Departing from Douala, Cameroon, on a dark night that was beset by thunderstorms, a Kenya Airways Boeing 737-800 entered a slow right roll that continued for nearly a minute without the flight crew or the autopilot engaged. The captain — the pilot flying — was preoccupied with the weather and had lost situational awareness. The first officer, who had been left out of the loop of the captain’s planning, was not effectively monitoring what was going on, and he did not notice that the autopilot had not been engaged, as intended. Confusion and spatial disorientation prevailed when a bank angle warning sounded. The captain responded with erratic flight control inputs that aggravated the situation and precipitated a spiral dive. The pilots were wrestling the controls when the 737 disintegrated in a mangrove swamp, killing all 114 people aboard.
A technical commission of inquiry convened by the Republic of Cameroon found that the events leading to the May 5, 2007, accident were fraug…
