Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post, Tangerang
Human error has been blamed for the recent accident that saw parts from a Batavia Air airplane fall from the sky onto Gempol Sari residential village in Tangerang.
Tangerang police's special task force chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Guntur Setyanto told reporters Friday the company's technicians were to blame for the parts of the plane falling from the sky.
Early investigations by the police found the aircraft had undergone repair works on its left wing hydraulic system, just before it left Soekarno-Hatta international airport for Pontianak, West Kalimantan.
"It was suspected that the technicians forgot to properly knot the bolt of the machine cap after the repairs, making the cap easily able to fall when the airplane took off," he said.
Guntur said he reported the case to the National Committee for Air Transportation Safety (KNKT) for further investigation.
The Boeing 737-400 airplane was carrying 138 passengers when it took off from the airport at 5 p.m. Wednesday.
After leaving the ground for 15 minutes, the wing cap came loose and fell onto the village's residential area in East Sepatan district in Tangerang regency.
The airplane finally landed safely at the international airport after remaining in the air for several hours.
Residents found five parts from the wing, including its cap, across five different locations in the village.
One of the residents who found some wing parts, Aat, said a one part had fallen onto the roof of his house.
"I heard an explosion ... right before it fell onto my roof," he said.
Batavia Air spokesperson Anton Situmeang said his company refused to speculate on the cause of the incident.
"We will wait for the result of the committee's investigation," he said.
KNKT member Sulaiman said the committee was still gathering data and information to investigate the cause of the incident.
"I hope residents (will) cooperate by reporting any information, including (their) findings for this case," he said.
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