Bird Strike Caused Malaysian Hornet Crash

CHIEF of the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) General Muhamad Norazlan Aris presented the preliminary findings of a board of inquiry investigating the crash of the 18th Squadron’s F/A-18D Hornet on August 21 in Kuantan.

According to the Chief, the investigation kicked off the day after the incident and comprised the RMAF, Defense Science and Technology Research Institute (STRIDE), Department of Chemistry, Royal Malaysia Police (RMP) and the United States Navy (USN).

“The investigation’s outcome shows that the incident occured due to a failure in the port side engine which was in turn caused by a bird-strike during takeoff. We came to this conclusion after analysing Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) camera footage as well as data from the onboard Deployable Flight Incident Recorder System (DFIRS) with assistance from the US Navy.

Meanwhile, technical data and analyses were obtained with help from the Department of Chemistry, STRIDE, the RMP and Department of Wildlife and National Parks Peninsular Malaysia (PERHILITAN), On that note, I am glad to inform the public that flight status for the 18th Squadron’s F/A-18D Hornets in Butterworth Air Base will now resume,” Gen Norazlan said.

The Hornet, tail number M45-07 was lost in the crash though its pilot and weapons systems officer (WSO) were both released from the hospital days after ejecting clear of the stricken aircraft. The crash leaves the RMAF’s Hornet’s nest with seven airframes left of the eight units procured in 1997. Malaysia’s government and the air force have been in the midst of attempting to acquire as many as 38 units of the inactive Kuwaiti Air Force (KAF) F/A-18C/D Hornets following US approval.

According to Gen Norazlan, an RMAF technical team will be sent this month to assess the Hornets based on its long-term viability specifically on maintenance requirements as the plan requires the Kuwaiti Hornets to fly up until the 2040s as a stop gap measure before procuring fifth-generation fighters.

Transfer of the Kuwaiti Hornets to Malaysia will only proceed after delivery of the new aircraft, “If the KAF receives four Super Hornets, four Hornets will be transferred to us and so on”, he added.

The 27 F/A-18C single seaters and 6 twin-seater F/A-18Ds operated by the gulf state air force would substantially increase the current RMAF Hornets which have received a multitude of upgrades since entering service. –shp/adj/dl (Pix:RMAF)