KUALA LUMPUR – Sabah Air, the airline operator of the fatal Double Six air crash in Sabah nearly 47 years ago, was deemed to have been “operating illegally” by the Australian government at the time, according to its recently declassified report on the incident.
The report by Australia’s Government Aircraft Factories (GAF), which was declassified today, detailed that throughout the course of investigations into the deadly crash, the then Civil Aviation Department (CAD) had failed to fulfil its obligations as the local certificating authority.
This, the report said, is because prior to the crash on June 6, 1976, Sabah Air had submitted to CAD an operations manual draft, which was never approved by the department.
“(The draft) was never approved by CAD and in this regard, Sabah Air were operating illegally,” the report stated.
It added that a “brief perusal” of the draft showed that it evidently contained “a number of inaccuracies with regard to aircraft operation that deviated from the flight manual, to the extent that optimum performance would not be achieved in operations”.
Besides that, the report also stated that the Nomad N-22B 9M-ATZ pilot, Gandhi Nathan, was of “sub-standard ability” with a “considerable number of shortcomings”, despite having about 3,000 flying hours under his belt.
“Early in 1975…it was reported that Gandhi’s ability to deal with simulated emergencies was poor, he had little feel for an aeroplane, and he flew by numbers rather than using his own intelligence.
“Repeatedly, (then Sabah Air chief pilot) M. Nadan reported (on Gandhi’s) sub-standard ability with emergencies, instrument flying, and single-engine operations.
“(Nadan) recommended that Gandhi obtain a further 50 hours flying on the Nomad before he was permitted to carry passengers. Nadan stated during a private conversation that he did not consider Gandhi capable of safely operating a multi-engined aircraft,” the report said.
It added that Nadan was later dismissed when then Sabah chief minister Tun Fuad Stephens gained the title, with a “Captain Wahab” taking over as general manager of the organisation.
“Wahab and Gandhi had shared a flat at some stage and were reportedly good friends. Wahab stated that Nadan had victimised Gandhi,” the report said, noting that Nadan was considered by GAF to be the “most competent and professional” Nomad pilot in Sabah Air.
Meanwhile, the report said that another interviewed Nomad pilot in Sabah Air said that they “never bothered to physically calculate the loading of an aircraft before take-off”.
Instead, he said that they would “simply eyeball” the location of baggage and if it looked satisfactory, then they would take off.
“When questioned about using the loading charts in the flight manual, he said they did not use them because they were too difficult to understand.”
Previously, a separate Malaysian report on the Double Six tragedy concluded that miscalculations surrounding the centre of gravity involving the aircraft’s tail were the “probable cause” of the accident that killed Fuad and 10 others.
It also highlighted how operating procedures carried out by Sabah Air pilots had “become quite casual and were certainly not of a professional standard”.
The report was signed by then accidents chief inspector and CAD flight operations director Omar Saman.
State ministers Datuk Salleh Sulong, Datuk Peter Mojuntin, and Chong Thien Vun were among those who perished in the air crash on June 6, 1976.
They were on a flight from Labuan when the aircraft crashed in Sembulan while approaching Kota Kinabalu International Airport. – The Vibes, April 26, 2023
