EXCELLENT SAFETY POLICY: Nasip (seated right) speaks to the media at MASwings’ emergency simulation exercise as other MASwings staff look on. — Photo by Chimon Upon
KUCHING: MASwings’ safety system meets world’s standard and its procedures to face emergency situations, including the unlikely event of a crash, are in place.
MASwings chief operating officer Nasip Roslan added that all its planes are checked every six months to ensure their airworthiness.
“Yes, definitely. Our system and emergency procedures are of world class standard and approved by our regulatory body under the DCA, which follows world class standard,” Nasip told the media at MASwings’ emergency simulation exercise held its office at the Kuching International Airport here yesterday.
Currently, MASwings, which has some 1,400 staff, is servicing both the Sarawak and Sabah sectors with ten ATR 72 500 aircrafts and four Twin Otter-300 planes.
For safety purposes, each ATR is fitted with very high frequency radio system to track it while the Twin Otter plane is fitted with a GPS.
“The way the system is designed in all our planes is that when an unlikely event of certain emergency, such as when a plane is subject to a certain force or it crashes, it will emit an emergency frequency that will indicate its exact location,” Nasip pointed out.
He added that when such a scenario occurs, the signal will be transmitted to the Air Traffic Control (ATC) which would then alert the entire response teams.
“When such an unlikely event happens, the response would be almost immediate,” he said.
Nasip, who has been in the industry for over 30 years, pointed out that their rescue procedure policy is also one of the best in the aviation industry.
However, he admitted that MASwings, like other aviation organisations, do experience a staff shortage and delays in its response.
“That’s why we will continue to improve ourselves on how best we respond to any situation,” he stressed.
On another safety issue, Nasip assured its customers that should anything happen to any of its pilots while flying, the co-pilot could easily take over to ensure the safe landing of the aircraft and passengers’ safety.
On a related issue, Nasip said MASwings is using much smaller planes to service the people in Sarawak and Sabah, as it does not warrant the company to use much bigger jet planes.
“We are operating on passenger-demand and it’s much cheaper to operate these smaller aircrafts compared to the bigger jet planes,” said Nasip, adding that he could not comment whether or not his company is considering getting any jet plane in the near future.
On the Twin Otter planes, Nasip said they are used to service smaller towns and isolated destinations such as Ba Kelalan, Lawas, Bario and Mukah and Tanjong Manis.
Meanwhile, Nasip said MASwings is ever ready to charter its aircrafts to the Election Commission (EC) in the upcoming general election.