Penang

While taxiing at Pulau Penang Airport, the twin engine airplane collided in unknown circumstances with a second Malaysian Air Charter Short Skyvan registered 9M-AXN. There were no casualties while both aircraft were damaged beyond repair.

While taxiing at Pulau Penang Airport, the twin engine airplane collided in unknown circumstances with a second Malaysian Air Charter Short Skyvan registered 9M-AQG. There were no casualties while both aircraft were damaged beyond repair.

The airplane departed Penang Airport at 1921LT on scheduled service MH653 to Kuala Lumpur. During the descent, while at an altitude of 4,000 feet, a hijacker entered the cockpit and forced the crew to divert to Singapore. The aircraft then climbed to FL210 and proceeded to Singapore when the hijacker shot both pilots and then himself. Few minutes later, the airplane entered a dive and crashed in a wooded area located in the region of Jalan Tanjung Kupang. The aircraft was totally destroyed and all 100 occupants were killed. The cockpit voice recordings indicate noises suggestive of the cockpit door being broken in, along with a reasonable amount of screaming and cursing. No noises are heard from within the cockpit to indicate any of the three occupants were conscious. The autopilot was then disconnected, possibly due to a pitch input by someone entering the cockpit and trying to control the aircraft. An investigator speculated that someone pulled back on the column, causing a pitch up, followed by an oscillation. This rapidly developed into a high amplitude phugoid oscillation that resulted in a rapid dive.

Shortly after takeoff from Sungai Besi AFB, while in initial climb, the airplane stalled and crashed in flames. All five crew members were injured and the aircraft was partially destroyed by a post crash fire.

While flying over the Malacca Strait in poor weather conditions, while on a flight from Northolt to Singapore, the aircraft went out of control and crashed in to the sea about 100 miles west of Pulau Penang. As the aircraft failed to arrive, SAR operations were conducted and the crew of a RAF Short Sunderland spotted some debris few days later. Unfortunately, few pieces only were found and no trace of the 21 occupants that were considered as deceased. At the time of the accident, weather consisted of thunderstorm and turbulence.
Crew (511th Squadron):
F/Lt Donald Harold Courtenay, pilot,
F/O David John Johns, copilot,
F/O Wilfred Walter Armstrong, navigator,
A1C Francis Norman Beckett,
LAC Tom Bone,
W/O Raymond John Nicholas Bowerman,
A1C Ronald Charles Clarke,
LAC Donald Cowell,
LAC Maldwyn Wallace Davies,
A1C Francis Flood,
A2C George Albert Griffiths,
LAC Roy Leslie Mowser Stilwell,
F/Sgt Ivan Kendrick,
Cpl Ronald Kirk,
LAC James Frederick Latham,
F/Sgt John Johnston Leitch,
F/Lt Clifford James McPherson,
Sgt Timothy Christopher Murphy,
LAC Granville Reginald Pritchard,
W/O Leonard Sawkins,
A2C William Norman Westbury.

The airplane departed Penang on a flight to Singapore-Kallang Airport, carrying three people. While cruising in thunderstorm activity, the pilot lost control of the airplane that crashed in the Waterfall Estate rubber plantation located near Rawang, some 30 km north of Kuala Lumpur. The airplane was destroyed and all three occupants were killed.
Crew:
G. McCausland.
Passengers:
John Samuel Radford,
Herbert Charles Pinching.

The pilot departed Penang on a local solo flight. While flying along the coast, he encountered poor weather conditions when the airplane crashed in the sea off Teluk Kumbar, near the airport. The pilot was killed.