THE pilots and cabin crew of a C-130 Hercules transport aircraft that was forced to make an emergency landing at the Labuan airport yesterday observed standard operating procedures accordingly, said Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) chief Affendi Buang.

He said the flight crew landed the aircraft safely, in a professional and controlled manner, despite the plane having touched down without its main landing gear.

“The landing was smooth, and the methods and techniques adopted by the pilots were exactly how the aircraft should have been handled.

“I would like to congratulate the pilots and cabin crew for making the emergency landing without causing any injury, and with minimal damage to the aircraft,” he told a press conference at the RMAF Membedai Base Camp in Labuan today.

He said constant simulator training in such scenarios had helped the flight crew land the aircraft safely.

“The professionalism of the pilots and cabin crew resulted in there being no casualties. In fact, the government’s asset was saved (from further damage).”

Affendi said an investigation into the incident was being conducted to identify the technical issues that caused the main landing gear of the starboard side to not function as the aircraft approached the airport.

“An investigation is being carried out to ascertain why the main landing gear was not down. This is not an isolated case as such problems have also happened to other aircraft in other countries.

“There would have been serious damage and casualties if it (emergency landing) had not been handled properly,” he said, adding that four C-130 Hercules aircraft were being based at the RMAF Membedai Base Camp. – Bernama, November 19, 2017.