Senator urges govt to replace ageing helicopters, temporarily ground BO-105s after Sarawak crash

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 9 — The government must review the use of ageing helicopters and ensure contractors replace them with newer and more suitable aircraft, Senator Dr RA Lingeshwaran said today following the fatal Flying Doctor Service (FDS) crash in Sarawak.

He also called for all BO-105 helicopters to be temporarily grounded until investigators established the cause of the crash.

“Human lives cannot be measured against contract costs or operating profits. Precautionary measures must be taken now without waiting for a second tragedy,” he said in a Facebook post today.

Lingeshwaran said that although the FDS was operated by a private company under a government contract, Putrajaya remained responsible for ensuring contractors used aircraft meeting the highest safety and aviation standards.

He said aviation records indicated that the helicopter involved, registered as 9M-LLF, was built in Germany around 1991 — making it about 35 years old — and had previously carried registrations in Germany, the US and South Africa before entering service in Malaysia.

Lingeshwaran described the aircraft as used or reconditioned and noted that production of the BO-105 model ended in 2001.

He said the government should take full responsibility and act firmly against the operator if investigators found that the aircraft’s age, maintenance history or condition contributed to the crash.

Lingeshwaran also expressed his condolences to the families and colleagues of the four Health Ministry personnel and pilot killed in the tragedy.

The BO-105 crashed near the Long Lellang STOLport in Baram yesterday while carrying out an FDS mission, with the Air Accident Investigation Bureau under the Transport Ministry investigating the cause.