Reckless maintenance caused accident during parachute drill
The Nation

BANGKOK: -- Recklessness among officials in charge of static-line maintenance is the cause behind the deaths of two police cadets during a parachute drill in Phetchaburi.

"Criminal complaints must be filed against those involved before the end of this week," Royal Thai Police's key advisor General Jarumporn Suramanee said yesterday, "They must be charged with recklessness that cause the deaths of others".

Two cadets, Chayakorn Phutchaiyong and Nattawut Tirasuwannasuk, plunged to their death late last month because of static-line problems.

In the wake of the shocking incident, the Royal Thai Police has set up a fact-finding committee to look into the case.

Jarumporn yesterday invited the families of the victims as well as local police in Phetchaburi to listen to the results of the committee's conclusion.

"It was recorded in December that the cord for the static-line had problems," he said.

According to him, a new cord was bought by late February. In March, another cord was bought. Still, these new cords were not installed in the aircraft used for the parachute drills.

"The maintenance is clearly not in line with proper standards," Jarumporn said.

The Rights and Liberties Protection Department says the families of the two victims would each be paid Bt100,000 compensation if it is proven that the deaths were caused by others.

The families have also vowed to file civil lawsuits to demand compensation.

Jarumporn said the families hoped to spend the compensation amount on efforts to prevent such accidents from happening.


-- The Nation 2014-04-29

Nothing better than getting one's malfunction drills down pat during ground training before going up. Saves lives !

Just like all other disasters and fatal accidents, wait for something to happen first, then fix the problem. It seems to be in our culture. Or are we incapable of understanding the words “Preventative Maintenance”? or are we just too lazy or too busy playing on our tablets or sending messages on our mobile devices?

someone probably stole the static line thinking it will make a nice clothes line

I'd like to know what IS in line with 'proper' standards....

My guess would be roughly Funk All...

But hey, 100 thousand baht.......thats a good few packs of 'wai wai'

So much for preventive maintenance!

Don't these clowns have any safety systems operating that work?...I mean....cadets jumping out of a plane and no checks on equipment condition....!

Maintenance?! This place is FUBAR..

God help them if ever a 'real ' war started. Half of the Military would die from internal screw ups before they ever met the enemy and more than half of the 'Generals ' would be on Planes heading as far away from Thailand as possible.

Reckless maintenance causes accidents all over Thailand.

100,000 baht compensation. Wow, nice. Well worth it now. Where do I sign up to be a police cadet.

Reckless Normal maintenance caused accident during parachute drill

I bet that those 2 new cord either been resold or never actually been delivered although paid for...

As usual only half the story with regard to negligence. Both victims would have known in the first 3 to 4 seconds of free fall so why did they not deploy their reserve chutes. Lack of proper training and assesment at jump school.

Both victims died as a result of professional negligence on behalf of both the instructors and maintenance staff. Both groups are culpable. Not just the typical poort maintenance but also inadequate training.Furtheremore the Jumpmaster also has a responsibility to ensure that all equiptment relevant to deployment on the aircraft is fully functional, however this does not include the individual parachute static line draw cords.

Well what a surprise!

Next time, make the entire maintenance crew do a test jump first!

Most poor Thai people can make 100,000 in a year. How pathetic. I'd say 1,000,000 would have been more in-line for a decent compensation.

"The maintenance is clearly not in line with proper standards,"

In Thailand..?? Surely not!

I'm surprised we don't hear more stories like this as ''Health & Safety'' here is non-existant.

Sad.

Just like all other disasters and fatal accidents, wait for something to happen first, then fix the problem. It seems to be in our culture. Or are we incapable of understanding the words “Preventative Maintenance”? or are we just too lazy or too busy playing on our tablets or sending messages on our mobile devices?

The failure to do the right thing before someone is killed happens in every culture, just plain incompetence and being lazy is the usual reason.

wait for accident before you repair anything .

Very smart !

You never do a useless repair ?

Saves a lot of money !

Preventative maintenance? Why would you spend hard earned baht on something that's not broken...yet? Farangs.

Just like all other disasters and fatal accidents, wait for something to happen first, then fix the problem. It seems to be in our culture. Or are we incapable of understanding the words “Preventative Maintenance”? or are we just too lazy or too busy playing on our tablets or sending messages on our mobile devices?

Preventative maintenanece, common sense, planning ahead, accountability, responsibility? I'm sorry but here these words are not in use by too many here.

Reckless maintenance?

Is that Thai speak for Criminal Negligence?

Accountability is the word that matters. Every else follows on. Western countries set the example of zero accountability and the rest copy.

What no reserve chutes in Thailand...???

As usual only half the story with regard to negligence. Both victims would have known in the first 3 to 4 seconds of free fall so why did they not deploy their reserve chutes. Lack of proper training and assesment at jump school.

Both victims died as a result of professional negligence on behalf of both the instructors and maintenance staff. Both groups are culpable. Not just the typical poort maintenance but also inadequate training.Furtheremore the Jumpmaster also has a responsibility to ensure that all equiptment relevant to deployment on the aircraft is fully functional, however this does not include the individual parachute static line draw cords.

Possibly the unfortunate cadets had only 3 to 4 seconds of total fall, let alone free fall.

Can't recall reading just how high the jump aircraft was when the cadets exited the plane.

The academy is probably just following an aviation maintenance concept called "Fly to Fail." This concept works fine for non-critical/non-safety items. Seems preventive maintenance in Thailand is a foreign concept, therefore, best to be avoided.

God help them if ever a 'real ' war started. Half of the Military would die from internal screw ups before they ever met the enemy and more than half of the 'Generals ' would be on Planes heading as far away from Thailand as possible.

Happened all ready, during the boarder war with Laos. At that time General Chavalit was in command. Later he was PM, and has Thaksin Siniawatra eliminate the traffic problems in Bangkok.

The maintenance is not the problem. It goes higher than that. The cable was reported as being defective and recorded in the aircraft log. There for this aircraft should have been grounded until it was repaired. It is the responsibility of the aircraft crew chief, the pilot and the Jump Master to inspect the aircraft and declare it ready for the mission. The question who in the command structure approved a defective aircraft for this mission, who accepted the aircraft and are the crew chief, jump master and pilot being reprimanded.

That was the way it was in Lop Buri 45 years ago, maybe it has changed since.

I presume the "static line" is the line fitted inside the aircraft that parachutists clip onto before jumping out.

Maybe the person who condemned the line in the first place should have taken a penknife to the line.

A Stitch In Time, Saves....Oho, Puat Hua Laaaaaow

Mun Mun Mun