KUALA LUMPUR: All sides and parties have been told not to question the cost of investigating the cause of the plane crash on the Guthrie Highway near Bandar Elmina here last Thursday (Aug 17) as the government ramps up efforts in engaging expertise from other countries to help in extracting pertinent information to determine the real cause of the tragedy.
The former chairman of the Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM), Datuk Seri Azharuddin Abdul Rahman said that in general there are many matters that must be seen to and implemented by the investigating team in the event of a crash.
"If the investigations are to be completed properly then of course it will involve a high cost especially when it has to be done in such a short span of time and where things have to move fast.
"So there is really no need for any side or party to question this matter because the objective here is to get answers as to what really happened concerning a very sad and heart wrenching tragedy.
"Furthermore, the air crash investigation must be carried out immediately. The cost that will be borne is fair and commensurates with the situation and what has happened," he told Berita Harian here today (Aug 24).
He was speaking regarding the statement made by the transport minister, Anthony Loke Siew Fook who said that the government will bear all the cost to ensure that the data and information contained in the aircraft's cockpit voice recorder (CVR) can be extracted to ascertain and find out the cause of the crash that claimed ten lives on Thursday (Aug 17) afternoon in Bandar Elmina last week.
This follows the inability to extract information contained in the CVR by the Transport Safety Investigation Bureau in Singapore.
Therefore the transport ministry plans to send the memory puck component to the aircraft's manufacturer in Florida, the United States (US) as soon as possible after it arrives back from Singapore.
Speaking on the Air Accident Investigation Board's (AAIB) lack of specialist investigation equipment in the country, Azharuddin who is also a flight expert explained that the matter is not an issue seeing that each make of the cockpit has its own specialist equipment such as its very own software.
"The Beechcraft Model 390 (Premier 1) aircraft is not a new plane and it was made twenty-two years ago and each and every manufacturer has the expertise and this is something that does happen," he said.
In general he explained that the equipment used for investigating the cause of the crash will take time to purchase and it is also something that is very rarely used.
"There are equipment with functions that are universal but then there are also those with very specific needs where it needs to be ordered.
"When needed then it will be purchased but there will be a 'lead time' (the time it takes to be delivered after an order has been made) because it is not readily available or in stock but it has to be specially-made. The move to send to a laboratory overseas or to the manufacturer is an alternative in this ongoing investigation," he said.
