YeinJee's Malaysian Voices » Aviation Accidents

3 paratroopers drowned in LIMA training session

Yein Jee — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 12:08:58 +0000

Three paratroopers, two of them women, drowned while 11 others were injured during a training session that went awry at the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace (LIMA) 2007 exhibition here today (Dec 2). [Bernama]

Three paratroopers of the 10th Para Brigade drowned and five others were injured at about 10.30am when they parachuted into the sea off Kuala Muda after they were blown off course by strong winds when training for the opening of LIMA 2007.

My condolences to the victims’ family.

2007 has not been a good year for Malaysian soldiers; first the Nuri crash, now the paratroopers… 9 soldiers have lost their life from these 2 accidents.

Nuri helicopter crash report

Yein Jee — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 13:32:21 +0000

The investigation report on the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) Nuri helicopter which crashed in Genting Sempah in July has been released. The report indicates that the copter hit the canopy of trees thrice while flying low over the area before going down.

The investigation also found that bad weather, which had reduced visibility to less than two kilometres, and the hilly terrain in the area had also contributed to the mishap. There was no evidence pointing to any technical fault in the helicopter. [Bernama]

Termuzi Abd Aziz, father of the deceased pilot, Capt Norazlan Termuzi, said that the board of inquiry had not conducted the investigation in a comprehensive manner, claiming that the probe was only conducted at the scene of the crash without considering “other factors”.

Deputy Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak was fast to respond that the probe was conducted professionally. [Bernama]

The report is obviously trying to load all the responsibilities to the deceased. It could be true that the pilot’s mistake could have cause the accident eventually… but as the elder Termuzi mentioned… shouldn’t we look a bit beyond that?

For example, who was giving the order for the crew to take the flight? When did the weather report come in? Did the crew know about the weather condition prior to lifting off? If they did, whose call was it to continue the flight anyway… the captain, the crew or higher ranking officers? Why were they flying so low… was they forced to because of the copter’s ability? Could the accident be avoided if they had a better chopper?

I won’t call the report a cheat, but there are lots of unattended questions. I strongly doubt that it could be regarded as a professional report.

Save our soldiers from future air crash

Yein Jee — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 08:24:06 +0000

My condolences to the families of the 6 crew members of the Nuri helicopter who died in the crash near Genting Sempah last Friday (July 13).

I don’t have the expertise to determine if it is still safe to use the Nuri helicopters that has been in service since 1968. The fact that over 70 lives are claimed all these years in numerous Nuri’s crashes should convince most people not to board on one of these helicopters.

Our soldiers have no options though. One of the deceased members, Captain Nor Azlan Termuzi, had voiced his concerns about flying with Nuri, fearing the safety of the aging helicopters. [LKS]

Deputy Prime Minister (and Defense Minister) Najib Tun Razak still remain defensive on the reliability of the Nuris. Quoted from TheStar…

“The Nuris have been properly maintained and are in good condition. We have no option but to use the Nuri as the main mode of air transport for the Defence Ministry,” he said.

The irony thing is that we have money to buy some useless submarines but we don’t have funding to buy some new air transport. What should happen to convince our Defence Ministry to replace the old copters?

Update – The cabinet has agreed to replace the fleet of ageing Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) Nuri helicopters which has been in service since 1968. [Bernama]

Nuri’s fact file and crash record (Image courtesy of Thestar)