SUBANG, MAY 3 – The Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) yesterday carried out a Cloud Seeding Operation (OPA) in the catchment area of Teluk Bahang Dam and Teluk Air Itam Dam in Penang Island. The OPA this time is an integrated effort involving the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) together with the Malaysian Meteorological Department (MET Malaysia), the National Disaster Management Agency (NADMA) and the Penang State Government starting yesterday, 2 May 2023 and expected to last until 4 May 2023 depending on the situation.
The implementation of this OPA was started with a flight and safety briefing by Lieutenant Colonel Mohd Khairol Fadly bin Abu Bakar RMAF who flew a C130 Hercules transport aircraft. The work for this OPA has started with the mixing of salt by MET Malaysia and the RMAF starting at about 11.00 am. A total of four (4) salt solution mixing tanks have been prepared with a capacity of 1,500 liters per tank. Each of these tanks requires 200 kilograms of salt making the whole mixture of salt water containing 800 kilograms of salt and 6,000 liters of water.
After taking approximately three (3) hours to prepare the mixture, these four tanks were then inserted into the C130H aircraft body by the crew of No 20 Squadron. For this operation, a transport aircraft belonging to the RMAF was flown by the Aircraft Commander, Lieutenant Colonel Mohd Khairol Fadly bin Abu Bakar RMAF; First Pilot, Major Mohammad Irwan bin Kamarudzaman RMAF and Assistant Pilot, Capt Ahmad Aslam Hadi bin Hassan RMAF took off at 2.45pm from Subang Air Base.
The flight for the OPA mission was also accompanied by five (5) crew members namely Maj Solihin bin Azman RMDF, Major Yusof bin Baydowi RMDF, Air Warrant Officer 1 Saifu bin Abdullah, Air Sergeant Khusyairi, four (4) Malaysian MET staff and one staff member from the Agency Water Regulation. Hopefully the concerted efforts implemented can help cloud seeding efforts to restore the affected and shrinking water supply in the rain catchment area.
The RMAF through No 20 Squadron remains committed to helping the OPA mission starting today and continuing depending on the need. Hopefully the effort will bring results and can be overcome soon.
