The Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand (CAAT) is looking into an allegation that it issued an airworthiness certificate for an aircraft that was not fit to fly.
Kajonpat Maklin, a CAAT deputy director in charge of civil aviation safety affairs, said yesterday that information was being disseminated on social media about substandard aircraft repairs and concerns about the issuance of an airworthiness certificate. He said that the aircraft in question was a Commander 114, a small four-seat private aircraft that had been inspected on Dec 6, 2023, and had its certificate of airworthiness issued on Jan 12, 2024.
The process of issuing an airworthiness certificate normally includes a check into relevant documents such as maintenance history, compliance with airworthiness directives, and compliance with manufacturer safety. A physical inspection of every system of the aircraft is also conducted to ensure it is functioning and safe. After the CAAT issues an airworthiness certificate, the owner of each aircraft and its technicians are responsible for maintaining the aircraft and ensuring it is always safe to fly, he said.
However, if the aircraft owner believes that the actions of a team of ground engineers who repaired the aircraft violated aviation law, the matter can be forwarded to the CAAT for further action.
However, for safety reasons, the CAAT has already begun investigating the case even without a formal complaint from the aircraft's owner, he said.
Warat Laithong, the YouTuber, and owner of the Commander 114 aircraft, posted on his Facebook on Wednesday a story about him purchasing the aircraft two years ago. He got it repaired and maintained by a certified aircraft technician team. Over the past two years, the aircraft maintenance team was changed up to three times, he said, adding the last informed him on April 21 that his aircraft was ready to fly as it was issued a CAAT airworthiness certificate.
He said during a test flight, he encountered several problems, but the most serious was an overspeeding propeller and an unstable speed. He and a friend flew the aircraft to Bang Phra (an airport in Chon Buri), and a technical team there immediately told him that the aircraft's prop governor was improperly installed.
The prop governor is a device which automatically adjusts the angle of the aircraft propeller blade to maintain a constant engine speed under varying flight conditions.
The discovery led to a re-check of the entire aircraft, which resulted in a long, shocking fault list.