The Jakarta Globe, Janeman Latul & Putri Prameswhari, February 26, 2009
On the same day that the European Union’s audit team arrived in Indonesia to assess the safety of the country’s accident-riddled aviation sector, the possibility of gaining certification to fly to Europe was again thrown into doubt when a 12-year-old Lion Air MD-90 crash-landed in Batam, Riau Islands Province, on Monday without its front landing gear.
Another safety incident involving a Lion Air flight occurred on the same day that inspectors arrived from the European Union to assess Indonesia's poor aviation track record. (Photo: Antara)
Nobody was hurt in the incident, but coming as it did during the audit team’s visit, it added another stain to the country’s troubled air safety record, which had been clean for 21 months. Aviation authorities are hoping the ban will be lifted in March.
The country’s case was hardly helped by Budi Suyitno, the director general of air transportation, who spoke with the Jakarta Globe on Wednesday. “It is an old plane that could have hidden defects which inspectors couldn’t identify,” Budi said.
“The older the plane, the more the problems. The risk is always there and for the Lion Air incident, the problem was that one of the levers for the wheel hatch was broken, which caused the plane’s forward landing gear to stick.” The landing gear lever, he said, “is at a place where it is difficult to find by the inspectors.”
“It is impossible to find that kind of problem in the ground inspection,” he said.
Indonesia has one of the world’s worst air safety records. The March 2007 crash that led the EU to impose the ban four months later occurred when a Garuda Indonesia Boeing 737 with 140 people aboard burst into flames after overshooting the runway at Yogyakarta’s Adisucipto International Airport, leaving 21 people dead. The pilot is now on trial for criminal negligence.
That crash was preceded by one in which a Boeing 737, flown by the now-defunct Adam Air budget carrier, plunged into the sea on New Year’s Day of 2007, killing all 102 passengers and crew. The crashes, however, were regarded more as symptoms of a deeper problem.
In the decade to 2007, the Aviation Safety Network recorded 48 air accidents in the country, traceable to old and badly maintained aircraft, outdated technology, poorly trained personnel, poor radar cover, noncompliance with air traffic regulations, bad management practices at airports and corruption.
Since the imposition of the ban, the government has worked assiduously to correct the situation. It has increased the number of inspectors, introduced new and tighter regulations and increased supervision of safety and compliance, as well as created a ranking system to check the performance of the airlines.
As an example of how far the country’s airlines have to go, however, an advertisement appeared in local publications congratulating the country’s fleet for going a year without a fatality .
Budi said that although the government and the National Transportation Safety Committee, or KNKT, are currently investigating the incident in Batam, he is confident it won’t cause the EU to delay lifting the ban. “I don’t think they will be affected by the incident,” he said.
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