S'pore-owned plane in M'sia crash exceeded weight limit
PETALING JAYA – Evidence of “irregular maintenance activities” was found by Malaysia’s Air Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) in its investigation of the Feb 13 air crash in Kapar, Selangor.
AAIB said in its preliminary report released on March 13 that evidence includes the installation of uncertified or non-conforming aircraft parts on the Singapore-owned and operated BK 160 Gabriel light aircraft involved in the fatal crash that killed two Malaysians.
The AAIB also said that there is evidence the BK 160TR aircraft had exceeded the 850kg maximum take-off weight during the flight on Feb 13.
Investigators found the flight at take-off was 921.3kg, meaning that its actual weight had exceeded the limitations by approximately 8.4 per cent.
The AAIB said that the finding presumes that there was no luggage on board and no significant weight change in either the passenger or pilot.
“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,” added the AAIB.
In the crash, 30-year-old pilot Daniel Yee Hsiang Khoon and 42-year-old passenger Roshaan Singh Rania were both killed.
Yee was from Penang while Singh was from Johor.
The aircraft, operated by Aviation Safety Technology Singapore, took off from the Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport in Subang before crashing some 40km east into an oil palm plantation near Kampung Tok Muda, Kapar.
The BK160 aircraft was manufactured and registered in Italy by Blackshape Aircraft. It was then exported to Singapore in October 2022 before it was transferred to Malaysia in July 2023.
Aside from flights between Singapore and Malaysia, the aircraft with the call sign ADV429 had also flown long haul trips that stops in Myanmar and Thailand, according to the report.
It also had a trip to the Philippines that was aborted while in Indonesian airspace, with the plane forced to return to return after it was flagged with a “fuel transfer indication system issue”.
The AAIB said it had logged 85.5 hours of flight time before the Feb 13 crash.
The AAIB added that there was also the installation of aircraft parts and aircraft servicing by unauthorised maintenance organisations or persons who were not properly qualified to carry out the maintenance activities.
It said that one of the irregular activities up to the time of the report’s issuance included the removal of the aircraft’s nose landing gear and the installation of a new one by “unauthorised maintenance personnel or persons who were not appropriately qualified”.
“(The) installation of the new nose landing gear was completed just prior to the accident flight on Feb 13, 2024. The apparent purpose of the accident flight was to test the newly installed nose landing gear,” said the AAIB.
It also said that routine maintenance activities were performed on the aircraft by unauthorised and unqualified maintenance personnel, including the replacement of spark plugs and an air filter element as well as other servicing conducted at the end of Nov 2023.
“There is high likelihood that there were other irregular maintenance works, based on the entries in the maintenance log kept by the late pilot,” added the AAIB.
In its conclusion of the preliminary report, the AAIB said that the pilot was properly licensed and qualified for the flight and the aircraft had valid airworthiness certification.
The aircraft had been scheduled to participate in the Singapore Airshow in February 2024.
Malaysia’s Transport Ministry previously said in a press release that the report on the crash that killed two people was completed in accordance with the Convention on International Civil Aviation - Aircraft Accident and Incident Investigation (ICAO - Annex 13).
The Transport Ministry said that the AAIB investigation is ongoing to determine the causes and contributing factors that led to the fatal accident, with the final report expected to be made available within 12 months of the Feb 13 accident. – THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
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