Nizam Gandhi said his father, Gandhi J Nathan, should not be the only person held responsible for the crash, which claimed the lives of then Sabah chief minister Fuad Stephens and 10 others.
“The airline company had the bigger responsibility of making sure the loading of the aircraft was in accordance with the guidelines.
“The pilot cannot be held solely responsible because the company has to prepare the load sheet before taking off,” The Star quoted him as saying.
Yesterday, the transport ministry released a report into the crash, which took place on June 6, 1976, after the government had agreed to declassify it.
The report said there was no evidence that sabotage, fire or an explosion had caused the crash, popularly known as the “Double Six tragedy”.
It said the probable cause of the incident was “a centre of gravity position well outside the aft limit, which caused the control column to run out of forward range on the final approach to land”.
It also said there was a problem with professional compliance of operating procedures by the company that operated the flight and that the pilot had exceeded his 10-hour duty period by 67 minutes.
It added that Gandhi had a history of poor performance in flying.
The report was jointly prepared by the civil aviation department, the Royal Malaysian Air Force and the Australian transport department.
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