Thursday July 19, 2007

Nuri will be phased-out in 3 years

Bodies retrieved from the Nuri crash
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Bodies of victim arrive
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Copter wreckage found: Operations resumes Wednesday
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KUALA LUMPUR: Nuri helicopters will be phased out in three years, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said.

Retrieval operation: An RMAF helicopter bringing out the bodies from the crash site near Genting Sempah to be brought to the Kuala Lumpur Hospital yesterday, where (below) armed forces personnel carry one of the bodies to a waiting ambulance to be brought to the mortuary.

Najib, who is also Defence Minister, said the Cabinet made the decision yesterday. With the decision, the plan to replace the transport helicopters of the armed forces would be expedited.

He spoke to reporters at Kuala Lumpur Hospital yesterday after meeting family members of the six air force personnel who were killed when the Nuri helicopter they were in crashed near Genting Sempah on the border between Selangor and Pahang last Friday.

The incident was the latest of several crashes, many of them causing the death of armed forces personnel, involving Nuri helicopters.

Najib said steps would be taken to open an international tender in the next few months for new transport helicopters.

He said the cost of the replacement exercise would be decided in due course.

Najib said Nuri helicopters would still be used pending the arrival of new helicopters.

“They are the only aircraft available to carry out operations. We can’t stop using them,” he said. Nuri helicopters were used to ferry the bodies of the victims from the crash site to hospital.

The air force has more than 20 Nuri helicopters aged between 30 and 40 years.

“We pray that such accidents will not happen again,” he said, adding that no one could guarantee such incidents would not recur.

Najib also extended the Cabinet’s condolences to the victims’ next-of-kin.

Responding to reports of claims that the ill-fated Nuri which crashed had technical glitches, Royal Malaysian Air Force chief Jen Tan Sri Azizan Ariffin, who was also at the press conference, said a technician, co-pilot and captain would have inspected the aircraft during the pre-flight check.

Armed forces personnel carry one of the bodies to a waiting ambulance to be brought to the mortuary.

He added that if the captain had accepted the aircraft, it would mean it was fit to fly.

Defence consultant Dzirhan Mahadzir said a helicopter similar to a Nuri would cost between US$25mil (RM122.5mil) and US$40mil (RM140mil).

Dzirhan, who is the Malaysian correspondent for the Jane’s Defence Weekly magazine, said buying new helicopters would involve training packages on maintenance and piloting of the aircraft, spare parts and add-on electronics and avionics devices for the aircraft.

“If more similar units were purchased this would mean it becomes cheaper per unit in terms of cost,” he said.

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