PETALING JAYA, May 16 — Those on board the ill-fated Eurocopter AS365N3 Dauphin were most likely caught unawares in the fatal crash in Semenyih.
According to a Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) spokesman, there were no cries of alarm after the port horizontal stabiliser detached from the aircraft.
He said based on what was captured by the cockpit voice recorder (CVR), it was silent in the helicopter before it went into a steep dive and crashed.
He added no one expressed panic or noted something unusual before the crash.
"That is probably because it all happened in a split second.
"The CVR only recorded the sound of something breaking, which we presume is the sound of the helicopter crashing into the rubber estate," he said when contacted.
The helicopter crashed in a rubber plantation in Semenyih last month killing all six on board, including former minister Tan Sri Jamaluddin Jarjis.
"We can safely state the stabiliser became detached from the helicopter in flight approximately about four-and-a-half seconds before the helicopter crashed," he said.
The CVR recording earlier revealed Captain Clifford Fournier's concerns over the stabiliser, which was damaged and began leaking hydraulic oil during an unplanned landing to drop off a passenger on a football field in Muadzam Shah, Pahang, while flying from Pekan to Subang.
The spokesman said unplanned landings were not encouraged.
"Private helicopter pilots should assess (landing) areas to avoid any outward incidents," he said, adding this was one of the recommendations made in the preliminary report.
School authorities were not informed about the helicopter landing there.
"It was more of a surprise landing," he said.
The report also included recommendations for the DCA to ensure private category operators observe flight operations limitations in their respective category and for flight manifests to be introduced for all private operations.
"When there is a passenger manifest, it makes it easier for the authorities to ascertain the identity of the passengers on board," he said.
He said some of the recommendations in the preliminary report were stated in the Civil Aviation Regulations 1996 but due to lack of details, they were interpreted differently.
For helicopters, he said certain models did not require a co-pilot, but there was a safety concern because the pilot was required to get out to let passengers in and out.
"Some (pilots) do not switch off the engine to do that," he said, adding there had been incidents in the past.
The helicopter was carrying Fournier, Jamaluddin, the prime minister’s private chief secretary Datuk Azlin Alias, businessman Datuk Tan Huat Seang, Cempaka Aviation operations assistant Aidana Baizieva and Jamaluddin's bodyguard Razakan Seran when it crashed.
