40-year-old Nomad plays noble role in saving lives
Published on: Thursday, June 30, 2016
Kota Kinabalu: The recent spat between former Chief Ministers Tan Sri Harris Salleh and Datuk Yong Teck Lee has brought once again the Australian-manufactured twin-engine turboprop Nomad into the limelight as the one which crashed off Sembulan and killed a number of Sabah leaders.On June 6, 1976, 11 passengers, including the Chief Minister of Sabah and some State Cabinet members, were killed over Sembulan. Until this date, the cause is yet to be identified.The remaining one of two Sabah Air's 40-year-old Nomad planes is still operational, and it was chartered by the family and friends of Kudat Tommy's Place resort to search for Tommy Lam and three others missing in the South China Sea recently.
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The Nomad was developed by Australia's Government Aircraft Factory from late 1960s to help provide the facility with work after construction of licence built Mirage jet fighters (some of which were once based in Butterworth, Penang) was completed. Also to offer a new rugged STOL utility transport suited to both military and civil operators. First flight of the prototype Nomad N2 occurred on July 23, 1971."The Nomad, when compared to the Bell helicopter from Layang-Layang Aerospace, was like comparing a Proton Saga to a Mercedes Benz. However, it costs us RM7,000 per hour to charter the Nomad compared to the Bell helicopter costing around RM3,500 an hour," said the private search and rescue organiser, who spotted the missing boat and four passengers during the second day of the search off Kudat."I was the first person to spot them. It was like a speck in the sea. I asked for binoculars but there was none.
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RM7,000 an hour and no binoculars available on a search and rescue flight. We spotted them at 6.15pm and circled above them a few times until the plane was low on fuel and had to return to the (KK) airport."The location coordinates were relayed to Tommy's wife and to the authorities by 6.30pm. The search and rescue maritime vessel was refuelled and set off at 9.30pm to reach the location, which by then they had drifted off due to the strong currents and could not be found again," said the organiser who asked not to be named.
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There were five witnesses on the plane, including the flight captain, who can testify to this.The organiser explained that they had to embark on a private search and rescue mission because the authorities do not immediately act intensively after a missing person report was made. Seated on board next to him was a former Soviet Special Forces man going to make export grade furniture in the Kudat district. His business was approved by a Miti (Ministry of International Trade and Industry) agency.A few days later, writing his report at a resort hotel in Kudat, two Maritime admirals (one based at Kolombong and the other Likas) invited the organiser to join them for breakfast and were told not to indulge in speculation of kidnap which could adversely affect the tourism industry and hence the nation's GDP. The organiser learnt that Tommy's father with business ties and connections in Brunei had prepared to ready a group of former Singapore special forces for the situation. Tommy's father started the private search and rescue by telling the volunteers to mobilise all (private commercial) assets.On the kidnap scenario, the organiser explained that it could not be ruled out as Tommy had allegedly dismissed 10 workers prior to the incident based on the recommendations of the two Spaniards who were missing with Lam.The Spaniards were tourist-volunteers, slickers for efficiency, helping Lam to note who were not working or useless. A quarter of the resort buildings including an excavator were later reportedly found burned shortly after their rescue.In the end, the family of Lam had to pay Layang-Layang Aerospace more than RM150,000 for their chartered search and rescue flights.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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