MH370
Co-pilot Fariq Ab Hamid was relatively new to a Boeing 777-200ER which was the aircraft used for Flight MH370 and remains missing after 17 days.
Malaysia Airlines CEO Ahmad Jauhari Yahya (
right
) today confirmed that March 8 was Fariq's sixth attempt at co-piloting a Boeing 777-200ER.
However, he stressed that MAS has a strict training programme and Fariq had passed his previous five flights, in the presence of a observer, with no problems.
"As far as the co-pilot is concerned, he was actually new to the type, he actually moved from a lower fleet to 777.
"... (For) the first five flights, the co-pilot normally flies with a check co-pilot and (March 8) was his 6th flight, he had passed his first five flight and we do not see any problem with him," Jauhari told a press briefing in Kuala Lumpur today.
Jauhari added Fariq no longer required a check co-pilot on his sixth flight but was accompanied by pilot Zaharie Ahmad Shah, who was a qualified examiner and has 18,365 flight hours experience.
Fariq had 2,673 hours of flight experience.
'Precautionary move'
Commenting on two recent incidences involving MAS aircraft, Jauhari stressed that its pilot had followed standard operating procedure and reported to the control tower after Flight MH114 carrying 180 passengers collided with a flock of ducks when landing in Kathmandu on March 21.
On today's incident where Flight MH066 bound for Incheon International Airport, South Korea, was forced to make an emergency diversion to Hong Kong due to electrical failure, Jauhari said it was merely a precautionary move.
"As far as the flight to Incheon last night was concerned, we had a technical problem with the generator and as a precaution we diverted the aircraft to Hong Kong.
"It is not a safety issue per se but a technical issue with the aircraft," he said.
Clear in the northern front
Also at the press conference was acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein who informed the press that Turkmenistan had not found any sign of MH370 in the northern corridor search.
In the southern corridor, Hishammuddin confirmed the US will loan Malaysia pinger locater hydrophones, devices used to locate an aircraft black box, but said they cannot be used until the rough location of MH370 is located.
"As long as we cannot verify (the aircraft's location), I think it is not realistic for us to use the device in whole of the Indian Ocean," he said.
Hishammuddin said the search operation had discovered several objects in the Indian Ocean but had yet to verify their source or physically collect them.
"Yesterday... Two orange objects approximately one metre in length and one white coloured drum were sighted, but remain unidentified and have not been conclusively linked to MH370.
"HMAS Success detected two radar targets within the search area, but could not locate the targets on further investigation of the area," he said.
He added that Malaysian officials had met with family members of passengers on Flight MH370 in Beijing for 12 hours yesterday and have returned to Kuala Lumpur today to discuss the matters that were raised before departing to Beijing again tomorrow.
"It has always been our intention to keep the families as fully informed as possible," he said.
