KUALA LUMPUR: The Sikorsky S61A-4 helicopters, or the Nuri, may have gained a less-than-stellar reputation after more than 50 years of service.
Experts, however, believe that the issue of maintenance contributed to this.
A former Royal Malaysian Air Force inspector-general, who declined to be named, said many aircraft accidents were also related to pilot error.
“Despite being old, many air forces in the world are still using this model, like the United States, for example. If properly maintained, it can continue to fly for a good number of years.”
He said investigators had to find the cause of each accident and not just blame the helicopters.
“Unless the helicopter falls apart for no reason, the human factor plays a major role in the safe flying of helicopters.”
Nuri helicopters, better known as Sea Kings, saw action in the Vietnam War.
It uses two 15,000 horse-power engines by General Electric and can reach a speed of 220kph.
The former RMAF officer said there were plans in 2004 to replace Nuri helicopters with new ones, with each costing up to RM95 million under the 9th Malaysia Plan, but they were deferred due to financial constraints.
Subsequently, the Defence Ministry upgraded the helicopters to the tune of RM56 million.
A retired senior Nuri pilot said the helicopter was among the safest aircraft in the world.
“They were fantastic gifts for the armed forces. They played an important role when it came to troop deployment and sending supplies to ‘hot’ operational front lines, especially the Malaysia-Thailand border at the height of the communist insurgency.”
He said Nuri helicopters had basic avionics.
“They were not equipped with sophisticated navigational equipment and we pilots had to fly visually on most occasions with our ‘Mark 2’ eyeballs. The weather can be unpredictable in the deep forests of the country.
“I experienced a lot of emergencies flying into booby-trap areas, getting pot shots from terrorists while having to hoist up severely injured troops. Today’s pilots have not flown in similar scenarios.”
Another former Nuri pilot said the helicopters started their service in the RMAF in 1967 and the government had purchased 40 of them from US-based Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation.
“Apart from troop and supply deployment, they were the workhorses for logistics support, and search-and-rescue missions. They were forgiving despite being flogged with high flight hours.”