Kota Kinabalu: The much-awaited Australian investigations into the Sabah Air Nomad 9M-ATZ that crashed killing Chief Minister Tun Fuad Stephens and 10 others on June 6, 1976 suggests Fuad may have unwittingly contributed to the tragedy by sacking the most experienced Nomad pilot six weeks earlier.
The replacement Captain Ghandi Nathan, who piloted the ill-fated aircraft that afternoon, was considered as not capable of safely operating multi-engined aircraft, according to the report by the Government Aircraft Factories (G.A.F) investigation team.
It also said that the way Sabah Air was operating at that time, “an accident was bound to happen sooner or later” as well as “operating illegally” as its Operations Manual although duly submitted to the Civil Aviation Department (CAD) had not been approved as required.
Issues were also raised over unsupervised loading into the aircraft by both Captain Gandhi and intended co-pilot (Kevin Sario), whose cockpit seat was eventually given to Stephens son, Johari, an inexperienced pilot.
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The Australian report followed court action by former CM Tan Sri Harris Mohd Salleh against the Malaysian and Australian governments for classifying their reports as “official Secret” and a special Daily Express revisit and video documentary in 2021 which won it the national Investigative Journalism award, and which Harris officially acknowledged as prompting his last push for disclosure at age 93.
The Australian report came on the heels of the release of the Malaysian investigations two weeks ago, which established no evidence of sabotage, as speculated by some quarters.
The report that was declassified and made public by the Australian Government on Wednesday (April 26), stated that Ghandi was a pilot of sub-standard ability who despite clocking some 3,000 flying hours had considerable shortcomings based on a study of his personal file held by Sabah Air.
A year before the crash, when he carried out a flight check on a Seneca with Col Bakri of the Civil Aviation Department (CAD), it was reported that Ghandi’s ability to deal with simulated emergencies was poor, had little “feel” for an aeroplane and flew by numbers rather than by using his intelligence.
It further said: “He (Ghandi) was converted to the Nomad by Mr Shaw of H.deH who reported similar failings particularly with regard to emergencies and control of the aircraft on one engine.
“Shaw recommended further training in these areas for Ghandi.
The then Chief Pilot of Sabah Air, M. Nadan, had carried out a series of regular flight checks on Ghandi since his Nomad endorsement training in order to try and maintain some sort of a standard in the organisation.
“Repeatedly, Nadan reported sub-standard ability with emergencies, instrument flying and single engine operations.
“Following a flight in January 1976 Nadan suggested a further 15 hours training for Ghandi ‘beyond which, it would be a waste of time’.
“Nadan last flew with Ghandi in April 1976 before his untimely departure from Sabah Air and recommended that Ghandi obtain a further 50 hours flying on the Nomad before he was permitted to carry passengers.
“Nadan stated during a private discussion that he did not consider Ghandi was capable of safely operating multi-engined aircraft.”
The report also revealed that some six weeks before the accident, State Elections were held in Sabah and the Chief Minister Tun Mustapha Harun was defeated and replaced by Fuad who, on taking office had a number of non-East Malaysian staff of Sabah Air dismissed, including Chief Pilot (Nadan) and his deputy.
“A Captain Wahab (not Nomad qualified) was made General Manager of the organisation and Nadan reported that he had knowledge of Wahab removing his last flight report on Ghandi from Ghandi’s file.
(Wahab and Ghandi had shared a flat at some stage and were reportedly good friends.
Wahab stated that Nadan had victimised Ghandi).
“Nadan also stated that he caught Ghandi removing reports from his own file.
There is probably some truth in these statements of Nadan because a study of Ghandi’s log book revealed that many more flight checks had been carried out on him than there were flight test reports in his file,” said the report.
Nadan was considered by G.A.F. to be the most competent and professional Nomad pilot in Sabah Air.
The report further said that another Sabah Air pilot who was interviewed stated that it was normal practice to carry out flapless take-offs and landings when carrying
VIPs because smoother operations could be achieved this way.
“There were no charts in the Flight Manual to cover these operations and when further questioned, he was not able to produce any accurate or ‘rule of thumb figures for the increased distances involved.
This particular pilot, Captain Cameron, was the appointed Senior Nomad Captain following the dismissal of Captain Nadan.”
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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