Flying Doctor helicopter in Sabah forced to make emergency landing

 

A screenshot showing the helicopter that was forced to land near a river in Kampung Buayan, Penampang.

KOTA KINABALU: 

A Bell 206B JetRanger helicopter carrying four health ministry staff members made an emergency landing near a river in Kampung Buayan, Penampang, earlier today.

Sabah Air Aviation Sdn Bhd chairman Kenny Chua said the incident occurred around noon during a Flying Doctor Service flight.

All four health ministry staff members, along with the helicopter’s pilot, were reported safe due to the pilot’s quick action in landing the helicopter after detecting a warning signal,

 he told reporters.

After landing safely, the pilot made an emergency call to report the situation, and a Sabah Air helicopter on a medical mission to Tawau received the call.

Chua said the Sabah Air helicopter pilot then relayed the message to the airline’s headquarters in Tanjung Aru, after which another helicopter, along with an engineer and two technicians, was dispatched at 12.30pm.

He said the team that arrived at the scene in Kampung Buayan managed to repair the helicopter, and both helicopters returned to Tanjung Aru with the health ministry staff at 2pm.

However, he said that the engineer and two technicians had to temporarily stay behind in Kampung Buayan due to space and weight limitations.

Sabah Air and Layang Layang Aerospace, (which owns the Bell 206B JetRanger helicopter) will assess the situation before returning to retrieve the engineer and technicians,

 he said.

Due to the forested area in Kampung Buayan, it is challenging to pinpoint the exact location, especially with fog and cloud cover, but we will bring them back as soon as conditions permit. - FMT