Indonesia’s air safety under the microscope
JAKARTA: The spotlight has turned back on Indonesia’s flight safety in the wake of this week’s crash of a Garuda Indonesia Boeing 737-400 at Yoyakarta’s Adi Sucipto Airport.
Twenty-two of the 133 passengers and seven crew on board are believed to be have perished when the aircraft caught fire after over-shooting the landing strip.
Indonesia’s National Commission for Transportation Safety (KNKT) has found the black box of in the burned out wreckage of the aircraft and the local Metro TV station has reported that it will be sent to Australia for analysis.
Reports indicate that yesterday’s accident was Garuda’s 11th since 1982. Seven of those have involved fatalities.
Indonesia’s air safety record was already under renewed scrutiny since an Adam Air Boeing 737-400 with 102 people on board crashed into the sea off the island of Sulawesi on New Year’s Day with no survivors.
Last month, Adam Air grounded six Boeing 737-300 planes – one third of its fleet – for safety inspections after one of its aircraft was damaged during a hard landing in Surabaya that damaged the plane’s fuselage.
Last Friday a Boeing 737-200 operated by local Indonesian carrier Merpati Nusantara was forced to make an emergency landing on Batam Island after the pilot reported a dangerous oil leak.
The high number of accidents and safety scares involving Indonesian airlines has forced President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to form a team to evaluate and improve transport safety.
Indonesian transport minister Hatta Radjasa recently flagged banning jets more than 10 years old but the plan is being contested by Indonesia’s budget airlines which generally operate with older fleets.
The low cost carriers also like to keep their aircraft working around the clock, leaving little time for safety inspections.
The Boeing 737-400 involved in this week’s crash in Yogyakarta was built in 1992 and would have exceeded the 10-year age limit the Government has talked about placing on jetliners operated by local carriers.
Indonesian transport officials concede there is a problem with enforcement and that the nation’s regulator does not have enough safety inspectors, although it has been boosting its accident investigation capabilities in recent years.
“The regulations are complete enough … but the problem is, maybe, we have to improve law enforcement,” National Transportation Safety Committee official Martono told Agence France-Presse recently.
“We have to enforce all the regulations if we are to change this situation.”
Ian Jarrett
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