The old, beat up Kenya Police helicopter 5Y-SFA is a death trap. That this helicopter is a disaster waiting to happen was openly displayed this week during a rescue mission in Elgeyo Marakwet County.
The Kenya Police helicopter 5Y-SFA was caught on video as it thudded heavily to the ground after a failed attempt to take off in Elgeyo Marakwet where it was attempting to airlift victims of the mudslide that occurred on the night of October 31, 2025 to the morning of November 1, 2025.
This was the latest in a series of mishaps that have been dogging the old chopper over the recent past. Videos circulating online show the chopper struggling to gain lift in various areas across the country, sometimes forcefully crash-landing back to the ground after lifting for a few metres.
For instance, three weeks before crash-landing in Elgeyo Marakwet, this helicopter had also crash-landed in Mulot, Bomet County.
The helicopter model Mi-17V-5 that is operated by the National Police Service (NPS) Air Wing was delivered by Russian Helicopters, which is a subsidiary of Rostec. The NPS Air Wing was certified as an Approve Aircraft Maintenance Organization (AMO) by the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) in April 2025. This certification now allows the NPS to service and inspect its aircraft independently.
According to historian and researcher Levin Odhiambo Opiyo, this helicopter has been having operational issues for quite a while. On November 3, 2019, this helicopter crash landed after taking off at the Wilson Airport. At the time of the incident, it had two police officers on board; a chief inspector who was flying and a flight engineer. The two escaped unharmed.
A year before this incident, in 2018, the KCAA had written to the National Police Service to deregister its Russian-made helicopters over safety concerns. Seven years later, the Kenya Police helicopter 5Y-SFA is still struggling to stay airborne, amidst crash-landings that have left it as a disaster waiting to happen.
“Although Kenya Police has also acquired a modern helicopter, it has been diverted to ferrying VIPs,” commented Opiyo.
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