KUALA LUMPUR: The airworthiness status of the aircraft involved in the Kapar crash is still under investigation by the Air Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB).
Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM) chief executive officer Datuk Captain Norazman Mahmud said it is still unclear whether the aircraft's manufacturer, Blackshape S.p.A, has applied for the revocation of the aircraft's airworthiness.
"Blackshape S.p.A informed the Italian civil aviation authority about the grounding orders but whether they applied for revocation of the aircraft's airworthiness - that part is still unclear.
"The AAIB is still investigating this," he told the New Straits Times.
AAIB in its preliminary report on Wednesday said the aircraft that crashed in Kapar on Feb 13 had two grounding orders.
The report said the apparent reason for the aircraft grounding instruction was the issue concerning the transfer of ownership and registration of the aircraft to the purchaser of the aircraft, which was Sky Media Ltd, Hong Kong.
"Whether this aircraft grounding instruction issued on May 27, 2023, as well as the later instruction on Oct 25, 2023, were properly communicated to and clearly understood by all the relevant parties, shall be determined with the availability of further relevant evidence and will be made known in the final report," the report said.
Norazman said the Blackshape S.p.A, as the aircraft manufacturer, is obligated to report any safety issues to the civil aviation authority of the state where the aircraft is registered.
The aircraft is registered in Italy.
"The authority for the state of register (Italy) should be aware of its aircraft operating location and inform CAAM of any change in regards to the airworthiness approval status of the aircraft," he said.
Norazman also clarified that action cannot be taken based on the preliminary report which was released solely to identify the root cause of the crash and prevent future occurrence.
"CAAM will conduct its own investigation and will coordinate with AAIB findings," he said.