SHAH ALAM: TWO RMAF pilots were killed in the crash of their Hawk Mk 108 trainer during a check flight today. The crash occurred some 51km north of the Kuantan air base.
The pilots Major Mohd Hasri “Fixer” Zahari, 31, and Major Yazmi “Caser” Mohamed Yusof, 39, were found 20 metres apart from each other in a mangrove forest near Kampung Chukai in Kemaman, Terengganu around 2.30pm today.”
RMAF chief General Affendi Buang says the two airmen were believed to have ejected from the aircraft just before it crashed.
“We believe they ejected when the jet started to lose control. They were both experienced pilots, and are a huge lost to us,” he said.
Mohd Asri, who had been in service for 13 years, was from Bandar Baru Jempol, Negri Sembilan while Yazmi, who has been in service for 19 years, was from Kuala Lumpur. Both are from the No 6 Skuadron.
A board of inquiry has been set up to determine the cause of the crash. The wreck of the Hawk was found at 10.27am on June 16, a day after the bodies of the pilots were recovered. It was located some 100 meters from the bodies were recovered. From the picture of the site of the wreck it appears that the aircraft went straight down.
An earlier RMAF release stated the Hawk Mk 108 – M40-02 – went missing while flying around the Pahang and Terengganu border. The aircraft took off from the Kuantan airbase at 11am and contact was lost at 11.30am.
A SAR operation was subsequently activated.
*this is an updated post. The earlier one only stated the aircraft was missing based on the information available at that time.
— Malaysian Defence
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View Comments (33)
Oh god...
Hopefully the pilots are okay.
Hawk Should Be Replaced by M-346 or F/A-50.
Gosh, just pray the crew/s are ok. Rego?
Hope both pilot are safe...
on the other hand, we less another important unit...
It is confirmed that the aircraft has crashwd 51 km from Kuantan and 2 pilots perished. Condolences to all involved.
My condolences to the family of both pilots and to the RMAF.Today we lost two brave men,men who knew the dangers involved ,not for the sake of personal thrills and boast but in the defence of the country.This great nation of ours bid both farewell and thank you for the dedications and sacrifices shown.
May the 2 pilots RIP....
by the way, all our Hawk crashed also fatal?
Reply
No, some had managed to eject succesfully
Condolences to the family...
How much trainer that we have left? Afaik there was also the MB339C crash incident last year.
rip to the fallen
Reply
5 and 7 AFAIK
Right now we are left with
5 hawk 108 (of original 10)
7 mb339cm (of original 8, this replaced older 13 mb339am models)
The hawk 108 are employed basically as Operational Conversion Units for the hawk single seaters, in addition to normal operational taskings as evidenced during the firepower exercise.
The MB339CM is used in the normal definition of LIFT, ie Lead-In Fighter Trainer. Students learn basic fighter skills in the MB339CM before moving on to more complicated fighters like the hornet or flankers.
What could be done next is to streamline the training to only 1 stream using only 1 type of LIFT, and if possible same type for light fighter equivalent to the Hawk 208.