Updates at 2:30 pm on 21-4-2014: Yours truly has been reliably informed that YB Dato’ Hishamuddin bin Hussein has called for a report from the top management of MAS pertaining the damaged landing gear and air turn back of MH 190 for consideration by the Government.
The Government should also look into all the appointments made by MAS during and after the infamous MAS-AirAsia share swap including the appointment of all consultants. This is ensure that only competent officers are maintained in their positions for the good of MAS and nation. For the appointment of the “Hollywood and Hollywood”, and Seabury Consulting, please read HERE.
Thank you YB Dato Hishamuddin. You have made us proud with the ways in which you have handled the episode of the missing MH 370.
Thank God! The superb handling of MH192 by MAS pilot has averted another air tragedy. MH 192 departed KLIA at 10:09 pm 20-4-2014 to Banglore. It has made an air turn back to Kuala Lumpur due to a tyre burst during take off and the debris of the damaged tyre have damaged the system (wiring of the gear system of the right hand landing gear) which has indicated to the pilot that it is damaged.
The right hand landing gear cannot be retracted for the whole journey. Hence, the air turn back.
MH192 has safely landed in KLIA at about 2 am just now. All the 159 passengers were safe.
Earlier on, the Operation Control Centre of MAS (OCC) sent out a Code Red Alert MH 192:
“Please be informed B738/MXJ MH192 reported tyre burst after take off and RH landing gear indicates unsafe in extended position. We are declaring CODE RED on MH192. Aircraft will ETA 0115lt. Pls assemble now at Emarald Room.”
Yours truly is sure that the CEO of MAS Engineering Tuan Azhari Dahlan, the “ONLY highly qualified engineer” in Malaysia, will say that the tyre burst of MH192 was all due to “technical problem”.
On 23-3-2014 MH 066 departing KLIA for Icheon (Korea) had to be diverted to Hong Kong due to the failure of its electric generator. To Tuan Azhari Dahlan, the “ONLY highly qualified engineer” in Malaysia, who was specially headhunted from AirAsia’s insignificant engineering department during the infamous MAS – AirAsia share swap, was a technical problem. By the way, AirAsia had to send its aircraft for maintenance to MAS Engineering despite its Group CEO Tan Sri Tony Fernandes had vowed not to send its aircraft to MAS for maintenance or other works, HERE. For the article about MH 066 please read HERE.
MAS and Malaysia cannot afford too many of such “technical problems” and incompetent managers to head important departments like Engineering of MAS which involves the safety of aircraft. Tuan Azhari Dahlan must no longer be protected by MAS management.
MAS is having one too many technical problems under Tuan Azhari Dahlan. In view of the many “technical problems”, Tuan Azhari Dahlan must be called upon to account for it. In the interim, Tuan Azhari Dahlan should be suspended pending investigation into the so-called “technical problems” and his competency.
The investigation should also include the appointment of Tuan Azhari Dahlan as CEO of MAS Engineering (MRO). At that material time when he was appointed, he did not have Department of Civil Aviation (DCA)’s Nominated Post Holder qualification, HERE.
In view of MH 370, MH 066 and now MH 192, all departments in MAS must be headed by properly qualified and competent officers.
Below is the email sent out from MAS.
From: YOUR VOICE ONLINE <UVOICE@malaysiaairlines.com>
Date: 21 April 2014 01:52:01 am GMT+8
Subject: Media Statement : MH192 Incident
MEDIA STATEMENT
released at 1.35am/21 Apr 2014
MH192 Incident
Sepang, 21 April 2014: Malaysia Airlines confirms that flight MH192 that departed from Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) at 10.09pm bound for Bangalore has made an air turn back towards Kuala Lumpur. The aircraft’s right-hand landing gear malfunctioned upon takeoff and is expected to make an emergency landing at KLIA at around 2.00am, today.
Flight MH192, operated on the B737-800 aircraft, was scheduled to arrive in Bangalore at 11.35pm the same day. The flight was carrying a total number of 166 people on board which include 159 passengers and 07 crew members.
Malaysia Airlines is currently working with the Airport Fire Rescue Services (AFRS) in anticipation of the landing.
The airline will provide regular updates on the situation.
-end-
Sdr. Wee,
Too many of these incidents close to each other is cause for much concern and must be taken very seriously by MAS and the DCA.
Aircraft tyres rarely burst upon take off. Instead they more commonly burst upon landing when the descending plane makes heavy contact with the runway.
Since a Boeing 737 has a two wheel bogey with each landing gear set, one burst tyre leaves only one good tyre to take the heavy load upon landing.
Looking at the bits which came off the tyre, raises questions as to whether this tyre was retreaded and by whom?
Aircraft tyres are subjected to much wear and tear, especially during landing when the force of contact with the runway whilst landing and the friction which often causes them to smoke briefly as they begin to turn againts their inertia, so they are usually retreaded to save costs. Well at least I saw a plane tyre being retreaded at a type manufacturing plant in Petaling Jaya about 40 years ago. Whether, they are still retreaded today, I’m not sure but it’s a possibility.
As for Azahari Mohd. Dahlan’s qualifications, Businessweek describes him thus:-
“Mr. bin Mohd Dahlan is a Licensed Aircraft Engineer by profession, and has undergone training at Leonard Isitt Training School, Christchurch, New Zealand and Malaysia Airlines Technical Training School, Subang, Selangor”
http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/people/person.asp?personId=25228777&ticker=AIRA:MK
Airliners.Net describes a licensed Aircraft Engineer in various ways, thus.
http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forums/tech_ops/read.main/124143/
The New Zealand government describes the kind of qualification he obtained at the Leonard Isitt Training School.
http://www.careers.govt.nz/qualifications/view/0192/8588
Anyway, whatever his qualifications and experience, Azahari Dahlan is CEO of MAS Engineering and is responsible for the operations, professionalism and care in his unit.
What does MAS have to say aboutthis incident.
Ahmad Jauhari should take responsibility and resign with grace. It may be, unlike SIA having the “youngest fleet” where MAS could not afford due to accumulated losses, MAS planes are in “technical defaults”. The business demands in this era requires “default-free machines, services and management” = “newest machines, highly productive staff team, and decisive capable management. Next era/century demands are higher….MAS preparedness????
Ahmad Jauhari will say “resignation is a personal matter”. The salary and perks in MAS are too good for him. What personal matter? If it is a personal matter, Ahmad Jauhari should stay at home with his wife in London.
Now he will say the tire burst has got nothing to do with him. It is the problem of the tire manufacturer. When you deal with those that joined MAS during the share suap, he will just want to stay on. Because he is shameless or with other agendas?
Amokh from Khazanah must take full responsibilities for quietly initiating the share suap and allowing the appointments of Ahmad Jauhari and Azhari. Both are equally incompetent. Both should be sacked long ago.
YB, a tire blow out is quite a common incident with hundreds occurring worldwide every year without soliciting so much as a raised brow. In most cases it is due to FOD – Foreign Object Damage, usually debris on the runway or tarmac.
What is of concern when such an incident happens is the secondary damage caused by the tire burst. The most famous is the Airfrance Concorde. But such catastrophic damage is very rare indeed.
Tire blowout has very little to do with the standard of maintenance or a deliberate act of sabotage.
It is rather unfortunate that this has to happen to MAS when all eyes are on it.
I totally agree with you. Tyre burst incidents happened to all airlines. The acft returned to klia due to better support in terms of expertise and spares compared to BLR. The incorrect gear indication must be due the FOD that distorted the sensor.
If it’s FOD on the runway or tarmac, how did it get there and why was it not spotted and removed before it could do damage?
There should be people inspecting the runway, taxiways and tarmac for FOD regularly.
However, to be fair, it’s possible that the FOD damage occurred elsewhere but the tyre burst when the aircraft was taking off from KLIA as Flight MH192.
If this is a maintenance issue, then this guy must be incompetent and he must go.
If this is an unfortunate issue, then this guy is a curse to the organization and he must go.
Either way he must go. How many accidents or how many lives must be put to sacrifice just to keep this guy in his job???
I can’t agree more with you. We cannot afford to risk lives. There is no two ways about it. Azhari must take full responsibility. So is Ahmad Jauhari. Please look at he debris properly. It looked like pieces from retreaded tire. If this is a case, Ahmad Jauhari must answer why did he allow the use of retreaded tires for MAS aircraft. Is he trying to turn MAS into a low cost airline?
In my comment above, I too believe that the debris looks like it’s from a retreaded tyre.
However, way back in 1971 or 1972, on a scholl visit to a tyre manufacturer in Petaling Jaya, I recall seeing a tyre of the size used on civil airliners being retreaded in one of the workshops. I tried to touch it and the technician retreading it said “don’t touch”.
So the use of professionally retreaded tyres on civil airliners was not uncommon back then, though whether they still are today, I don’t know.
At the time Quantas had an aircraft maintenance facility at the Sultan Abdul Samad International Airport (Subang Airport). I believe MAS had not yet set up its engineering facilities. My cousin worked as an aircraft artisan for Quantas at the time. If I recall right the tyre manufacture we visited was Dunlop.
IT. Scheiss
MAS is using retreated tires from Goodyear Thailand!
@ Anonymous from MRO
Goodyear states that their Thailand facility retreads aircraft tyres.
“Consumer tires, aircraft tires, aircraft retreading”
http://www.goodyear.com/corporate/about/facilities.html
Lets not sensationalize this issue. A blown tyre is not a big deal and in the airline industry there are well documented procedures to handle such incidents.
However, what is appalling is how MAS and DCA releases the information, using sensational words such as Air Turn Back, which by the way is rarely used in the industry, until it was quoted by RMAF. ATB is now synonymous to MH370
Official statements in the initial hours of the incident by MAS resulted social media frenzy as the incident was not properly explained. Further statements by DCA “not allowed to land until aircraft is very low on fuel” further shows how ignorant and arrogant the DCA is. They have incompetent people running the show and no one can blame the media to speculate when things go wrong.
It is the Pilot in Command that decides when he has to land and not DCA. Such statements, assuming it is true, shows that DCA is overriding the pilots decisions.
Btw, archived ATC recording of the flight is available, so listen and judge for your self http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGomFug_bGk
And how did this person manage to view Flightradar 24 and the ATC dialogue with the pilot on an Android phone in a home?
Is there any such recording on the path of Flight MH370?
Here’s the thing, if the aircraft attempt to land while still heavy on fuel what do you think would happen? Will it be able to land properly and is the RH MLG able to withstand the force of heavy landing relying upon only on a tyre on that side? Btw, the term ATB is widely used in the industry.
Of course the pilot should decide, but he should also listen to the advice from the ground team which consist of, of course DCA and MAS Technical Team, team of experts on this matter. And while you’re saying DCA is ignorant, I beg to differ. You’re the ignorant fool here. Just in case if the aircraft were to land on belly due to it is unable to sustain the weight on 1 side of the aircraft then who will you blame then?
Passengers confidence could only be restored with an independent investigation into the problems that happened after one another. There is no point to say that tyre burst is normal. The electrical power failure on MH 066 was normal technical problems. In view of MH 370, no potential passengers are going to agree with that. Keeping the clueless Botak and the equally clueless AJ in MAS will only make the recovery of MAS more difficult if not impossible.
Please take note that the Botak Azhari was in MAS engineering for a few years as a JUNIOR engineer ok. He left MAS to join AirAsia engineering, which has little engineering works. All maintenance, C and D Checks had to be out sourced to other airline like SIA. So what is his experience? To contact SIA for empty slot to service Airt Asia aircraft. With such “qualification” of the like of a liason officer was enough to be appointed CEO of MRO. Tony, AJ and Rashdan were instrumental in the appointment of this Botak.The only qualification that he has got that none in MAS MRO have: He is from AirAsia.
Both AJ and Botak departures will be the beginning of the road to recovery for MAS.
I remember, MAS CFO in 1990s told students in a presentation at a local university, that MAS had a zero tolerance to error as it could cause air accident. Now we see many technical problems with the airline’s planes.
I suggest that the minister go to the bottom of this problem and ratify any shortcomings and let the culprits pay for their shoddy work.
What a pleasant surprise to know that Najib’s government is taking the nonsense in MAS seriously! This is the opportune moment for the Government to take real actions to revamp MAS especially the Top-less management. This is the right time to get rid of AJ, Botak Azhari, Biscuit Lady, the Spin Doctor Najmuddin and a few other incompetents. Drastic actions must be taken now to save MAS from mismanagement. Losing money by the million daily and at the same time keeping the incompetents with high salaries are unacceptable by any management standard.
There is no doubt that the Botak is incompetent for the post of CEO. It is true that Botak was in MAS for a few years as junior engineer when his brother (Fuad) was the CEO. When was appointed under the dirty share suap, there are more senior and better qualified officers in MAS but they were by pass by AJ and the pariah. Before MAS is faced with another serious disaster, get rid of this useless fella. There will be no loss to MAS but only gain. We cannot expect Aj another share suap appointee to get rid of any appointee. The government must give clear instructions to Amok of Khazanah to do it otherwise he will not act on his own because he was also part of the share suap.
Too man technical problems under Azhari. Do we need another crisis similar to MH 370, MH 066 or MH 192 before actions to be taken? Do we need more loss of lives? Don’t expect Azhari to resign because he was no principle. he is from the low cast airline that will lie through its teeth. It is action time now. The options for him is to resign or sack.
putting aside the issue of competency, Botak position after the share suap has been reversed is untenable. He must go together with the share suap for without which he wouldn’t be thought of in MAS let alone be appointed. Botak please consider your position and avoid further embarrassment. Your boss Tony is waiting for you to come back like what happened to Rozman Omar. Rozman is smarter than this Botak because he cabut when he knew that he was no longer welcome in MAS. So was Rashdan.
Botak, aren’t you ashamed? You know that you are more junior than the engineering staff in the MRO? May be you love the fat salary and perks to the extend that you have no pride anymore. Lets wait and see whether you will be shown the exit like Danny the Nanny. Even Amokh the MD of Khazanah cannot protect him. Danny had to leave in disgrace. We will make sure that you will leave MAS through the shit hole.
You have no co-operation from the MRO staff. You can have the title CEO but we look upon you worst than a barua.
Do not expect the clueless top management of MAS to do anything. AJ was incapable to getting his facts right for the briefing on MH370. He and Azharuddin of DCA were making Malaysians to look like fools.The government need to set up an independent investigation as suggested by YB Wee. The investigation must also go into how Azhari was appointed in the first place when his credential was most questionable. Azhari dan AJ must be sacked. Both of them have brought too many problems for MAS. AJ promised profits in 2004. He could only bring losses to the tune of RM1.3 bil.
Wee
I would like to correct a mistake that you and the debaters in the article made. SUAP is a malay word. Sesuap nasi for example. SWAP is the word that you should use in this article. It means exchange. To swap means to exchange.
It is in that context that we used the word “SUAP”. It was not a share swap but share “suap”.
The Botak and his boss thought that we do not know about their agenda. Unfortunately we know too well. He is just not capable of running the AirAsia zero engineering outfit. How could he run MRO who is many many times bigger. We know what the hell he is staying put in MAS. MAS is facing problems one after another. We don’t understand why is the management of MAS tolerating him.
We will make sure that he, the fat biscuit lady and AJ will be thrown out of MAS in disgrace.
It is sad to see Malaysia Airlines going downhill. The repeated incidences may be common issues face by airlines but the statistics is base on experiences faced by a number of airline. Here we have ONE airline with one too many incidents happening in such a short time frame.
In the latest incident here…. one really have to wonder if MAS Engineering had to cut cost to a level where rethreaded tires quality are being compromise?
Has MAS come to a level of operating the 5 star airlines with a low cost mentality? Sadly, since the induction of the new head of engineering from Air Asia more problems and disgruntled workers have risen in such short period. Even a simple and common incident such as a tire burst is now attracting a sabotage investigation. If this is an imminent fear then it is better for the Engineering Department to be shaken up big time. As the accountable manager… unfortunately he should be held accountable. It’s not just a name…. the designation comes with responsibility and the manner all these shortfall is happening I think it’s about time to quietly take a bow and make a quick exit…
AJ’s vision of turning the reputation around in 6 months may be possible but with internal chaos in the Engineering Division….. there is no way he can even achieve it even if he is given a few years! A quick way to show the public that MAS is seriously heading for a change – CHANGE THE MANAGEMENT for goodness sake! Stubbornly cling on to what you have today is just a denial and will probably drive the stake through the heart of MAS. Unless of course the agenda here is to kill the national flag carrier! The airline is already under the spot light…. you so much as to break wind… the whole world is going to know! Change the team and the people will perhaps give it a chance to recover……
AJ the staffs are with you and will always be but you need to start showing that you are with them…… do not turn a deaf ear to your Engineering Team!
My opinion is the tire burst on Boeing 737-800 flight MH192 on 21 April 2014 could have been man-made due to inadequate experience and not an accident as some would like us to believe, most likely for the following reasons:
MAS management – AJ and Bo(otak) unilaterally changed the original aircraft wheel brake specs (steel brakes) to CARBON Brakes and above that MAS got to pay an additional/extra millions of ringgit every month on flight hourly fees to the vendor.
MAS Boeing B737-800 are the only one of two in this region known to have fitted their aircraft with CARBON Brakes, no other airline in this region is known to have installed CARBON Brakes on B738.
The highly qualified CEO of MAS Engineering did the brake specification changes compromising the safety of MAS Boeing B737-800 by disregarding the damage it will have on the tires.
It is a well known fact in the aviation industry that Carbon Brakes on Boeing B737-800 generate very high heat during braking that leads to unpredictable damage to the tires.
There have been many incidents in MAS of tire damage separation and bursting after fitting the Carbon Brakes on B738 but his “selected engineering team” has always been instructed not to highlight such incidents.
Airbus A320 is fitted with Carbon Brakes at the factory as design standard and has built-in cooling fans to reduce the heat on the wheels so the tires are not damaged or bursting.
The CEO of MAS engineering decided to install Carbon Brakes WITHOUT the COOLING FAN on Boeing B738 as he must have thought that he is the most highly qualified engineer in Malaysia.
Now the highly qualified engineer was about to sacrifice 166 passengers of MH192 on 21 April 2014 for his highly qualified disregard to human safety and should undoubtedly be taken to task?
The Minister must check the authenticity of this statement as the custodian of the Malaysia aviation sector and bring to task the perpetrators without fail on this occasion as his solemn duty to all national and international travelers on MAS before it is too late.
GE Man
Botak and AJ should clarify what you have stated. Botak is not fit to look after the toilets in MAS let alone MRO. MRO was world famous before. With Botak as head it is now like a low caste MRO.
It is a relief to know that the acting Minister of transport Dato Hishamuddin has ordered for a probe on the faulty landing gear of MH 192. The Minister should also get independent opinion of the change from steel braking system to carbon as highlighted by GE Man. The botak is from low caste airline so this may be his idea of Penny wise and Pound foolish. A proper investigation must be done in the MRO. As suggested by YB, his appointment as CEO of MRO must also be part of the probe. We all know that he is from the low caste airline and he was appointed CEO during the share swap, such probe is very necessary.
Whilst we are talking about the incompetence of Botak Head. We must not forget another incompetence Fat Biscuit Lady Zaharah Zaid. She is also one of those parachuted into MAS during the share suap together with Botak and the clueless AJ. These are the three remnants of the share suap. MAS never have such endless problems before. We hope that Dato’ Hishamuddin will probe into the activities of the three musketeers. How could these three clueless idiots be allowed to hold such high ranking positions in MAS.
……I had wrote and comment in this blog last year with regards to this carbon brakes issue of MAS spending additional millions to change the specification , a wastage while company is bleeding.
Since MAS Boeing B737-800 came with steel brakes since new , with this change of specification to carbon brakes under Bo ( otak ) instruction and endorsed by AJ , MAS had to scrap / dispose all this steel brakes and paid additional millions for the carbon brakes .
The only excuse Bo (otak) gives for this is to reduce weight thus save fuels .
Yes , carbon brakes is lighter then steel brakes but saving money at the expenses of safety ??
Botak Head’s silence is deafening. Better resign and go back to AirAsia will be the best solution for you. Bring along the Fat Biscuit lady Zaharah with you if you can.
Rashdan, Rozman Omar and Al-Ishal Ishak have all left MAS. Rashdan left in disgrace but able to join his friend Amokh in Khazanah. Al-ishal Ishak has joined AirAsia. Rozman is believed to have also return to AirAsia. Botak is still hoping to hold on in MAS. Perhaps Botak had to do his unfinished agenda for the pariah? There is no two ways about it. Botak had to be thrown out of MAS in the worst possible way because he thought that he could fool the people.
Either the IQ or EQ of the “overly qualified head engineer” seems to be at the root of the numerous “technical problems”
The trouble with Bo(otak) is he has neither IQ or EQ. He was appointed by the top management of the low caste people during the bloody share suap. MAS had to be rid off Bo(Otak), AJ and Zaharah Zaaid of HR. The Fat woman is just a bad as Bo(Otak).
Lets hope that Datuk Hishamuddin will take note of what have been stated here.
About 10 years ago, I and a few others did a study on MAS. We met Dr Don and Mr Low Chee Teng the CFO at that time. We also met Azman Mokhtar & Rashdan of Binafikir. Unfortunately Dr Don did not like what we wrote and the output from the study was never published.
There were 3 significant expenditures that MAS had. Namely fuel, maintainance and wages. At that time, fuel cost was lower than today. In term of staff number and productivity, MAS staff number was higher than SIA and had lower productivity than SIA.
Binafikir and 2 other consultants were hired to turnaround MAS. They did only financial restructuring. They used off balance sheet financing methodology, using Syarikat Penerbangan Malaysia Bhd as a vehicle to offload most of the assets and liabilities. MAS only leased the planes from the company.
In my opinion, in order to turnaround MAS, the management has to look into the culture of the organisation and also the staff. Unfortunately this is very difficult to do. The most sensitive one is how to reduce staff number. The current management uses confrontational method to deal with it. Bear in mind that QANTAS had nasty experienced dealing with it recently and I am not going to eloborate on it. In US, they can use bankcruptcy law to deal with it. If this issue dealing with employees could not be solve, I am afraid MAS will never can be turned around. If anyone can solve this one then we will not have any problem that MAS is facing now. What I am suggesting to the government is try to study the US bankcruptcy and adapt it in Malaysia. When Idris Jala was the MAS CEO, the temporary turnaround was pure luck.
WE MUST REMEMBER THAT MAS HAS AMONG THE BEST PILOTS IN THE WORLD AND THOSE WHO ARE FREQUENT TRAVELLERS LIKE TO TRAVEL BY MAS AND BY HOOK OR CROOK WE MUST SAVE IT FROM GOING DOWN UNDER. I DON’T CARE ABOUT AIRASIA.
There is no doubt that MAS has the best pilots, crews and engineering staff. Unfortunately, we have useless CEO like the Botak. Botak was actually “seconded” from AirAsia. He had to FO from MAS period. The Bina Tak Fikir Azman Mokhtar must realize it. He, Rashdan and Tony were the brains behind the share suap which put the Botak as CEO of MRO. The Bina Tak Fikitr Azman Mokhtar must now take actions to undo what he had done. Azman Mokhtar must take full responsibilities for the appointments of Botak and AJ.
Tire burst happened during take off was unusual. What was even more unusual was the tire burst and affected the landing gear. GE Man has given a good insight into what had happened. Botak was responsible for changing the the original steel brakes of the aircraft to carbon brakes. It was a modification done by Botak. He has little experience in Boeing aircraft. Low caste AirAsia uses Airbus. Botak is from low caste airline.
It is good that Hishamuddin had called for a report and instructed the SB to investigate. Botak must be shitting bricks by now. So is his pariah master.SB should go deep into his relationship with the pariah and check all communications.
Botak is just thick skin. He knew very well that he is not qualified to be CEO and he has no cooperation from his staff but he is holding on shamelessly to his CEO post. As commented by other readers here that Al-Ishal and Rozman Omar have all disappeared from MAS except this thick skin Botak. Botak, what are you trying to do in MAS? Surely it can not be just the salary and perks that makes you stay put in MRO shamelessly?
Ptui! To Botak.