07 April 2009

Two years for Garuda crash pilot

JAKARTA - Garuda Indonesia pilot Marwoto Komar has been found guilty of criminal negligence and jailed for two years over a plane crash that killed 21 people including five Australians.

Komar was in charge of the Garuda Indonesia plane when it slammed onto the runway at Yogyakarta airport, careered into a field and burst into flames on March 7, 2007.

Investigators have said Komar ignored a series of warnings not to land the plane as he brought it in at about twice the safe speed.

Prosecutors had considered asking for life on the grounds the crash was deliberate but amended their sentence request to four years for criminal negligence.

Marwoto's lawyers said they would appeal over the verdict.

Marwoto ignored 15 automated warnings, described as loud "whoop whoops" by the judges, before the crash.

Verbal warnings from the co-pilot to abort the landing were also ignored, and the plane was travelling at twice the normal speed.

Indonesian airlines are currently banned from flying into European destinations on safety grounds and according to reports in Jakarta last week, there is little immediate prospect of the EU ban being lifted to allow Garuda to re-launch services to Amsterdam.