the same language to David Cameron here in UK? Is he simply brain washed or is this another smoke screen? What is he trying to pull now?
    Secondly, if this guy is as credible an Engineer as he sings about, he should know better than to go into an investigation with strong preconceived premonitions on what cased the crush. It will cloud balanced and rational assessment in his mind because 1.) his mind will have already formed a screen of …

    • formed a screen of logic through which he sees the crush, and 2.) He will go into the investigations to prove his theory which he has already made public, and cannot afford to backtrack.

    • Who are too dull to even know what a crankshaft looks like, I would rather trust this pf-discredited professor than the fleet of ever drunk-military trained officers

  11. @ Cactus, you are spot on about the prof being a touch too arrogant, that he should learn to be diplomatic if he hopes to be taken seriously and that he should know better than to go into an investigation with preconceived ideas on what cased the crush…. He comes across as one who want you to believe that he knows everything about everything to do with engineering, no matter the field!

  12. First, the High Way Code. The call for revised edition is timely. It needs to be approached professionally and expeditiously. All Zambians must work towards reduction of car accidents. Second, the plane crash. The plane is mechanical engineering at work. Therefore, the idea of involving mechanical engineers with bias towards impact and crashing is not wrong. How this can be done is a subject of technical appreciation.

  13. Sure – if this means paid housing, sitting allowances, a car with unlimited petrol, a secretary, a phone, per diem, a handsome fee, a few buffet lunches at the workshops, and no doubt some all-expense-paid travel for “investigations” in Europe and South Africa, I have no doubt the self-proclaimed “esteemed and most renowned international expert”, Ba Prof. Clive Chirwa would be willing to do Zambia the favor of taking part in the investigations.

    …..such a hero!

  14. Prof Chirwa no matter how hard you can try Zambians at this stage can not change. we have killed people with zaf jets within a short period of time and nothing has been done about it. with roads its even worse and the only thing people think about in Zambia is workshops and seminars, they don’t need practical people like you.

  15. Imwe bantu, which Govt would want to implicate itself? Prof. Chirwa has already taken a position and blames Govt for providing fault planes to ZAF. He has already condemned Govt for negligence to supply airworthy planes to our men & women in uniform with his crankshaft theory. This means Govt paying millions of Kwacha in compensation and grounding the whole air fleet. Therefore, including Chirwa on the panel is high risk. we shall go the carbon air disaster way. No report released. keep Chirwa away is national security risk. Govt advisor.

  16. The article does not say if the Prof. will do it at his own expense or not….
    I don’t understand the ‘three hours’ in the air quoted in this article….3hrs hovering around Zambian air space….teaching recruits how to fly or was it from one point to the other…?…it takes 2hrs from Lusaka to J’sburg…..
    Prof. is right on the highway code….definitely requires ‘overhaul’. In addition to roads status, vehicle condition, driver fatigue, alcohol…… driving schools must be regulated as well. This time, anyone can teach anybody how to drive…

  17. Please, please do not include Prof Chirwa on this. We shall end up paying a huge bill for rentals……..

  18. How many trillions is he asking for this time for the ‘help’ he will render to his mother Zambia? $599,999,367,467,999.00 trillion???? Mudala ulya alintinya saana last time. I think he should just continue sitting on the boards of Boeing, Lockheed Martin, NASA, BMW etc. Zambia is too poor for him. No thank you. K72 Milliom(thousand rebased) a month apartment paid for by a broke company like ZR?? No, not again!! This dude has no morals. Let him take his well vested expertise somewhere. Zambia can do without him.

  19. “Pro” Chirwa is a flawed and here in the UK is not even as renowned as he claims to be. He does not serve on any government initiatives and he is constantly lying, he attends government events and takes photos with serving ministers and claims he was invited to work on a big project – it is laughable. He is a total flawed who ended up at a polytechnic -AKA – Bolton University. He is no use to anyone – just forget about him. It is up to you but you people in Africa are easily deceived – it is a shame.

    • Clearly you have not done your research…its best you don’t submit comments on such issues if you are too lazy to even conduct basic Google search…I wouldn’t be surprised if you were a Zambian journalist.

    • Your problem is that you need a research for everything – that is AKA not knowing anything. Why do I need a research to say that I am holding a folk?
      Name ONE project that is linked to or sanctioned by the UK government that Chirwa has worked on.

  20. To investigate something properly you have to go in with an open mind. Chirwa already knows the cause so what will he investigate? He will only look at eveidence that supports his belief.

  21. High way code???? Let’s stat from the basics. Why not ban importation of second hand tyres and those cheap ones from China. Secondly why not clean road traffic officers from corruption to ensure only roadworthy vehicles are allowed to ply our roads. Its amazing that those time consuming RSTSA road blocks are for checking drivers licences only. Trucks with no brakes and laden with logs pass through these checkpoints as long ad officers are paid something. Have realised that traffic police officers now own a fleet of pirate taxis? Do you know that vegetable production in police camps has slumped to an all time low?

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