Maintenance of heli that crashed followed SOPs, says fire dept

 

The fire and rescue department said the helicopter was undergoing engine and aircraft system tests when it crashed, with the propeller breaking after hitting the floor of the hangar area. (Fire & Rescue Department pic)

PUTRAJAYA: The fire and rescue department has found that there was no breach of standard operating procedures (SOPs) in terms of handling or maintenance of its helicopter that crashed at the apron of UniKL MIAT hangar near Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport on Saturday.

Its fire and rescue operations director Ahmad Izram Osman said the Agusta AW189 helicopter was undergoing maintenance when it crashed at about 11.40am. This involved engine and aircraft system tests.

During the process, he said the engineer had dismantled the aircraft fan motor and then reassembled it before doing the hovering test.

“When the helicopter came out of the hanger, it was not balanced. Looking at the impact on 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).

“The helicopter did not have time to complete the process after the wheels became unbalanced. The helicopter’s propeller broke after hitting the floor of the hangar area,” he told Bernama here today.

He said, at the time of the incident, three department members and four maintenance crew members were on board. All of them were wearing seat belts.

The three department personnel on board were Hasrizal Kamaruzzaman (aircraft commander), Che Azlan Che Mohammad (pilot) and Fua’ad Jamaluddin (air- quartermaster).

The four maintenance crew members, from Galaxy Aerospace Sdn Bhd on board were Mohd Taib (chief engineer), Ahmad Zhafri Nor (avionics engineer), Zhafir Mohammad (intern) and Ryan Xavier Julius (intern).

None of them were seriously injured in the incident. - FMT