Sunday, November 22, 2020

Beech F35 Bonanza, N5045B: Incident occurred November 22, 2020 near Senai International Airport (JHB/WMKJ), Senai, Kulai, JO, Malaysia

Federal Aviation Administration / Flight Standards District Office; Los Angeles International Field Office 

Aircraft experienced engine issues and made a forced landing on a road.


Date: 22-NOV-20
Time: 11:05:00Z
Regis#: N5045B
Aircraft Make: BEECH
Aircraft Model: F35
Event Type: INCIDENT
Highest Injury: NONE
Aircraft Missing: No
Damage: NONE
Activity: PERSONAL
Flight Phase: EN ROUTE (ENR)
City: SENAI
State: KULAI
Country: MALAYSIA














SINGAPORE: Two Singaporean pilots flying a light aircraft made an emergency landing on a highway in Johor on Sunday morning, November 22nd.

The pilots were en route to Melaka from Seletar Airport in Singapore when they ran into technical problems, said Captain Chester Voo, CEO of the Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM) in a press release.

The pilots are reported to be in "stable condition" and the aircraft has been moved to a position that does not obstruct traffic on the highway, he added.

Captain Voo said the Johor air traffic control tower received a call at around 10.40am from the pilot asking for permission for a return landing at Senai International Airport due to technical problems.

The Beechcraft Model 35 Bonanza aircraft later landed on the south-bound side of the North-South (PLUS) Expressway near Sedenak. 
 
A search and rescue team that was deployed to the area has "completed all required tasks", said Mr Voo.

An official statement from the Johor police identified the two Singaporean pilots as Dr. Yang Kuang Ying and Mr. Saleehullah Abdul Majid. 

The police statement said that the pilots heard a sound from the plane's engine at around 11.05am when they were at an altitude of 5,000 ft.

"The pilots attempted to change the petrol tank but the plane's engine was no longer functioning. The petrol gauge fell rapidly," the statement said. 

The pilots then made a decision to make an emergency landing at the 47.8km mark of the south-bound highway, the statement added. 

"The incident did not result in any injury and no damage to public property was reported," Johor police added.

The plane landed south-bound side of the North-South Expressway near Sedenak.

Police chief for Kulai, Superintendent Tok Beng Yeow, told local media on Sunday afternoon that Dr. Yang and Mr. Saleehullah were on a routine flight to clock flying hours. They were travelling from Seletar Airport in Singapore to Batu Berendam Airport in Melaka. 

He added that the pair had completed the first round, and made the emergency landing at the incident location while they were on their second round flying towards Singapore. 

"Based on investigations, the pilots had permission and did not require additional documents to cross state lines to do the flight to clock flying hours," said Superintendent Tok. 

"They were not trainees. The pilots are professional and have 12 years of experience, with 480 hours of flying time logged," he added.

An investigation will be conducted by the Air Accident Investigation Bureau under Malaysia's Transport Ministry.

2 comments:

  1. "Just another" (apparently) engine-related in-flight glitch that ended about as well as anyone might hope for. Good on both pilots!

    Please excuse me indulging in a few personal observations kinda-sorta related to this incident, but a U.S.-registered, black-painted (!), light plane in Singapore/Malaysia...not your everyday "read" on this website, and certainly not your everyday sort of event in that part of the world, in general aviation terms. Having spent several months in Singapore (work) decades ago, during "the cool season" (Sep-Dec), black wouldn't seem to be "the color of choice" 90 miles north of the equator! Nor was general aviation "a common thing" - even in aspirational terms - in Singapore in the early 1990s. (I seem to recall 3 airports that had at least *some* G/A activity there, then.) In closing, this may well be THE most accurate "newspaper write-up" of this sort of thing" - i.e. a relatively rare, gen-aviation-related, "near-accident type of situation" I've yet encountered in ~50-years of cringing at "the usual ignorance" (of the topic, by the reporter) generally reflected in such write-ups. F'r'example: a) it provides an inferential sense of how mightily bureaucratic the powers that be in Malaysia (with which I had less 1st-hand experience than I did with their [also immensely, ex-Brit-centric, civil-servant bureaucratic counterparts in Singapore]) are; very precise and prim. b) As a report, it (so it seemed to me as I read it) gave me the sense the reporter was actually striving to present a "fair and balanced" account of an out-of-the-ordinary, "practically begs for sensationalist presentation", event. Color me favorably impressed.

    Further "otherworldly", FAA registration records show the plane as being owned by an individual within spitting distance of where I worked at the time I was in Singapore.

    Glad it ended well for pilots and an older "classic" Bonanza!

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  2. from the pics, looks like the long straight stretch with center guardrail of the Pennsylvania turnpike west of Carlisle, PA.

    There is myth of "one in five miles of the Interstate System is straight so airplanes can land in emergencies. This myth is widespread on the Internet and in reference sources, but has no basis in law, regulation, design manual—or fact. Airplanes occasionally land on Interstates when no alternative is available in an emergency, not because the Interstates are designed for that purpose." https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/interstate/interstatemyths.cfm#question5

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