Delivery of T-50TH aircraft to Royal Thai Air Force postponed indefinitely

BANGKOK, January 12 (TNA) - The delivery of a T-50TH aircraft to the Royal Thai Air Force has been postponed indefinitely due to a few technical problems. Royal Thai Air Force Spokesman Air Vice Marshal Pongsak Semachai told journalists of the update on Friday, noting that the technical problems were initially detected to have been caused by the impact of the weather. The spokesman explained the Royal Thai Air Force has been reported by South Korea-based KAI T-50 Golden Eagle Company, the manufacturer of T-50TH aircraft, that the pilot and a team of mechanics found some malfunctions of a T-50TH combat plane after conducting a test flight of the aircraft recently. The spokesman stated that an initial post-flight check-up, following a landing of the T-50TH aircraft at the Kuantan Airport in neighboring Malaysia, found some problems at the two engines of the combat plane, expected to have been caused by the severe weather during the test flight over the Malaysian sky. "The pilot and the team of mechanics have reported the problems to their company in South Korea in order to send more mechanics and aircraft parts to thoroughly check and fix the problems and the delivery of the T-50TH aircraft to the Royal Thai Air Force has, thus, been postponed indefinitely", said the spokesman. The spokesman stressed, however, that the problems were believed to have not affected the public confidence in the T-50TH aircraft, as the problems were the impact of the uncontrollably severe weather. Earlier, local media have been invited by the Royal Thai Air Force to cover a ceremony on its delivery of the T-50TH combat plane from the South Korean manufacturer on January 11, but it was then postponed to January 12, before the latest announcement of the indefinite postponement of the delivery of the new aircraft. (TNA)