[EXPLAINED] What Is the ‘Double Six’ Sabah Air GAF Nomad Crash and Why Is It About To Be Declassified?

Over the years, our country has seen several aviation disasters. In recent memory, MH370 disappeared on 8 March 2014 with all 227 passengers and 12 crew on board while flying from KL to Beijing. On 17 July 2014, MH17 was shot down by Russian-controlled forces, killing the 298 people on board.

Back in 1977, MH653 was the first fatal air crash for Malaysia Airlines and was purportedly hijacked before it crashed in Tanjung Kupang, Johor ––resulting in the death of 93 passengers and 7 crew members. 47 years on, the 1976 ‘Double Six Tragedy’ plane crash is being brought to light again after PM Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim said on 5 April that the federal government has agreed to declassify the documents.

Known as the ‘Double Six Tragedy’ or the ‘Double Six Crash’ after the date of the incident 6 June 1976, a GAF N-22B Nomad of Sabah Air crashed en route to Kota Kinabalu from Labuan. The airplane was not equipped with a black box at that time to record flight events.

If you weren’t alive when the crash hit the headlines or if your memory is fuzzy about the details, we break it down for you here:

Victims of the crash

1. Tun Fuad Stephens, Chief Minister of Sabah at the time

2. Datuk Peter Mojuntin, Sabah Minister of Local Government and Housing

3. Datuk Ishak Atan, private secretary to Tengku Razaleigh (Malaysian Finance Minister at that time)

4. Chong Thien Voon, Sabah Works and Communication Minister

5. Darius Binion, Assistant Minister

6. Datuk Salleh Sulong, Sabah Finance Minister

7. Datuk Wahid Andu

8. Dr. Syed Hussin Wafa, Director of State Economic Planning Unit

9. Johari Stephens, son of Tun Fuad and trainee pilot with Sabah Flying Club

10. Captain Ghandi Nathan, pilot and captain of the aircraft

11. Corporal Said, bodyguard of Tun Fuad

Who was Tun Fuad Stephens?

The most prominent victim of the crash was Tun Fuad Stephens, born Donald Stephens of Kadazan-British descent, who later converted to Islam in 1971. He had just been appointed the Sabah Chief Minister for 53 days. Tuan Fuad Stephens played a key role in negotiating the independence of Sabah and the formation of Malaysia.

As the founder of the United Pasokmomogun Kadazan Organisation (UNKO) party, he carried out his first term as Chief Minister of Sabah from September 1963 to December 1964. In 1976, together with Harris Salleh, he formed a new political party called the Sabah People’s United Front (BERJAYA) that went on to win the state elections, beating out Tun Mustapha (sometimes known as ‘Father of Independence of Sabah’) to form the new government of Sabah.

The circumstances surrounding the crash

The circumstances appeared fishy at the time because as recalled by Police Commissioner Yusof Khan, almost every BERJAYA senior leader was there except Harris.

Prior to the flight, on the evening of 5 June 1976, Tun Fuad with his brother Benjamin Stephens and other BERJAYA leaders gathered at the Labuan Golf Club to host a post-victory celebration for Tun Fuad's old friend, Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, the federal finance minister and chairman of Petronas. Tun Mustapha had previously refused to sign the 5% oil agreement with Petronas. Some sources reported that Tun Fuad disagreed with the 10% oil royalty offered by the federal government.

A change of plans

1. Peter Mojuntin, another BERJAYA leader, originally planned an earlier flight but was persuaded by Tun Fuad to fly back to Kota Kinabalu with him because he wanted to discuss some matters with Peter on board the flight. He also declined the invitation to fly on a GAF Nomad aircraft with Harris Salleh and Sarawak chief minister Abdul Rahman Ya'kub.

2. In 2010, Tengku Razaleigh claimed that he was seated behind Tun Fuad while Abdul Rahman Ya'kub was seated on Tengku's right side in the Nomad aircraft when Harris Salleh came in last minute and asked Tengku to exit the aircraft to inspect a cattle ranch at Banggi Island. Tengku agreed and he invited Abdul Rahman to follow him. But in 1999, Tengku claimed that he met Harris Salleh at the beach near the Layang-Layang village when the latter asked him to go to Banggi Island to inspect a cattle ranch.

3. Ishak Atan, the private secretary to Tengku Razaleigh, decided to stay back with Tun Fuad's aircraft because he wanted to prepare the documents for the signing ceremony in Kota Kinabalu.

Tun Fuad's aircraft took off first followed by Harris's aircraft. Tuan Fuad’s son, Johari Stephens who was a 25-year-old trainee pilot requested to occupy the co-pilots seat. The duration of the flight was approximately 40 minutes, and the aircraft was scheduled to land at Kota Kinabalu at 3.30 pm and there was clear weather.

The aircraft was about 600 feet from sea level when locals said that it seemed to stall, with one wing dipping down and the plane spiralling down. It hit the shallow waters barely three feet deep in sea off Kampung Sembulan, causing the aircraft to be broken into two and the cockpit embedded into a sandbank. This also caused most of the bodies to converge at the cockpit while the surrounding water was stained crimson. There were claims that conflicting instructions were given by the staff manning the airport control tower and this was later denied.

What happened because of the crash?

Due to the crash, there was a vacuum in the BERJAYA party leadership and there were five vacant Sabah state assembly seats. A grieving Harris Salleh was reluctant to assume the post of the chief minister but was sworn in on the same day after being persuaded by Tengku Razaleigh. On 21st June 1976, Barisan Nasional accepted the applications from BERJAYA and USNO to join the coalition.

One week later on 14th June 1976, Harris Salleh signed the 5% oil royalty agreement saying that he did so on the attorney general’s recommendations and unanimously agreed to by all of his cabinet ministers.

Sabotage or a twist of fate: possible explanations for the crash

Australian aircraft manufacturer GAF Nomad launched an investigation in order to prove that the crash was not due to a mechanical defect, but the investigation findings were not made public. A statement was made by then Deputy Communication Minister, Mohd Ali bin M. Shariff that no technical errors or sabotage were found to be the cause but that it was due to human error.

1. Overloading of aircraft

The aircraft’s storage space at the back of the aircraft was loaded above the maximum permissible with goods such as golf equipment and colour television sets from Labuan’s duty-free shops . This may have caused it to behave unpredictably when the speed was low, especially during landing.

2. Pilot Error

As Johari Stephens was a trainee pilot, he may have caused the aircraft to go into a spin when he tried to pull the heavily loaded aircraft too steeply out of his landing approach although Captain Nathan could have easily pulled it out of a spin as well. Both Toh Puan Hajjah Rahimah Stephens (wife of Tun Fuad) and Harris Salleh have said that pilot error was the main cause of the crash.

3. The design flaw of the aircraft

In 1995, an Australian TV series ran an exposé that at the time, there had been 19 accidents related to the aircraft with a total of 56 deaths. A former GAF design engineer also bought 16 Nomad aircraft and sued the company as he found several defects such as a defective tail design and the maximum weight limit.

Why is the case resurfacing after decades?

Back on 1 July 2022, the 92-year-old former Sabah chief minister Tan Sri Harris Mohd Salleh filed a lawsuit through a judicial review application seeking to direct the government to declassify the report. Throughout the years, Harris said that he had been accused by several Sabah leaders of causing the accident in order to gain power and wanted to clear his name.

On 8 March 2023, the High Court in Kota Kinabalu ordered the Malaysian government to declassify the federal investigation report regarding the crash.

On 6 April 2023, PM Anwar Ibrahim said that part of the details will be released in the next two days and that the public will have full access to the documents in a week. The PM said that this was in alignment with the current government’s move to uphold greater transparency and in the interest of the families of the victims and the people of Sabah.

We hope that once the documents are made public, all the bereaved families will be able to find the truth.

Image credit: baaa-acro.com