Defence State Secretary Markus Gruebel told members of the parliamentary defense committee there was no evidence that climate or external attack caused the crash, which killed both crew members during a peacekeeping mission in the West African nation’s desert north last July.
In a letter to lawmakers, seen by Reuters, Gruebel said the investigation had also found no evidence of malfunction in the aircraft’s rotors or engine.
He said investigators were still trying to determine what caused the changes in the helicopter’s longitudinal control system, which “significantly limited” the motion of its elevator axis, causing its autopilot to shut off.
He provided a harrowing account of the crash, which he said likely caught both crew members, both experienced pilots, completely by surprise.
“The helicopter fell into a steep uncontrolled pitch forward within three seconds,” limiting the pilots’ ability to respond given the high G-forces of the fall. The helicopter literally came apart during the crash, the report said.
Spiegel Online reported late Tuesday that investigators believed the crash was caused by incorrect settings on the autopilot, but it remained unclear who programmed the settings on the autopilot software.
A parliamentary source confirmed the gist of the Spiegel report.
Military officials were meeting with the parliamentary defense committee on Wednesday morning to review the crash investigation.
An Airbus spokesman declined comment on the Spiegel report, and referred all queries to German military authorities investigating the accident.
A defense ministry spokesman confirmed only that a report was presented to committee leaders on Tuesday and would be discussed in greater detail with members on Wednesday.
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