Fennec copter not flying at correct height when it crashed, says navy chief

THE failure of a naval helicopter to fly at the correct height and on the set course has been identified as the main cause of a mid-air collision last month in Lumut.

Navy chief Admiral Abdul Rahman Ayob said the Fennec aircraft did not have a black box.

"The board has concluded that there was no human error involved as the Fennec did not have a black box to surmise a connection to human error.

"What we can conclude is Fennec was not flying at the set height and flight path," he told a press conference in Gombak today.

He said the final report tallied with the preliminary findings that were released earlier.

Two navy helicopters, an AgustaWestland AW-139 and a Eurocopter AS555SN Fennec, collided last month while training for the 90th Naval Day celebration.

The AW139, with seven crew members, crashed on the stairs of the TLDM stadium while the Fennec with three on board crashed into the swimming pool in the sports complex.

All 10 crewmen died in the crash.

Rahman said investigations into the crash did not find any sign of hypoglycaemia or fatigue in the crew.

He said the crew members were fit to fly.

"Their deaths were caused as a result of multiple injuries due to the aviation crash," he said.

He said the black box in the AW139 helicopter that the Fennec crashed into showed that the former did not have any mechanical problem.

He said the two helicopters were maintained according to regulations and the guidelines of their manufacturers.

He said the weather conditions on the day were suitable for flying.

"For the AW139, the black box was used to assist in the investigation while for the Fennec, its flight profile through air simulation using an actual helicopter was used.

"Cooperation from the original equipment manufacturer was sought to assist in the investigation. Airbus Helicopter confirmed the Fennec did not have on board any equipment with non-volatile memory to assist in the investigations," he said. – May 30, 2024.