Malaysia plane crash: ‘Problem on the wings’ touted to be possible cause of crash that killed 10

Flight with eight people on board crashed while attempting to land

Seconds before a small plane came crashing down on a highway in Malaysia (Screen grab/ Twitter )

The crash of a small private plane on the Guthrie Highway near the Elmina township in Mayalsia’s central Selangor state could have been caused by the problem on the wings, a local politician-cum-aerospace expert has claimed.

At least 10 people were killed after the plane crashed into moving vehicles on a highway in Selangor. The Beechcraft Model 390 aircraft was carrying six passengers and two crew when it crashed near Elmina township after 2pm (local time) on Thursday, while attempting to land at an airport on the outskirts of the capital Kuala Lumpur.

Terengganu chief minister Dr Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar — who is also an aerospace engineer — wrote on his Facebook page: “Looking from the visual evidence alone (in the form of dashboard cam footage which has other limitations too) that is available to all of us, I would incline to believe the issue at hand would be more on the ‘flight control’ — more towards problem on the wings, possibly either on the aileron failure or combination of both rudder and elevator.”

All eight people on board the aircraft along with two passing motorists died in the crash, the authorities said.

The plane had obtained approval to land at Subang airport after departing from the northern resort island of Langkawi, transport minister Anthony Loke said. He added that the aircraft then veered off its flight path and plunged towards the ground.

The craft lost contact with air traffic control and crashed into a motorbike and a car, Selangor police chief Hussein Omar Khan said.

"There was no emergency call, the aircraft had been given clearance to land," he added.

The aircraft made first contact with Subang air traffic control tower at 2.47pm local time and was given landing clearance at 2.48 pm, according to civil aviation authority chief executive Norazman Mahmud.

“At 2.51pm, the Subang air traffic control tower observed smoke originating from the crash site but no mayday call was made by the aircraft,” he said in a statement, according to Reuters.