Double Six's Official Investigation: ‘Too many holes in report’
Published on: Friday, April 14, 2023
By: Sherell Jeffrey
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“The Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) would have been the authority that passed his (Captain Gandhi’s) flying licence. So if he was really found not qualified to fly, why did they pass and issue the licence? They could have suspended him at any time,” Captain Nizam said.
Kota Kinabalu: The son of Captain Gandhi Nathan who was blamed for the 1976 “Double Six” Nomad plane crash described the investigation report as having “lots of holes” in it.Captain Nizam Ghani, 62, now a retired pilot, said there were too many discrepancies and loopholes in the investigations which led to many incorrect assertions and findings as stated in the just declassified report.
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“Firstly, does it make any sense to allow an incompetent pilot to fly and more so the Chief Minister and VIPs at that time?” he asked, referring to the report that cast doubts on his father’s flying experience.
“The Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) would have been the authority that passed his (Captain Gandhi’s) flying licence. So if he was really found not qualified to fly, why did they pass and issue the licence? They could have suspended him at any time,” he said.
On the investigations, Captain Nizam said it was stated in the report that the baggage loaded at the aft baggage compartment had exceeded the prescribed weight limit of that compartment and that contributed to the aft C of G limits being exceeded.
“This caused the plane to stall at the final approach phase of the flight at Kota Kinabalu International Airport (KKIA) because the aircraft was grossly out of balance. The pilot was not made aware of this in the first place. The airline company had the bigger responsibility to make sure that the loading of the aircraft was in accordance with the guidelines.
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“The pilot cannot be solely held responsible because the airline company is the one that prepares the load sheet before taking off,” he said.
He also questioned why was the Australian Transport Safety Board (ATSB) not involved in this investigation.
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“They are an independent body taking care of all transport safety,” said Capt Nizam, referring to the presence of only two Australian Transport Department officials in the seven-member Malaysian DCA investigating team.
He said with the report released almost five decades after the incident, it was near impossible to verify the correctness, accuracy and thoroughness of the investigative methods employed and the qualifications and integrity of investigators.
“Remember this was in 1976 and it’s a fair assumption that Malaysia would not have had adequate and requisite skills set or expertise to conduct aviation crash investigation without Australia’s help,” Captain Nizam said.
He also said the investigation with personnel from the Australian Transport Department could not possibly have been independent since aircraft manufacturer GAF was government-owned and it would have been in their interest to come up with a report that assigned fault to others rather than the aircraft itself and GAF.
He felt this was only to be expected since it was non-independent.
“As the report is not independent, they will go out of their way to deflect blame on others,” said Captain Nizam, who has been flying for over 40 years before his retirement in 2020.
He said the Australian report on the crash was unlikely to provide any answers as the report, done by their government, could be compromised.
“It is a non-independent (Australian) report. So I won’t hold my breath. The manufacturer GAF is investigating itself.
“Why was the Australian Transport Safety Board accident investigators not called to do an independent probe to find out why that crash happened?” he asked.
The Daily Express’ award winning team of journalists presents ‘Double Six: The Untold Stories’, a documentary on the plane crash in Sabah (East Malaysia) killing the newly-elected Chief Minister of Sabah Tun Mohd Fuad Stephens, four state ministers and six others on June 6th, 1976. After 46 years the findings of the crash also known to many as The Double Six Tragedy have not been disclosed. Note: This series unravels information not previously available to the public, but does not in any way attribute blame for the crash on any party.
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