Geoff R.

9M-NAB delivered Hannover-Almaty-Subang arriving 6th May. First official flight was performed on 17th May, according to a Bernama report, flying the Agong from Alor Setar to Langkawi. The following flights show up on Flightradar24. Geoff Date From To Flight STD ATD STA Status * All dates and times are in UTC timezone 2015-05-17 Langkawi (LGK) Kuala Lumpur (SZB) NR1 03:23 03:23 - Landed 04:05  2015-05-17 Alor Setar (AOR) Langkawi (LGK) 02:03 02:03 - Landed 02:22  2015-05-16 Kuala Lumpur (SZB) Alor Setar (AOR) NR1 23:56 23:56 - Landed 00:36  2015-05-16 Kuala Terengganu (TGG) Kuala Lumpur (SZB) NR1 11:10 11:10 - Landed 11:44  2015-05-16 Kuala Lumpur (SZB) Kuala Terengganu (TGG) NR1 08:32 08:32 - Landed 09:25 

All aircraft accident and incident reports should be made public to help improve safety, but in Malaysia they rarely are, so I guess we should be grateful that a report has been released this time. Even though the likely cause of the accident has been identified I look forward to reading the final report in due course. Geoff PS. I wonder if the MoT got permission from the photographer to use his image on the cover of the report. Or did they just copy it from planspotters.net and crop out the copyright notice?

AirAsia X MSN 1612 A330-343 - Test Reg: F-WWKS First Flight: 15-04-2015 Reg: 9M-XXZ Delivered: 30-04-2015 Geoff

Tunamaya Airlines were due to fly from Subang to Tioman three times per week using a Cessna 208, but I'm not sure if it has been operating or not. Rather than a scheduled flight it would appear to be more of a regular charter service as you have to book 1 month in advance. http://www.tunamayaresort.com/sitemap/gettingthere.html Geoff

So two weeks on where is the preliminary accident report that the DCA said they would issue after seven days? Geoff

You could be right. At around US$60 million it's a major investment. Geoff

9M-TMJ a new Gulfstream G550 was spotted at Long Beach last December already painted up. Anyone know if it has been delivered yet? http://tinyurl.com/nwn7shc Can't say I like the paint scheme. Maybe replaces 9M-ISJ. Geoff

Thanks for posting the photo Waiping. Seems like offshore helicopter activity is continuing to grow with five operators active now: Awan Inspirasi Hevilift MHS Aviation Sazma Aviation Weststar Aviation Services Six if you include Brunei Shell Petroleum. Geoff

Anyone know if the three recently imported Sikorsky S-76Cs 9M-HLL, -HLM & -HLN are based at BKI? All are registered to Hevilift. Geoff

Interesting collection of photos. The picture of the two ATAIU-SEA (Allied Technical Air Intelligence Unit - South East Asia) marked Zeros was probably taken over Malaya whilst operating out of Tebrau airfield in early 1946. For any one interested in the subject there is a very good book available called "Wings of the Luftwaffe: Flying the captured German aircraft of World War II". It was written by Captain Eric Brown who amazingly flew fifty-five different captured German aircraft types. Geoff

Anyone any idea when 9M-NAB is going to be delivered? Maybe someone in the Prime Minister's Office has a sense of humour or guilt when they selected the registration. Oxford Dictionary definition of NAB 1Catch (someone) doing something wrong: 1.1Take, grab, or steal (something) Geoff

Which A320 is painted in the new ASEAN colour scheme? Can't find a picture of the aircraft with the registration showing. Geoff

Interesting that the government now confirms the ACJ319 is a government aircraft. When 9M-NAA arrived and hit the news in 2007 Badawi denied it had been bought by the government, then later explained it had been bought by PMB not the government, ignoring the fact PMB was controlled by the Ministry of Finance. Geoff

M37-07 seems very strange given M37-01 is the Falcon 900 Applying some logic it should be M56-01 but of course logic does not always apply. A case of let's wait and see. Geoff

Thanks for the update Flee. With 47 aircraft delivered to Malaysia in 2014, 2015 is going to be quiet in comparison. Just two aircraft delivered so far this year. Does anyone know what deliveries Malindo has planned in 2015? Geoff

Rumour is fact. Geoff

MASwings is reported by AIN to be relaunching as a Low Cost Carrier with the addition of Boeing 737-800s to its fleet. Initially four aircraft will be leased "from the open market" and based at BKI. Routes will include desinations in China within 4 hours of flying time from KCH and BKI. The information in the article is attributed to a "senior official" within Khazanah Nasional Berhad (KNB). Interesting times - MASwings to take on AirAsia and Malindo! Not long ago Firefly were going down the same route. Geoff

Came across this report on the Malaysian Defence website claiming the RMAF is to get four Black Hawks that Brunei is disposing of. www.malaysiandefence.com/?p=5827 Geoff

Picture of first TUDM A400M painted up. http://www.defense-aerospace.com/base/util/68517_1155.jpg Geoff

No need for the black box data to be analysed this Supriyadi guy has worked it out. Even allowing for poor translation this guy is clearly talking about something he clearly knows nothing about, but great stuff for uninformed journalists to base their story on. Geoff Tragic AirAsia Flight QZ8501 'exploded' before it crashed into the seaSince then, salvage experts have been studying the wreckage and today they revealed their findings - that the plane broke apart as it struggled to cope with the steep descent. S.B. Supriyadi, a director with the Indonesian national search and rescue agency, said: "My analysis is, based on the wreckage found and other findings, the plane experienced an explosion before it hit the water. "The cabin was pressurised and before the pressure of the cabin could be adjusted, it went down - boom. That explosion was heard in the area.”

The Indonesian DCA think so and have said so.

If the various claims that the flight was not authorised by the Indonesian DCA are true, because all the required approvals had not been given, does this make it an illegal flight? If so does this have implications for Indonesia AirAsia's insurance cover? Something maybe the lawyers will be looking at. Geoff

Thanks GeO. Just come across a document online from the receivers that put the aircraft up for tender in April 2013. It states - 8 units of Cessna Aircrafts, model 172s located at Ipoh, Kuching, Bintulu; - 5 units of Seneca (Piper), model PA-34-220-T located at Ipoh, Kuching, Bintulu and Subang; Obviously some aircraft were not sold or maybe MAHB are owed money and won't release the aircraft. I take it there isn't a Seneca still stored at Kuching. Geoff

Does anyone know the fates of the other GGIFA aircraft? Any other aircraft stored at Kuching? Geoff

Anyone know how much damage was done? Is it being repaired? 9M-AJN doesn't come up on any of the flight tracking sites since the 17th November so presumably it is still out of service. Geoff