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Nuri crash, Malaysia

Last week i spoke with one of the Nuri instructor. He is now one of the Bomba something in Malaysia and was one of the rescuers for that crash we read about in the papers last few weeks. Below is a summary of the dialogue I had with Lt. Sgt. XYZ. Ill start writing about why the crash happened.

First of all, the weather was bad at the day the crash happened. That Nuri helicopter is not IFR rated that means u have to fly it visually and cant rely on the flight instruments. They can but it’s not legal. They have to stay 3000m horizontally and 300ft vertically from any cloud. Their route takes them between valleys. But there are clouds there (and heavy rain).

What they should have done here is go down south and stay well away of that area because once they go inside they have no visual queue as the cloud will cover their view. Its like driving a car with cotton candies covering the car. Then try to maneuver between 2 trees. At least u know the car won’t topple. In a helicopter, u might be upside down and still can’t tell the attitude of the helicopter.

There is 2 flights that time. One of the Nuri turned back and land at Bentong. But the one that crashed proceeded into the bad weather. They should not do this. Especially when there’s terrain up ahead.

Why don’t they climb up vertically?
They cant. Depending on their weight they can only fly up to an average of 1000ft vertically up.

There’s a phone call from the victim? Did they survive the crash?
No. Don’t trust everything u read on the papers. Some people are attention whores. The Nuri crashed nose first with forward thrust into the ground. They had to dig out the Captain’s body. The post mortem reveals that all die on impact.

There is suppose to be an emergency transmitter that emits emergency signals on impact right?
That particular Nuri doesn’t have one. The last one that crashed couldn’t transmit because the battery was low! They however have manual transmitters on their vest that had to be activated manually. They know there are no survivors because no one activated their transmitter.

Didn’t they have heat sensor equipments?
They had a few from several departments. One from UM and the other one form the Bomba (I forgot the full name). The crash happened in the morning. They tried looking for it but couldn’t find at. In the afternoon they contacted the bomba guys. But they were at Friday Prayers, so they came a little bit late. And they have only 1 of that heat seeking devices. One of them costs RM 4.5millon. They had to get it fixed to another helicopter.

By the time they take off and went for the rescue, the heat had already cooled off. So, all the heat seeking method had failed. Bad weather is also the reason it failed. Few days later the ground troops found them by the smell. They reported faulty smell and traced it to the crash site. In the end human sense is more reliable than that RM4.5m equipment?

Are they going to replace the Nuri?
I don’t know. They actually have signed a contract to upgrade the Nuri earlier, before all this fuss. To make the Nuri more reliable, 4 axis, autopilot, etc.
See also http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Sunday/Focus/20070722113641/Article/index_html

Malaysia Looks to Replace Aging Choppers After Crash
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, KUALA LUMPUR

Malaysia plans to phase out its aging fleet of military Nuri helicopters and to call a tender for their replacement, the deputy prime minister was quoted as saying July 19.
The decision follows the July 17 discovery of the bodies of six Malaysian military personnel among the wreckage of their crashed American-made Sikorsky S-61 Nuri.
Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak, who is also defense minister, said cabinet has “come out with a proposal to replace the helicopters.”
Specifications will be prepared over the next few months before a tender is called, Najib was quoted in the New Staits Times as saying.
Phasing out the Nuris will probably take up to three years, he added.
There were no survivors in the crash of the Nuri near the Genting Highlands entertainment resort in Pahang state. Bad weather appeared to be a major factor behind the accident, Najib said earlier.
The Nuri helicopter has been in use since 1968 and more than 20 of them remain in the Malaysian air force.
“We do not have many options as the Nuri is the main vehicle used by the air force for transportation. We cannot just terminate its usage immediately,” Najib said, answering questions on Tuesday about its continued use.

No survivors in NURI helicopter crash

Kuala Lumpur- The five day search and rescue operation to locate the Royal Malaysia Aiforce (RMAF) Nuri helicopter that went missing last Friday ended today.

The wreckage of the ill-fated helicopter was found near Genting Sempah, in Genting Highlands, at 1.24 pm today. All six crew members o­n board perished in the incident. The next-of-kin and families of the victims have been informed of the bad news.

The victims are pilot, Captain Nor Azlan Termuzi, co-pilot Captain Nor Intan Asykeen Mohd Arof, air quartermasters Sargeant Khusnizam Ariffin and Sargeant Mohd Azmie Md Yassin, senior airman Saifulizam Alias and airman, Muhammad Ridzuan Ahmad.

The US-made Sikorsky S61 transport helicopter disappeared from the radar screen at 9.35am last Friday, 10 minutes after taking off the Sungai Besi air base o­n its way to Gambang, Kuantan.

Royal Malaysian Air Force Public Relations Officer, Mejar Zulkiflee Abdul Latiff said the wreckage of the helicopter was found by the ground search team, 5 km northwest of Genting Sempah.

The helicopter had crashed not far from the Kuala Lumpur-Karak Highway at Genting Sempah, 3km from the entrance to the Karak tunnel from Kuala \Lumpur.

Journalists were not allowed to enter the crash site which has been cordoned off by security forces. An army source said all the bodies were found in the cabin of the wrecked helicopter.

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