PUTRAJAYA: There were no breach of handling or maintenance SOP of the helicopter belonging to the Malaysian Fire and Rescue Department (JBPM) which crashed at the apron of UniKL MIAT hangar near Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport last Saturday.
JBPM Fire and Rescue Operations director Datuk Ahmad Izram Osman said the Agusta AW189 helicopter was undergoing maintenance, involving engine and aircraft system tests, when it crashed at about 11.40 am.
During the process, he said, the engineer had dismantled the aircraft fan motor and then reassembled it before doing the hovering test.
"When the plane came out of the hangar, it was not balanced and looking at the impact of the tyres, we found that the incident happened before conducting a hovering test.
"Usually this hovering process is done at a height of seven metres and there are other levels (as well) but the helicopter did not have time to complete the process after the tyres became unbalanced and the helicopter's rotor broke after hitting the floor of the hangar area," he told Bernama on Monday (July 24).
He said, at the time of the incident, three JBPM members and four maintenance crew were onboard and all of them were wearing seat belts
Three JBPM personnel were on board when the crash occurred. They were Hasrizal Kamaruzzaman (aircraft commander), Che Muhammad Azlan Che Mohammad (pilot) and Fua'ad Jamaluddin (air- quartermaster).
Four maintenance crew members from Galaxy Aerospace Sdn. Bhd. namely Muhammad Mohd Taib (chief engineer), Ahmad Zhafri Mohd Nor (avionics engineer), Mohammad Zhafir Mohammad (intern) and Ryan Xavier Julius (intern) were also on board.
None of them were seriously injured in the incident. - Bernama
