The Transport Ministry has identified several factors in its preliminary report into the BK 160 Gabriel plane crash in Kapar on Feb 13, which resulted in the death of two people.
Among the issues noted in the report released by the Air Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) include maintenance work on the aircraft being done by uncertified persons, the plane exceeding the maximum weight limit, as well as suspected carbon monoxide poisoning inside the cabin.
“There is evidence indicating that irregular maintenance activities had been performed on the BK 160TR (I-POOC), which include installation of uncertified/non-conforming aircraft parts, as well as installation of aircraft parts and aircraft servicing by unauthorised maintenance organisation or persons who were not properly qualified to carry out the maintenance activities.
“The irregular maintenance activities that are determined up to the time of the issuance of this report are as follows - removal of the aircraft’s nose landing gear (NLG) and installation of a new NLG in February 2024 by unauthorised maintenance personnel or persons who were not appropriately qualified,” read the report, adding that the new NLG was fixed just before the fateful flight.
In addition, non-certified “tie-down rings” were installed on the underside of each of the plane’s wings by the pilot himself, the report noted.
Weight limit breached
Routine maintenance activities on the plane were also carried out by unauthorised and unqualified maintenance personnel, AAIB stressed, including replacing spark plugs and air filter elements on the aircraft.
“There is a high likelihood that there were other irregular maintenance works, based on the entries in the maintenance log kept by the late pilot.”
Investigations by the agency further revealed that the doomed airplane had exceeded the maximum take-off weight of the aircraft, which is 850kg, on the day of the crash. It weighed 921.3kg.
“The aircraft’s actual total weight had exceeded the maximum take-off weight limitation by approximately 8.4 percent for the accident flight.
“The BK 160TR is a relatively weight-sensitive aircraft, and based on evidence, there is a high probability that there were other flights flown by the late pilot previously that had also exceeded the limitation of the aircraft operating weight,” said the report.
“Further evidence is being gathered to determine the number of such occurrences.”
According to the report, the late pilot had reported to airplane manufacturer Blackshape the faulty carbon monoxide (CO) indicator in the cabin, which had come on in-flight occasionally.
“The CO indicator strip in the front cockpit was also reported by the pilot to be partially black. These occurrences indicate the possibility of high levels of CO in the cockpit.
“The pilot had jury-rigged two portable CO detectors, one each in the front and rear of the cockpit, to measure CO levels. He reported that CO levels had reached the peak of 285 ppm during the aircraft climb phase and 45 ppm during the cruise phase,” said the report.
Whether or not the CO levels in the cabin led to the crash in any way would be examined when the post-mortem and toxicology reports are made available, it added.
No flight data recorders
AAIB noted that the aircraft was not equipped with any flight data recorders, but was fitted with two primary flight display units, which have in the past, been used by air accident investigation laboratories abroad to extract parametric data recorded on similar accident-damaged devices.
The report said that both the deceased - pilot Daniel Yee Hsiang Khoon, 30, and his co-pilot Roshaan Singh Raina, 42, were certified and fit to fly.
Both were killed on the spot when the light aircraft nose-dived towards an oil palm plantation in Kapar, Klang.
The agency said the final report on the accident shall be completed and released to the public within 12 months of the accident. - Mkini
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.