Grim task: Members of the Royal Malaysia Police investigating the crash site as security personnel carry off parts of the downed aircraft. — KAMARUL ARIFFIN/The Star
KUALA LUMPUR: The cockpit voice recorder (CVR) of the Beechcraft Model 390 (Premier 1) aircraft which crashed near Bandar Elmina in Shah Alam, has been sent for analysis.
Transport Minister Anthony Loke said Air Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), a bureau under his ministry, has been instructed to conduct an immediate and thorough investigation and the results of the investigation will be made public as soon as possible.
“All the results of the investigation will be announced transparently... we will not hide any facts, all the facts obtained will be announced to the public,” he said after attending the signing of collaboration and funding agreements between Yinson, RRJ and Farosson yesterday.
Ten people were killed in the plane crash on Thursday.
Eight of the victims were six passengers and two crew aboard the light aircraft, while the other two were a motorcyclist and a car driver passing by the crash site.
Loke said his ministry was aware that the analysis needed to be done immediately because it involved the interests of many and attracted the attention of many parties, and he himself also wanted to know the cause of the crash as soon as possible.
Regarding the identity of the two civilian victims, Loke, reported Bernama, said he would leave it to the police to carry out an investigation and identify them.
“As far as the Transport Ministry is concerned, we have done what we needed to do, which was to make public the flight manifest, the passengers involved, but the identity of all the victims must be verified by the police,” he said.
In the meantime, Loke also urged the public not to create any speculation regarding the plane crash, and asked for privacy to be given to the victims’ family.
He said it would be better if authorities such as the police and the Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM) were given space to carry out their investigations in detail and comprehensively.
Meanwhile, a flight industry expert said investigations into the crash is expected to take a week if the CVR was not damaged.
Former CAAM chairman Datuk Seri Azharuddin Abdul Rahman told Bernama Radio the chances of damage to the CVR is slim as it is made especially to withstand heat, fire and water.
“When I was active in the CVR investigation on the MH17 tragedy, in which the aircraft plunged 33,000ft (100.58m) to the ground... we were still able to download the CVR, the content was clear,” he said in an interview on Jendela Fikir.
Azharuddin, who is now a member of MYAirline board of directors, explained that the black box which contains the CVR is wrapped with various materials and could withstand impact to protect the chip in it.
The former Civil Aviation Department director-general said the CVR is useful to investigators to conduct accurate analysis apart from using the dash cam footage handed over to them.
“At the time of the incident, the weather conditions were good and two minutes before landing the air control centre lost contact with the pilot and they found a plume of smoke (from the location of the incident) and when called, no one answered from the plane.
“In some of the ‘dash cam’ footage, the plane plunged towards the ground and this confused the investigation, so we need to see all the evidence found at the scene,” he said.
Pahang Local Government, Housing, Environment and Green Technology Committee chairman and Pelangai assemblyman Datuk Seri Johari Harun was on the flight manifest.
Also on the list were two pilots Shahrul Kamal Roslan and Heikal Aras Abdul Azim, as well as five other passengers: Kharil Azwan Jamaludin, Shaharul Amir Omar, Mohamad Naim Fawwaz Mohamed Muaidi, Muhammad Taufiq Mohd Zaki and Idris Abdol Talib @ Ramali.
