Mark Forbes, Jakarta
theage.com.au, April 18, 2007
SEVEN large airlines will be banned within three months if they continue to fail safety requirements under a shake-up the Indonesian Transport Minister says will enhance aviation standards.
Hatta Radjasa said airports would also be upgraded, including lengthening Yogyakarta's runway.
Mr Radjasa said he was considering banning passenger jets that are more than 10 years old. Most planes now flying were older than 20 years, he said.
Mr Radjasa promised to release the full voice recording from the cockpit of the Garuda flight that crashed in Yogyakarta last month, killing 21 people including five Australians.
An investigation by Indonesia's Transport Safety Commission has pointed to pilot error resulting in the plane landing at excessive speed on a runway that did not meet international specifications. Mr Radjasa refused to speculate on why the pilot landed at 410 km/h, nearly double the maximum safe speed.
But the commission's chairman, Tatang Kurniadi, told The Age that Captain Marwoto Komar was claiming a wind "pushed" his plane faster during the landing. "He felt he was pushed, there were winds," he said.
Investigators were seeking further information from Meteorology Office officials to confirm the pilot's claim.
"He did not try to reduce (his speed). But then we have to find out why," Mr Kurniadi said.
Mr Radjasa said the cockpit voice recording would be released when the investigation ended in about three months. "We will open to the public, we have done it before," he said.
Mr Kurniadi expressed concern about the promise and said the voice recording could not be used in any criminal case against the Garuda pilot. Police are conducting a parallel criminal investigation into the crash.
By 2009, all major Indonesian airports would be upgraded to meet international standards and would be equipped with instrument landing systems and modern radar, Mr Radjasa said.
If the seven airlines with the lowest ranking in a recent safety check did not make changes within three months, "we will close them", Mr Radjasa said.
US warns citizens off
THE United States has advised its citizens not to fly on Indonesian airlines, saying recent accidents raise questions about aviation safety. In the message to its citizens in Indonesia yesterday, the US embassy cited an audit by the Indonesian civil aviation agency.
The audit of 54 firms last month revealed none made it to the first of three rating classes, while six were told to comply with safety regulations in three months or face closure.
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