RI urgently needs flight safety council

Antara News, Thursday, November 25, 2010 18:11 WIB

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Indonesia urgently needs an independent flight safety council in an effort to increase the flight safety in the country, an official said.

"The presence of an independent flight safety council will help reduce flight transportation accidents," Head of Research and Development (Litbang) of the Ministry of Transportation Denny L Siahaan said here on Thursday.

He said that the country`s urgent need for such a council was raised and become a conclusion of a round-table discussion organized the ministry`s Litbang this week.

Denny said the participants in the discussion agreed that the tasks of the council should included recommending, deciding and evaluating policies, regulations and national flight safety procedures that should be accepted as an indicator of performance achievements.

The discussion also raised the issue on the need for eliminating flight disturbances of kites, birds and wild animals around the airports in an effort to increase flight safety, Denny said.

"Competent operators, inspectors and technicians are also needed," he said.

The participants of the round-table discussion included officials from the ministry of transportation, state-owned firms, flight safety observers and experts, pilot organizations` representatives, operators and other stakeholders.

"In essence the discussion was held to collect the latest inputs for increasing the safety of flights," he added.