SABOTAGE FEARS RETURN: JJ copter shock - cockpit recorder indicates EXPLOSION before crash landing

Speculation of sabotage have resurfaced after data from the cockpit voice recorder showed the helicopter carrying Rompin MP Jamaluddin Jarjis may have exploded in mid-air before it crash landed in Semenyih.

Online portal The Malay Mail reported that the Eurocopter Dauphin AS365N2 helicopter was flying at around 2,000 feet over Semenyih when it experienced a sudden drop in altitude and all communications went dead.

The situation gives strong indication that there was an explosion on board before the helicopter crash landed, said the Malay Mail, which picked up the news from an exclusive in Umno-controlled newspaper NST. The NST exclusive had quoted an unnamed source for its article.

Six people were killed when the helicopter crashed en route from Kuantan to Sungai Besi on April 4, including Rompin MP Tan Sri Jamaluddin Jarjis and the prime minister’s private chief secretary Datuk Azlin Alias

Mystery woman

Data from the black box of the fatal helicopter crash, which took place on April 4, also indicated that sole female passenger had been actively involved in the aircraft’s flight.

Mystery woman was a flying enthusiast but was she really the pilot's girlfriend as police have claimed

Speculations of sabotage surfaced after eyewitness accounts of explosion in the sky but police had warned the public against jumping to conclusions

Quoting the source, the NST claimed that data from the cockpit voice recorder also suggested that Kyrgyzstan national Aidana Baizieva was “actively participating” in flight operations.

The report also claimed that exchanges recorded between the 25-year-old tourism graduate and the helicopter's pilot, Captain Clifford William Fournier, were mainly on the flight's operations.

It was initially reported that Baizieva was the co-pilot on the doomed flight, but this was later dismissed by police who said there was no evidence to support the claim.

Previous reports quoted Selangor police chief Datuk Abdul Samah Mat as saying that Baizieva had a keen interest in aviation and frequently followed Fournier on helicopter rides. - MAILBAG