How safe is it really to fly AirAsia?

The safe passage of all passengers for any commercial airline is of paramount importance as precious lives are at stake. There can never be any compromise. The Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) is therefore duty bound to ensure that the stringent safety requirements are met at all times and no slip-up be tolerated.

It’s for this reason that in one of my parliamentary questions for the June sitting here, I asked the Minister of Transport to state the procedures and regularity of the safety audits carried out for low-cost carriers landing and taking off from our airports. The airlines include AirAsia, Jet Star and Tiger Air. The minister’s reply is posted here.

While the minister’s reply is reassuring to the general public, it seems a recent incident that purportedly happened in KLIA on 20 July 2010 with AirAsia Flight AK718 from Singapore seriously begs the question as to the diligency in which the DCA carries out its ‘safety audits’ where low-cost carriers are concerned. What is most discomforting is the fact that the same AirAsia aircraft that experienced a form of technical problem was allowed to take off so soon after the said incident. Please refer to the emails forwarded to me below for details.

In the light of this probable breach of safety as highlighted in the emails, I urge AirAsia and DCA to seriously investigate and confirm the veracity of the report. If it’s true, what actions were taken to ensure the aircraft was safe for further onward flights and what preventive measures had been put in place to ensure a similar incident of this nature will not recur. This is in the interest of safe-guarding the safety of the ‘flying’ public big or small and our national reputation in the civil aviation industry.

The emails forwarded to me are as follows:-

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: [writer’s name and email address removed]
Date: Sun, 25 Jul 2010 20:41:25 +1000
To: [recipients’ email addresses removed]
Subject: AirAsia put shuddering plane back to work almost immediately

As reported on 20 July 2010:

AirAsia flight AK 718 from Singapore shuddered to a halt on the runway at KLIA, just seconds after the plane touched gound. Pilot [name withheld] told this writer who was unfortunate enough to be on the flight that he did not know the cause.

The registration number of the aircraft involved is 9M-AFM, an Airbus A320-216.

As readers can see from the table below, the aircraft was put back to work almost immediately.

ALL FLIGHTS FROM THIS AIRCRAFT (LATEST 25)

Contacted [UTC]	Callsign	Flightnumber	Routing	Registration	Operator	Type
2010/07/25 08:54	AXM708	AK708	SIN-KUL	9M-AFM	AirAsia	A320
2010/07/25 07:07	AXM707	AK707	KUL-SIN	9M-AFM	AirAsia	A320
2010/07/25 05:25	AXM881	AK881	SGN-KUL	9M-AFM	AirAsia	A320
2010/07/24 22:21	AXM719	AK719	KUL-SIN	9M-AFM	AirAsia	A320
2010/07/24 08:57	AXM78	AK78	KUL-HKG	9M-AFM	AirAsia	A320
2010/07/24 07:45	AXM827	AK827	HKT-KUL	9M-AFM	AirAsia	A320
2010/07/24 04:58	AXM826	AK826	KUL-HKT	9M-AFM	AirAsia	A320
2010/07/24 03:57	AXM5180	AK5180	KUL-MYY	9M-AFM	AirAsia	A320
2010/07/23 23:40	AXM5180	AK5180	KUL-MYY	9M-AFM	AirAsia	A320
2010/07/23 15:37	AXM5295	AK5295	KBR-KUL	9M-AFM	AirAsia	A320
2010/07/23 13:47	AXM5294	AK5294	KUL-KBR	9M-AFM	AirAsia	A320
2010/07/23 06:19	AXM586	AK586	KUL-UPG	9M-AFM	AirAsia	A320
2010/07/23 04:49	AXM5177	AK5177	LBU-KUL	9M-AFM	AirAsia	A320
2010/07/23 00:07	AXM5176	AK5176	KUL-LBU	9M-AFM	AirAsia	A320
2010/07/22 14:35	AXM5217	AK5217	KCH-KUL	9M-AFM	AirAsia	A320
2010/07/22 10:11	AXM5107	AK5107	BKI-KUL	9M-AFM	AirAsia	A320
2010/07/22 05:18	AXM5106	AK5106	KUL-BKI	9M-AFM	AirAsia	A320
2010/07/22 04:23	AXM5100	AK5100	KUL-BKI	9M-AFM	AirAsia	A320
2010/07/21 23:19	AXM5100	AK5100	KUL-BKI	9M-AFM	AirAsia	A320
2010/07/21 10:53	AXM5212	AK5212	KUL-KCH	9M-AFM	AirAsia	A32

HTTP://WWW.LIBHOMERADAR.ORG/DATABASEQUERY/DETAILS.PHP?PAGE=0&QID=5490813&SID=181994832

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: [writer’s name and email address removed]
Date: Tue, Jul 20, 2010 at 11:40 AM
Subject: AirAsia plane shudders to a halt, pilot does not know what happened, AA, MAHB attempt cover-up
To: [recipients’ email addresses removed]

AirAsia flight AK 718 from Singapore shuddered to a halt on the runway at KLIA, just seconds after the plane touched gound. Pilot [name withheld] told this writer who was unfortunate enough to be on the flight that he did not know the cause.

The aircraft was stuck on the tarmac for a full half-hour while it was being inspected. Airport and AirAsia ground staff were seen photographing on the tarmac what appeared to be aircraft parts which were found elsewhere on the runway. The plane had to be  towed to the passenger terminal.

Passengers who were supposed to have disembarked at 12 am did not get to do so until an hour later.

An explanation was sought from AirAsia and MAHB staff as to what precisely occurred.

The pilot [name withheld] said that while he first thought the tyres had “deflated”, he was later advised by ground staff that there was nothing wrong with them. Subsequently he said he was in the dark as to what had occurred.

AirAsia security insisted that the tyres had deflated as the pilot had first advised, and that the parts being photographed on the tarmac was part of the process of recording the incident.

Airport ground staff, presumably MAHB employees refused to answer and simply said “sorry prohibited” which suggests secrecy laws were being invoked to hush-up the incident.

The registration number of the aircraft involved is 9M-AFM, an Airbus A320-216.

END