Insiden 8 Februari 1977

14 Ogos 2011....Saya terima e-mel daripada Saudara Ahmad Shihan bin Shaharuddin, anak kepada arwah Lt (U) Shaharuddin. Beliau bertanya tentang '....my late father's crash in any website... Do you mind to share? I am working now as senior engineer, banned by my mother from involving in any airborne related job he he he ...'.

Lt (U) Shaharuddin, juruterbang helikopter Alouette 111 dari No 3 Skn, TUDM Butterworth, telah terkorban dalam satu kemalangan di atas  gunung berhampiran Pos Chabai pada 8 Februari 1977. Arwah telah membuat penerbangan 'Flying Doctor Service' untuk Jabatan Hal Ehwal Orang Asli (JHEOA). Ketika dalam penerbangan balik ke Ipoh, beliau terperangkap dalam cuaca buruk dan nahas tersebut berlaku di lereng gunung ketinggian lebih kurang 4-5 ribu kaki, berhampiran dengan Pos Chabai. Daripada 5 orang yang berada dalam pesawat, dua orang asli telah terselamat dan telah berjalan turun dari kawasan kemalangan ke Pos Chabai.

(Keratan akhbar The New Straits Times bertajuk 'Wreckage Found' ini bertarikh 12 Februari 1977, Sabtu, halaman 18. Helikopter Alouette III TUDM ini jatuh terhempas pada hari Selasa 8 Februari 1977.  Ihsan Kapten Dr Ahmad Damanhuri).

Saya seterusnya telah menghubungi 2 orang kapten pesawat Nuri yang terlibat dalam operasi M&M, iaitu Lt (U) Ismail Yahya (bersara Lt Kol) dan Lt (U) Sharif 'Uban'. Operasi M&M berpusat di Pos Chabai.

Lokasi Pos Chabai (Ihsan jang_riusgnal) 

Pos Chabai terletak dalam Lembah Dakoh  dengan gunung mencecah melebihi 5ooo kaki di kiri dan kanan. Untuk ke Ipoh, terbang melintasi gunung di sebelah kanan. Gambar ini jauh bezanya....

...dengan apa yang ada di era saya dulu!(Ihsan http://askari_mb.tripod.com/fort_chabai.htm) 

Operasi M&M melibatkan beberapa buah pesawat Nuri daripada No 10 Skn dan Alouette daripada No 3 Skn. Ikuti cerita Lt (U) Sharif yang menghantarkan cerita beliau melalui sms....

It's at the Dakoh valley beside Fort Chabai where the crash occured if I can remember correctly now. Lt Shaharuddin was carrying out flying doc service  and was crossing the Dakoh gap when he was caught up with bad weather which can cloud  cover the area very very fast if you are not quick enough to cater for it's change. Many a time during my Alouette days that scared the shit out of me too! Rather than getting caught and killed by extreme weather, it's better to land somewhere to play it safe. But then the CTs were also around to pick a shot at you too!!!!Catch 22?

It took us about a week to recover the bodies but because of the high altitude, the bodies were still in good order when we managed to bring them out. The badly damaged Alouette helicopter was left at crash site cos. to recover it was too dangerous. Don't think the Engineers were sent back to blow the chopper up. We knew the whereabouts of the crash area but could not reach it due to cloud covered plus heavy rain and strong wind! Even after the 2 x crash victims reached Fort Chabai, we had trouble to reach the crash site until the weather window opened up. Rescue team members were winched down and I was together with the team. In fact, the crashed chopper almost made it across but crashed against the trees at the mountain edge before the drop into the valley to Fort Chabai. Must be the weather plus clouds that closed up the escape path, which many of us had passed during better days. The strong wind plus turbulence could also be another factor that late Shah got caught with then there. The bodies were winched up by the Nuri helicopter  piloted by Ismail Gayong, if am not mistaken. (Yes, it was winched by  Lt (U) Ismail with 2Lt Ajir Juman as co-pilot and Sgt Lee the AQM). From Fort Chabai, Shah's body was flown back to RMAF Butterworth. His body had stiffened on the pilot seat in a sitting position. I remenber lifting him out from that position and how strong was his physique!

I flew the others back to Ipoh by climbing to 9000ft in IMC condition, homing  on radio Malaysia station using the ADF and carried out an instrument approach to Ipoh airport late in the evening in bad weather too. I could just imagine how Shah had to fly in such weather then. My sqn commander was on board my chopper and he was pretty worried when I took off from Fort Chabai and climbed up to the height...I told him that was my standard procedure for bad weather flight, ie,  climb to safety altitude, trust the instrument and IFR along the route! Unfortunately, the Nuri helicopter in the RMAF were not fully instrumented for IFR flights since it did not have the back up instruments.

The other thing I will remember is that he was much more darker in complexion than me, wh0 is also a dark fellow! We used to call him Shaharuddin Pak Hitam and me as Shariff Uban cos of my gray hair! He was a great strong and friendly guy!

Those were the days and some of us got away lucky with such flying conditions! Please tell his son that his father was a great guy but it could have happened to any of us then cos that the technic and standard protocol to operate in the Malaysian  jungle area. Nil GPS or Nav equipment except for our mark two eye balls to fly around and with the bad weather condition. It has not changed very much too even to these days, if I am not mistaken. The RMAF still need better instrumentation  for their helicopters lah! They should be further upgraded to ATPL standard from what I can recommend....Al-Fatihah'.

Memang benar apa yang dikatakan oleh Sharif Uban. Cuaca di kawasan pedalaman sungguh tidak boleh diramal. Ketika membuat 'Bamboo Express' yang turut meliputi Pos Chabai, saya tentukan keluar dari kawasan pedalaman sebelum jam 1600 kerana selepas itu pasti akan menghadapi masalah ketidaktentuan cuaca....notoriously unpredictable!! 

Saya memberitahu saudara Ahmad Shihan bahawa saya telah menerbangkan sebuah Nuri ke Kota Baru pada 24 September 1978 membawa rombongan untuk menziarah keluarga arwah. Pada tarikh tersebut, saya telah membawa Kol (U) Fauzi, Pegawai Memerintah TUDM Butterworth, dan rombangan untuk menziarah keluarga arwah Lt (U) Shaharuddin. Turut menumpang ialah Dato' Zaman Khan yang ketika menjawat CPO Pulau Pinang. Saya ingat lagi mendarat di 'LP' yang merupakan sawah padi yang kering kontang tapi nama tempatnya dah lupa pun. 'Marker' pula dibuat dari cadar berwarna putih. Lepas menurunkan CPO, kami meneruskan penerbangan ke Kota Baru.

Saya mencadangkan agar Ahmad Shihan menulis kisah beliau yang dibesarkan  oleh ibunya setelah pemergian bapa. Ini respons beliau....

'I am not good in writing, may be i should start one sooner or later. Yes it was hard for both of us. I build my strength despite the lost of my father, off course with love, doa and support from my mother. Kelantan was the best place for us. I grew in Kelantan until form 4 where I went to MRSM Taiping, later UKM, and now working in Petronas, before this at several companies. 

My mom still in Kelantan live in the same house, she is enjoying her retirement, sometimes her friends came from all over the country visiting Kota Bharu.  

I am thinking to scan some photo from my old family album so that I could upload it in the net and share with all of my father's friends. 

I still have the photo of your visit on 24th Sep 1978. 

Sometimes when I see the newspaper regarding airplane crash, it reminds me about what exactly happened to me, I hope I could contact those poor kids and hope I could ease their pain. But then at that time no FB, Blog etc. Now i dont know where to start...

Anyway nice knowing you, hope we could starts to communicate. May be if someday you guys (x-RMAF pilots) plan to have a gathering, may be you could invite me as well.'

Saya meminta sekira beliau tidak keberatan menghantar gambar keluarga ibu-bapa dan juga lawatan kami yang beliau masih simpan. Sekiranya dihantar nanti, saya akan masukkan dalam coretan ini.


Dedikasi kepada mereka yang terlibat dalam operasai M&M dan mereka yang terkorban....

Arwah Lt (U) Shaharuddin Bin Ishak...Al-Fatihah

Mendiang Dr Tan Lip Tiong

Mendiang Alang Pedik

dan yang terselamat....

Saudara Along Sinar

Saudara Aboi Anjang 

Lt Kol Ismail, Kapt Shariff & Saudara Ahmad Shihan...Terima kasih.