MASWings incident in Ba'kelalan

[tuan74]

Just heard it.... Anybody got any inside of this story....:eek:

[Chrome]

It was covered in the local papers. I highly think the reporter didn't know what he was writing about. Why did the The Star reporter get his information from an ADUN? It's an unfortunate accident but thankfully no lives were lost.

[Bob Hawke]

Do you have a link to the article or can you PM me some info on who, when and how, without going public. I have flown that many times myself.

[mingalababya]

The article is in Bahasa but the picture tells the story pretty well. It looks like it left the runway and into a padi field.

Utusan Malaysia Online - Berita Utama (http://www.utusan.com.my/utusan/info.asp?y=2008&dt=0914&pub=Utusan_Malaysia&sec=Muka_Hadapan&pg=mh_03.htm)

[Bob Hawke]

Twin Otter flights to be rescheduled (http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/9/15/nation/2028183&sec=nation)

Here it is again, from the Star.

My source tells me it's a total write-off. Pity, they were such fun to fly and that approach at BKL always kept you honest and now we can see why.

[WLM]

The Star states that MAS management in Miri is blaming the Twin Otters as being too old for the job and conditions of runways??? what a lot of horse manure.....

Proper training in handling the conditions and how to fly would be more appropriate; and before I get shot down, I lived long enough in Sarawak and Sabah to know what m talking about

WLM

[CAT IIIB]

I've flown Otters in that area before.Directional control after landing is a bit tough though.Maybe it's true they are becoming obsolete but it's the best STOL aircraft everbuilt.We've tested the Dornier but couldn't make some of the STOL and rough airstrips in Borneo.

[atuk]

Ahhh.... Ba'kelalan...My all time favourite airport. Wonderful people..Lots of fun doing da approach...just watchout for cow dungs when steppin' out of the a/c. :ugh:
Sad to hear you guys loss an a/c there. :uhoh:

[a345xxx]

Also heard a rumor the pilot was an ex MAS guy who was terminated many years ago but was rehired by Air Asia X to fly the DHC 6 when they took over.

It would be interesting to find out why he was terminated since that sort of action is unheard of in MAS!

[Orangputi]

Slanderous rubbish Simple Guy, not a bad effort for your first post! pull your head in!

[Bob Hawke]

Hey WLM, how goes it abung! Nice to see you again on Pprune. Ya right, nothing wrong with the aeroplane, maybe the engineering, maybe the weather, who knows! There has been a comment from a friend of a friend who flies the machine; there was a very delayed response on the engine spool up on approach on short final. I recall that it did happen occassionally with the PT6. Not sure if it's the Engineering but there are rumours that might be the case. With such a tight approach, it could lead into difficulties for the best of us - heros of course exempt from this! Apa Boleh buatlah!

[CAPTAIN WOOBLAH]

I will put my money on the old KILLER TILLER. Probably caused by a nose wheel touchdown, speed a bit high, a crosswind and the aircraft cantering around the nose wheel which unlocked when it touched down. When the main wheels touched down the nose wheel out of centre position caused the aircraft to veer off the runway violently. This has always been a problem on the twatter and it is very difficult to see the tiller moving when the pilots eyes are looking down the runway.

Sad to see the old beast in a mess and very glad that all survived. My sympathies with the crew and hope they will be back in the air having learnt valuable lessons from this. Keep you chin up boys.

Wooblah.

[Bob Hawke]

Wooblah, you are right and I experienced that same senario once, without dinging the aircraft (lucky I guess!). My understanding was that the approach which typically is tighter than usual with a steep profile compounded by a split ass turn, would more than likely put you in a very undesirable position if you lost power on one or both engines. Where of course, loss of one is compounded by being so close to Vmc which is the case in the F40 approach where one would be more than likely under the Vmc speed. As such any increase in power is going to get you into trouble, yaw, roll, swing, and lose the damn thing, ...ding! I think under those circumstances the pilot/s did a good job. One could argue a go-around might have been in order, but the approach is into a boxed valley and if in fact he lost an engine I believe they would have been beyond a commit point to make that decision. Let's see what comes out in the investigation report. Malaysian DCA are known for their transparency in such matters!:}

ON ON!