Hello everyone,

We understand that there is a lot of curiosity surrounding the MH2517 B734 gear collapse incident. Investigations are still ongoing but allow me to shed some light on what we know thus far.

This type of incident has never happened before in our 62-year history. The aircraft had undergone routine heavy maintenance check in August 2008 and light maintenance check in July 2009. The aircraft is also checked during every transit and every night.

As a proactive measure, immediately after the incident, we did an E&M check on all the landing gear system for our entire B737 fleet and everything was found to be normal. All the aircraft in our fleet will continue to go through strict checks in accordance to the approved maintenance schedule.

We apologise to our passengers for this incident. Safety of our passengers is paramount, and we are working closely with Boeing's structural experts and the Malaysian Department of Civil Aviation to ascertain the cause of the incident.

Regards,
Captain Azharuddin Osman
Director of Operations
Malaysia Airlines

By: Mohd Salleh Ahmad Tabrani (Managing Director, MASwings)

In the recent technical malfunction pertaining to the Perth-bound MH127 flight, we would like to offer some clarity as to what took place.

The first flight which departed at 6pm had to abandon its take-off attempt. This was a precautionary measure to take at the time – when one of its three hydraulic systems sensed a fault. In order for us to minimize any delays, passengers were transferred to another aircraft, and the flight departed.

However, the right engine began exhibiting some vibration upon reaching the top of its climb. As per routine operating procedure, the pilot of the flight shut the engine down and proceeded to return to the airport for further checks – the landing was normal. Our records show that there is no history of any defect with this engine prior to the flight.

In Kuala Lumpur, all economy class passengers were given refreshment vouchers, and Business class passengers were able to access our Golden Lounge. Passengers were also provided with accommodation at nearby hotels such as the Concorde Shah Alam, Concorde Inn Sepang, Airside Transit Hotel at KLIA and Holiday Inn Glennmarie.

Safety has, is and always will remain our utmost priority and we do not hesitate to take necessary steps to conduct further checks. Unfortunately, this will be an inconvenience but the safety of our customers and crew will not be compromised.
To the passengers of flight MH127 on Sunday, we extend our sincerest apologies over the inconvenience experienced. As much as we do our best to ensure every flight takes off smoothly, there are of course, unexpected situations. While it’s unfortunate that we experienced two separate incidents with our aircraft, we are in the midst of service recovery with every passenger on the flight.

Thank you,
Tan Wai Fong
Head, Media Relations

By: Tan Wai Fong (Media Relations, Communications Division)

Misleading Misdeed 

I read with much concern the posting by Malaysia Today dated 3rd July 2009 referring to a report by Dr. David Stone titled “The Malaysian Airlines Fuel Fiasco".

Knowing that Malaysia Airlines has not had such incidents reported and concerned about the validity of the posting, I quickly contacted the author of the report on 3rd July.

He also expressed his surprise about the sudden reappearance of his report. This is a very old article which was published in 1999 in the UK travel publication Inside Traveller.

It referred to events in the late 90s when it was alleged that MAS aircraft had landed at London Heathrow with insufficient fuel. These events were well-documented at the time and since then, MAS has not had further incidents of this nature and has improved its procedures.

It is totally misleading of Malaysia Today to have the date of the posting as 3rd July without being upfront about the historical relevance of the article.

As it stands, it does not bring any benefit as it does not represent the current operations and the article now only provides historical representation to the issue. 

I have written to Malaysia Today and provided the administrators with Dr Stone's clarification. He suggested that Malaysia Today delete the post entirely since it is now of only historical relevance. Failing this, he has asked that his statement be placed in a prominent position.

I hope that Malaysia Today will be able to do the above to provide a true representation of what happened.

By: Mohd Roslan Ismail (Senior General Manager, Engineering & Maintenance)

Qantas had sent one of their B737-400 aircraft to our facility in SZB, for a HMV Check in May 2008. Qantas had positioned not less than 12 of their personnel here, to oversee all activities carried out on their aircraft. The function of these personnel is to survey and audit MAS activities, throughout the check and report those items they feel needs improvement. Glad to advise that all the pickups, recorded by these personnel had been rectified, to the satisfaction of the Qantas team, before aircraft delivery to Australia. We must add that the Qantas team had been very helpful to MAS personnel, with regards to meeting the Qantas maintenance standards.

For those 'string of faults' that were reported in the media, MAS E&M had investigated each and every one of the items listed and found them unsubstantiated, as these were the parts that were checked and found to be free from defect, during the maintenance check and test flight, with the concurrence from the Qantas team.

Pertaining to flight attendant receiving static/mild electric shock was also thoroughly investigated and we had found the root cause of the issue. Although we are not able to ascertain whether the defect originated from MAS, we had nevertheless taken the necessary precautionary and proactive action, to ensure it will not happen to MAS and MAS customer's aircraft. We hope the above clarifies and we wish to assure you of our fullest commitment to aviation safety.

Whislt the B747-400 aircraft was undergoing heavy maintenance at Qantas, a long crack was detected at a butt joint splice plate. It was discovered that the crack originated from a deep groove mark that appeared to be the result of a grinding operation. However, MAS did not carry out the grinding operation on that plane. Rather a sealant removal operation was carried out which never included execution on grinding.

By: Mohd Roslan Ismail (Engineering and Maintenance)

The recent incident on Qantas B747-400 aircraft, where it has resulted in "explosive decompression", is rather unfortunate. Luckily, the pilot managed to land the aircraft safely without any casualty, it could have been worse. I would like to congratulate the pilot for a job well done.

However, what saddened me is the ignorance of another fellow senior pilot who didn't even know where the aircraft is maintained. He had accused MAS Engineering of maintaining the B747 aircraft whereas in actual fact the aircraft was maintained in Australia.

My advice for this senior pilot is to check the aircraft technical records and also to read the published safety reports by the FAA, EASA, etc, of the worldwide incidences before alleging that other MROs produce substandard quality work.

MAS Engineering & Maintenance division has been in existence for the last 36 years. We grew from a small outfit, from just maintaining the F27 and B737 aircraft to be the top three MRO in Asia. Now, we have the capability to maintain almost all aircraft type that are flying, which include B747-400/-300/-200, B777, A330, A320, B737NG and Classic, F50, etc. Our maintenance facility in Kuala Lumpur is of the state of the art with more that 20 maintenance bays for widebody and narrowbody aircraft. To date, we have done nearly 500 heavy maintenance checks on all aircraft types.

To add to this track record, we have been approved by 25 National Aviation Authorities (NAA) worldwide which include FAA, EASA, MDCA, CASA, CAAC, etc. We are being audited by these NAA every year and passed with flying colours. Today, apart from maintaining MAS' fleet of aircraft, we also provide maintenance services to other airlines such as Lufthansa, Saudi Arabian Airlines, Qantas, Jet Airways, Austrian Airlines, etc, etc. To date, we have nearly 80 customers and this speaks volume of our success. It is because of this success and reputation that our partners such as Qantas Airways, Alenia Aeronavali of Italy, etc, have chosen to collaborate and team up with us to venture into the aerospace industry.

2 Responses to “The facts speak for itself”
 

• SriMathe says:

Keep working, great job!

February 10th, 2009 at 2:30 pm

• SriMathe says:

I keep listening to the news speak about getting free online grant applications so I have been looking around for the best site to get one.

February 12th, 2009 at 7:37 pm

By: Joshua Law (Management)

Some of you by know heard about the recent Qantas B747 aircraft enroute to Australia that had a huge hole and was forced to land in Manila. Thank God I wasn't in that aircraft but I can imagine how the passengers must have felt. It's like, for a split second, your life just flashing past you!! BTW, kudos to the pilots for safely navigating the plane to safety. Really glad to hear that all are safe and unharmed.

But what troubled me more was that there were news reports quoting a senior pilot saying that the cause was the result of poor maintenance work in Malaysia . Presumably he was referring to the maintenance venture MAS and Qantas had recently sealed. As my workplace is just a stone's throw away from our hangars, never have I come across a Qantas B747. The only Qantas aircraft I've seen is the much smaller B737 which we recently maintained and delivered safely a couple of weeks back. BTW, we've been maintaining B737s even before I was born!

I don't know where that pilot got his facts from but his information is just plain wrong. In a football game, I would have shown him a red card! I would advise him that next time he get his facts right. I work closely with the Engineering folks and I can tell you that we in MAS never compromise on safety and quality. What this pilot has effectively done is to tarnish the reputation of MAS Engineering and the thousands that work tirelessly in trying to build the business from scratch.

Behind the misrepresentation and misinformation, I believe there is an underlying issue. There are many naysayers that believe that work in Malaysia is just second rate and can't compete with our fellow engineers in developed countries like the UK, Europe and Australia. Yeah, I guess we got into the game a bit later, but that doesn't mean we aren't just good as them! Everyday, those guys in MAS Engineering go that extra mile to prove ourselves and show our customers that we are a world-class business.