Sukhoi Jet in Indonesia Crash Was Replacement

Jakarta Globe, May 14, 2012

A Sukhoi Superjet 100 takes part in the 48th Paris Air Show at the Le
Bourget airport near Paris in this June 17, 2009 file photo. A Russian Sukhoi
 passenger plane with 46 people on board, including businessmen and Russian
 envoys, has gone missing during a demonstration flight over West Java in Indonesia,
officials said on May 9, 2012. (Reuters Photo/Benoit Tessier)

              

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Moscow. The Sukhoi jet that crashed in Indonesia killing all on board was a replacement for another plane that had carried out the first part of a promotional tour, its manufacturer said on Monday.

The Sukhoi Superjet 100 — the first new passenger plane produced by Russia since the collapse of the USSR — was making an exhibition flight in Indonesia on a promotional tour to drum up business.

But the plane that crashed was not the same aircraft that carried out the first part of the promotional tour in Kazakhstan and Pakistan, Olga Kayukova, the spokeswoman for Sukhoi Civil Aircraft which makes the plane told AFP.

The Moskovskiy Komsomolets and Kommersant newspapers earlier reported that the plane had been replaced in the middle of the exhibition tour.

Kayukova said that the first model had returned to Moscow after the Kazakhstan leg “to take part in tests,” without giving further details on the reason.

But she added that the second plane was in “perfect technical condition before the flight.”

Images of the planes’ registration numbers posted by bloggers who had been following the whole tour confirmed the reports.

Moskovskiy Komsomolets said that the Superjet shown off in Kazakhstan and Pakistan was number 97005 while the model which crashed in Indonesia was number 97004.

“Why it was replaced, I cannot say,” the paper quoted a source as saying. “But if it was not allowed to make further demonstration flights there must have been a cause.”

It had previously been assumed that the Superjet which crashed last week was the same plane that made the first part of the promotional tour.

At least 45 people, mostly Indonesian airline representatives and eight Russians were on board the plane, which slammed into a dormant volcano after takeoff on Wednesday.

Its loss was a huge blow for the Superjet project, which legendary Russian plane maker Sukhoi hopes will be a major player in the short haul aviation market. So far there have been no official word on the cause of the crash.

Agence France-Presse

Indonesia Airline Boom Raises New Safety Questions

Jakarta Globe, May 13, 2012

This photo taken on May 11, 2012 and released by Indonesian volunteer
 rescue group Relawan 37 on May 13, 2012 shows an Indonesian soldier
looking at wreckage of the Russian Sukhoi Superjet 100 on the slopes of
Mount Salak, in West Java. Dozens of Russian experts combed a remote
 mountainside in Indonesia on May 13 searching for the flight recorders of a
 Sukhoi jet that slammed into a dormant volcano killing everyone on board.
(AFP Photo/Ho/Duyeh Cidayu/Relawan 37)

              

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Dozens of fledgling airlines that have sprung up to serve Indonesia’s island-hopping new middle class could jeopardize the archipelago’s recently improved safety reputation, aviation experts say.

The trend threatens to erode higher standards established during what one analyst called a “tremendous amount of soul searching” by major carriers and the government after 2007, when frequent crashes prompted the European Union to ban all Indonesian airlines from landing on its runways for two years.

With growth rates of nearly 20 percent per year, Indonesia is one of Asia’s most rapidly expanding airline markets, but the country is struggling to provide qualified pilots, mechanics, air traffic controllers and updated airport technology to ensure safety. And with so many new, small carriers, it’s hard to monitor all their standards.

“We are not ready for this boom,” said Ruth Simatupang, an Indonesian aviation consultant and former safety investigator.

Indonesia’s two largest airlines — national carrier Garuda and rapidly expanding boutique airline Lion Air — haven’t had a fatal accident in five years and eight years, respectively. But small passenger and cargo carriers plus military aircraft have kept the frequency of crashes to about once every two months, according to statistics compiled by the Aviation Safety Network.

Just how fast Indonesia’s airline market is growing came under a spotlight with Wednesday’s deadly crash of a Sukhoi Superjet 100 plane during a demonstration flight. While both the plane and the pilot were Russian, the flight was packed with representatives of local airlines that the manufacturer hoped would purchase the jetliner.

The number of air passengers in Indonesia jumped by 10 million in a year to 53 million in 2010, according to the government statistics agency, and the upward trend continued last year.

“Infrastructure hasn’t kept pace with the growth of the airlines,” said Shukor Yusof, an aviation analyst in Singapore for Standard & Poors.

He said the government needs to “spend a vast amount of money” to expand safety monitoring for the new carriers and invest in airport runways and technology. He added that the relative ease with which new airlines can be established, though tightened in recent years, has been a concern in the aviation community for years.

In the past five years, Indonesia has added 36 new passenger and cargo airlines, bringing the total to 86 — many of them small carriers serving outlying islands where the only travel alternatives are ferries.

Feeding the demand for new air routes are Indonesia’s population of 240 million, its geography of 18,000 islands and an economy that grew at a 6.5 percent clip last year, creating a larger middle class eager to travel.

“Indonesia is a natural market for growth,” said Brendan Sobie, chief Southeast Asia representative for the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation. “It’s one of the world’s biggest populations and one of the world’s most underserved markets for airlines.”

Transportation official Herry Bakti Singayuda insists that Indonesia’s rapid airline growth is still compatible with safety.

“We evaluate the operators,” said Singayuda, who directs the Air Transport Department under the Ministry of Transportation. “We control that growth based on their capability, their facilities and personnel.”

He added that the government has expanded flight schools, hired new inspectors and added 10 regional offices to keep up with the new airlines.

Yusof agrees the government and major carriers have markedly improved safety standards in the five years since the EU blacklist, which followed fatal crashes by Garuda and now-defunct Adam Air in 2007.

The government responded with a raft of new regulations and training schools, while Garuda invested millions of dollars to train staff and upgrade its fleet. Lion Air, which recently placed the largest-ever order for Boeing aircraft — 230 planes listed at some $22 billion — has also sought to improve safety, though it took a blow when several of its pilots were arrested in recent months with illicit drugs.

“Garuda and Lion Air have done a tremendous amount of soul searching in terms of safety and in bringing in experts ... to help them clean up their act,” Yusof said. The newer airlines, however, may need more scrutiny.

Smaller airlines serving the domestic market may have less money to invest in training and hiring qualified pilots and mechanics, said Simatupang, the Indonesian aviation consultant.

“There are a lot of new pilots whose flying hours don’t meet the minimum standards, but because the operators need them, they use them sometimes,” she said.

Like Yusof, Simatupang called on the government to do more to regulate the new airlines.

“I always say to the government, please do the new infrastructure and safety regulations first,” she said. “And then allow the airlines to expand.”

Associated Press

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Dangdut and Phone Sex Fly Into Cockpits

Jakarta Globe, Rizky Amelia, May 12, 2012

Indonesia's air frequencies are often muddied by
 crossed signals that cause Indonesian radio and
cell phone conversations to crowd out radio
communication, a senior Indonesian pilot said. (Agency Photo)

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A senior Indonesian pilot said that unwanted dangdut songs and even phone sex often clog radio communications as pilots enter Indonesian airspace, distracting them from their work.

“Foreign pilots entering Indonesian airspace often say ‘we’re flying into hell,’” Jeffrey Adrian, a senior pilot working with flag carrier Garuda Indonesia Airways, said on Saturday.

Jeffrey said “frequency leakage” has caused phone conversations and radio broadcasts to be heard in the cockpit.

“We often hear dangdut songs, drama and jazz music when entering certain regions,” Jeffrey said. “Phone calls between people can also be heard — I even once heard people having phone sex.”

Jeffrey said that the frequency leakage often disturbs pilots, especially while they’re listening to Air Traffic Control.

“[Pilots] have to work extra to listen to the guidance from ATC.”

In the wake of the tragic Sukhoi passenger jet crash, speculation has been swirling regarding the cause of the accident. Roy Suryo, a telecommunication expert, denied rumors that a cell phone might have interfered with the plane’s navigation system.

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Russian passenger jet reported missing in Indonesia

Russian passenger jet reported missing in Indonesia

BBC News, 9 May 2012

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This image shows a Superjet on a
display flight in India in March

A Russian Sukhoi Superjet 100 passenger plane with at least 44 people aboard has gone missing on a demonstration flight in Indonesia, reports say.

The plane disappeared from radar screens during a flight from Jakarta meant to last 30 minutes, a blogger with the Sukhoi delegation said.

Helicopters were dispatched to look for the jet, thought to have been flying near a mountain, Sergey Dolya said.

Emergency services confirmed a Sukhoi plane was missing.

The plane, which took off at 07:00 GMT, is believed to have had about four hours' fuel aboard, the BBC's Karishma Vaswani reports from Jakarta.

Gagah Prakoso, spokesman for Indonesia's national search and rescue agency, said 46 people had been aboard the plane, which vanished from radar near Bogor, a city in West Java province.

He told BBC News it was unclear who was on board because they were people invited by Sukhoi, but they were "likely to be reps of Indonesian airlines".

Dolya tweeted that there were 44 people aboard, eight of them Russians.

'Guests aboard'

The plane took off from east Jakarta's Halim Perdanakusuma airport, which is used for some commercial and military flights, at 14:00 (07:00 GMT), the Indonesian search and rescue agency spokesman said.

"At 14:50 it dropped from 10,000ft [3,000m] to 6,000ft," the agency told AFP.

Herry Bakti, head of the transport ministry's aviation division, said the aircraft had been on the second of two demonstration flights, and those on board were invited guests.

The Russian embassy in Jakarta said in a statement earlier this week that a Sukhoi Superjet 100 demonstration would take place in Jakarta on Wednesday, AFP added.

The embassy could not be immediately reached for comment.

The Superjet, a mid-range airliner that can carry up to 100 people, is military plane-maker Sukhoi's first commercial aviation plane.

It was created by a joint venture, majority-owned by Sukhoi, with Italy's Finmeccanica and a number of other foreign and Russian firms also involved.

Gagah Prakoso told the BBC that Sukhoi had been offering the Superjet to Indonesian airlines.

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Seven dead as troubled tourist bus overturns in Pasuruan

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta, Sun, 05/06/2012

Seven passengers of a Mutiara Indah Murni tourist bus died Sunday as bus they were traveling in crashed in Ngembal village, Tutur (Nongkojajar) district in Pasuruan regency, East Java, on Sunday.

Five passengers died on the scene, while two other died on the way to Ganesha Medica hospital in Purwosari.

Survivors said they smelled burning braking pads just before the accident as the bus was rolling downhill. Passengers said the bus went out of control, especially after the driver, Slamet, slammed to the left in an attempt to avoid a motorcycle, kompas.com reported on Sunday.

Unfortunately, one of the bus’ wheels struck a large stone, causing the bus to roll several times before coming to rest on the shoulder of the opposing lane, blocking traffic along the highway.

The bus carried some 60 residents taking a tour from the Candi Lontar housing complex, located in the Sambikerep district of Surabaya, East Java.

They had just visited the Agro Bhakti Alam tourism site in Ngembal village and were heading for the Sengkaling public bath in Malang regency. The bus had only traveled two kilometers from Agro Bhakti Alam when the accident occurred.

One of the passengers, Sasongko, said the bus had broken down in the Purwosari area on their way to Ngembal village.

He said the radiator leaked and the bus had braking problems. “The driver sealed the leakage simply using a bar of soap. The leaking radiator showed that the bus was not roadworthy,” he told kompas.com.

Nongkojajar Police chief Adj. Comr. Marwan Ishari Purnomo said the police had detained the driver for further questioning. 

A380 makes emergency landing in Jakarta

The Jakarta Post, Sita W. Dewi, Jakarta, Fri, 05/04/2012

Emergency landing: A Singapore Airlines A380 flying from Sydney, 

Australia, to Singapore makes an emergency landing at Jakarta’s Soekarno

 Hatta International Airport on Friday over a passenger’s medical condition.

 It was the first time that an Airbus A380 has landed at the airport, which

 was previously believed to be not feasible for such a large aircraft. 

(JP/Sita Dewi, Angkasa Pura II files)

A Singapore Airlines A380 flying from Sydney, Australia, to Singapore made an emergency landing at Jakarta’s Soekarno Hatta International Airport on Friday over a passenger’s medical condition.

“The pilot contacted Soekarno-Hatta airport’s tower to ask for landing permission when it was flying over Bali because one of its passenger needed emergency first-response,” state airport-operator Angkasa Pura II executive director Tri Sunoko said in a statement sent to The Jakarta Post.

Tri said the plane, which was carrying 280 passengers and 26 crew members, managed to land on Runway 07-L and parked at Apron WC-1.

The airplane also refueled at the airport.

Tri said that the evacuation process went well and that the plane flew to Singapore at 5:50 p.m., around two hours after the emergency landing, without two passengers.

It was the first time that an Airbus A380 has landed at the airport, which was previously believed to be not feasible for such a large aircraft.

The airport aims to expand its capacity from 22 million passengers per year to 62 million by 2014.

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