At Least 49 Dead In Indonesia Plane Disaster

[george]

Off topic, but breaking Asian news:

At least 49 dead in Indonesia plane disaster

JAKARTA: -- A Boeing 737-400 passenger jet burst into flames when it landed at Yogyakarta in central Indonesia on Wednesday, killing at least 49 people and leaving dozens more burnt and wounded, officials said.

Witnesses said the front wheel of the Garuda Indonesia plane blew out as it touched down, sending flames shooting into the air and triggering a series of explosions that sent the aircraft skidding off the runway.

Australian diplomats and journalists covering Foreign Minister Alexander Downer's visit to Indonesia were among the 140 people on the flight from the capital Jakarta. Four of them were unaccounted for, Downer told CNN.

At least 49 people were killed, including one person who died en route to hospital, local government spokesman Bambang, who goes by one name, told the Detikcom news website.

The rest of those on board, including the seven crew, were pulled out alive from the wreckage of the plane, the state Antara news agency said, quoting local officials.

Television pictures showed firefighters battling giant flames and thick smoke spewing from the broken fuselage as it lay smouldering in the grass off the end of the runway.

The tailfin bearing the colours of Garuda, Indonesia's national carrier, was almost sheared off.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard said up to 10 Australians were aboard the plane.

"I saw many bodies, dozens of bodies badly burnt near the exit," Captain Yos Bintoro, an airport official, told Elshinta radio. "I saw people dead in the cockpit."

Transport Minister Hatta Rajasa told Indonesia's Metro TV earlier that there had been 76 confirmed survivors.

The incident is just the latest in a series of crashes and safety scares involving Indonesian airliners which have forced the government to set up a team to urgently improve transport safety.

"I was sleeping then the plane slammed twice and I heard people screaming. It was dark and there was smoke everywhere. I saw many passengers hurt," said Din Syamsuddin, the chairman of Indonesian Muslim movement Muhammadiyah, who was on the plane.

"I was sitting not far from the emergency door. I felt someone guide me to the right," he said. "There were many people inside the plane when I got out."

Ngadiman, a witness to the accident, told Detikcom: "The front wheel burst, then there was an explosion from the front and then the rear wheels burnt as well."

Dozens of injured people were taken to hospital.

"16 people were brought into the hospital, with injuries ranging from bad to minor," Paulus, from the Panti Rini hospital, told ElShinta.

Around 50 others were taken to a separate air force hospital near the airport, Metro TV said.

One of the injured is a foreign correspondent from the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper and was being operated on, said Widodo, a doctor at Sarjito Hospital.

The Australians on the aircraft included one foreign affairs department official, a federal policeman and "at least five media representatives", Sky television reported from Canberra.

Japanese officials said two Japanese nationals were aboard the flight, including 45-year-old Shinji Ito, a Sony employee who said he escaped out the back of the wreckage.

"The plane entered into landing position and then suddenly dived. I thought it was all over for me," he told Japan's NHK.

Indonesia's flight safety record has come under renewed scrutiny since an Adam Air Boeing 737-400 with 102 people on board crashed into the sea off the island of Sulawesi on New Year's Day with no survivors.

Last Friday a Boeing 737-200 operated by local carrier Merpati Nusantara was forced to make an emergency landing on Batam Island after the pilot reported a dangerous oil leak.

--AFP 2007-03-07

[solent01]

Terrible news, my condolences to every one this effects

[THAILIBAN]

scary, EVERY airline that I did fly in Indo, had an accident in the following year....

started with LION Jakarta-Denpasar, few months later they had that accident in SOLO (which is just 60 km from Yogyakarta) with more than 100 victims....

followed by MANDALA, did fly them Yogyakarta - Jakarta, few months later all on board lost their lives when the aircraft they were sitting in failed to take-off at MEDAN airport....

next was ADAM, did fly them Singapore - Jakarta in mid 2006..... then one of their planes disappeared in early January 2007 off the sulawesi coast.

and now Garuda..... I did fly EXACTLY the same destination with them, Jakarta - Yogyakarta, and just checked my old boarding pass and it was EXACTLY 1 year ago, 07.03.2006.

that day, I was really concerned about the safety on board. the captain did not make any announcement to the crew to have their seats for take-off, so the plane suddenly started to accelerate on the runway, while the crew was still walking around the aisles (and they didn't care much as well).... and - as usual - many Indonesians still made phone calls during take-off....

after that, I did fly another airline in Indo a few days later, but I better dont mention the name.... I only later found out from the registration number, that this aircraft was a 32-year - old Methusalem.... and looked and smelled like that...

if u have to fly domestic in Indo , better light a candle in any church or WAT b4 boarding....

Edited March 7, 2007 by THAILIBAN

[LaoPo]

More news and pics here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/6425671.stm

It's a miracle that 118 people survived...

edit:

Five Aussies on jet feared dead

FIVE Australians are missing, feared dead, after Garuda Indonesia flight GA-200 burst into flames when it slammed into an airport runway yesterday, killing up to 49 people.

Ten Australians, including a group of diplomats, journalists, RAAF personnel and federal police covering a visit by Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer, were on the flight from Jakarta to Yogyakarta, on the Indonesian island of Java.

Award-winning journalist Morgan Mellish from The Financial Review was feared dead. His translator, who was with him on the flight, said she had seen him die.

More:

http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/stor...5001021,00.html

LaoPo

Edited March 7, 2007 by LaoPo

[taxexile]

very sad.

some reports speculate that the state of the runway ( uneven , bumpy and poorly maintained) could have contributed to the particularly hard landing and the subsequent tyre burst.

[solent01]

very sad.

some reports speculate that the state of the runway ( uneven , bumpy and poorly maintained) could have contributed to the particularly hard landing and the subsequent tyre burst.

This kind of sends a message to Thailand regarding their premier airport

[cdnvic]

That's Indonesia's third air crash in less than five months. Not that the country had a great air safety record before (ten crashes since 2001) but I'd be seriously reluctant to do a lot of flying there these days.

I think it's time Indonesia did some serious introspection about it's civil aviation industry.

[Krub]

That's Indonesia's third air crash in less than five months. Not that the country had a great air safety record before (ten crashes since 2001) but I'd be seriously reluctant to do a lot of flying there these days.

I think it's time Indonesia did some serious introspection about it's civil aviation industry.

The result of wild dregulation

I also fly 2-3 times a year that same route with Garuda.

Very sad and scary

Condoleances to the victims and prompt recovery for the tens of injured

[Lithobid]

That's Indonesia's third air crash in less than five months. Not that the country had a great air safety record before (ten crashes since 2001) but I'd be seriously reluctant to do a lot of flying there these days.

I think it's time Indonesia did some serious introspection about it's civil aviation industry.

I agree completely. This type of gross neglegance in saftey inspection of aircraft, concerning Indonesia's history, is completely avoidable in today's modern society. There's no need for this.

[Asian Frog]

That's Indonesia's third air crash in less than five months. Not that the country had a great air safety record before (ten crashes since 2001) but I'd be seriously reluctant to do a lot of flying there these days.

I think it's time Indonesia did some serious introspection about it's civil aviation industry.

I agree completely. This type of gross neglegance in saftey inspection of aircraft, concerning Indonesia's history, is completely avoidable in today's modern society. There's no need for this.

Inspection of aircraft ... I do not think. Poor training of pilots... maybe

Edited March 8, 2007 by Asian Frog

[george]

'Huge wind gust' caused plane crash

Jakarta (dpa) - Indonesia and Australia were working together Thursday to investigate the crash landing of an Indonesian airliner in Central Java that killed at least 21 people.

The pilot and co-pilot of the Indonesian plane told investigators Thursday that a "huge gust of wind" was to blame for an accident that cost at least 21 lives.

Australian Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty told a local television station that the air crew said the gust was responsible for the plane overshooting the runway and bursting into flames on Wednesday.

"They say that there was some interference with the landing and that that was a natural interference caused by a huge gust of wind that took the plane off track as it came into landing," Keelty, Australia's top policeman, said. "Obviously they too would have been in shock at the time of the interview."

The Boeing 737-400's black box, which contains flight data that was likely to provide crucial information into what caused the accident, had been recovered from the wreckage of the airliner that overshot the runway Wednesday at Yogyakarta's airport and burst into flames, Indonesian Transport Minister Hatta Radjasa said, adding that the box would be sent for analysis to Australia, five of whose citizens died in the fire.

Indonesian crash investigators said they planned to question a number of witnesses, including the pilot and co-pilot of the Garuda Airlines plane, who were among the survivors. The pilots did not suffer severe injuries but were in shock.

Radjasa told reporters in Jakarta that he did not wish to speculate on what caused the crash until investigators presented their findings.

Joining the inquiry were officers from the Boeing aircraft company as investigators were gathering and examining the scattered pieces of the plane's wreckage, the state-run Antara news agency quoted an investigator as saying.

Radjasa stressed that while Australia was working with his country in the inquiry, authority would remain with Indonesia's National Transport Safety Committee.

The investigation has been discussed with the Australian ambassador and Foreign Minister Alexander Downer, Radjasa said.

Garuda Flight GA-200 - carrying 133 passengers, including 13 foreigners, and a crew of seven - burst into flames after overshooting the runway at Yogyakarta's Adi Sucipto Airport.

Witnesses and survivors described an inferno that swept through the plane, causing more than 100 people to flee through emergency exits while others were trapped and burned to death inside.

Forensic experts struggled to identify bodies badly burned in the crash. Fourteen victims, including two Australians, have been identified, leaving seven others - including three foreigners - yet to be identified. Dozens of relatives are maintaining a vigil outside a hospital morgue in Yogyakarta.

Australian survivors, who numbered five, said Wednesday that the flight from Jakarta was travelling too fast on its approach to the runway.

Among those feared dead were Australian Financial Review journalist Morgan Mellish, Australian Federal Police agents Brice Steele and Mark Scott, Australian embassy spokeswoman Liz O'Neill and AusAID's Allison Sudrajat.

Other survivors said the plane was shaking violently prior to landing, that they smelled smoke inside the cabin before touching down and there was an explosion when the front and real wheels burst.

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has ordered an investigation into possible sabotage behind the crash. Australian Prime Minister John Howard said he had no reason to believe terrorism was involved.

Throughout the day there was confusion over the death toll and even how many people were aboard the doomed jet.

Radjasa said at a press conference Wednesday afternoon that 23 people on board the plane were killed, but Garuda officials had revised the toll to 21 - based on the bodies sent to Yogyakarta's Dr Sardjito hospital. The officials said 118 survived, leaving one person unaccounted for.

Wednesday's crash-landing brought to three the number of aviation accidents in Indonesia this year.

On New Year's Day, a Boeing 737-400 belonging to the budget airliner Adam Air crashed into the sea off West Sulawesi province during a flight from the East Java capital, Surabaya, to Manado in North Sulawesi. None of the 102 people aboard survived.

On February 21, an Adam Air Boeing 737 made a hard landing, causing the body of the plane to crack at Juanda international airport in Surabaya in East Java. There were no casualties.

--dpa 2007-03-08

[khall64au]

"I think it's just a reminder that life is very unpredictable and when something like this happens it puts other things into their trivial perspective."

- John Howard, Australian Prime Minister

[cdnvic]

This is where good crash investigators are needed. It's easy to blame an invisible wind gust. But is it what really happened, or is it just an excuse?

Aircraft usually land into the wind, so it's hard to see how a gust of wind could have "pushed" the aircraft too far down the runway.

[guru]

CNN are quoting the Captain as saying there was a malfunction which made him unable to extend the flaps. For those of you who don't know flaps allow you to fly at a slower speed. He also said there was a massive downdraft upon landing.

The Captain has 22 years of experience. Investigators have the black box so will soon be able to tell if what he said indeed happened.

[Asian Frog]

CNN are quoting the Captain as saying there was a malfunction which made him unable to extend the flaps. For those of you who don't know flaps allow you to fly at a slower speed. He also said there was a massive downdraft upon landing.

The Captain has 22 years of experience. Investigators have the black box so will soon be able to tell if what he said indeed happened.

Yes you are true: we have to wait the results of the investigation.

[Asian Frog]

Concerning windshears and downburst... yes it is not an easy situation.

It happens from time to time particularly close to thunderstorms. It can be detected on the last generation of aircraft by comparing the trend of the accelerations Airspeed (relative to Air) and Ground Speed (Inertia of aircraft relative to earth) any discrepancy in the trend of those two accelerations should trigger a warning. Most of major Airlines are training their pilots to face such situations in Full Flight Simulators. For those having practised it can be extremely difficult to handle, you can even stall with full power on engines.

The results of the investigations should be interesting, particularly on two points:

- training of pilots

- "culture" of Airlines in Indonesia. (We consider several human factors as origin of accidents, a famous theory in Human performances & limitations has underlined the influence of what is called the 3 cultures in Aviation. Abundant litterature available on Internet)

This should merit a long debate. But the best is to wait the results of investigations before any more comments.

Edited March 9, 2007 by Asian Frog

[jetjock]

Concerning windshears and downburst... yes it is not an easy situation.

It happens from time to time particularly close to thunderstorms. It can be detected on the last generation of aircraft by comparing the trend of the accelerations Airspeed (relative to Air) and Ground Speed (Inertia of aircraft relative to earth) any discrepancy in the trend of those two accelerations should trigger a warning. Most of major Airlines are training their pilots to face such situations in Full Flight Simulators. For those having practised it can be extremely difficult to handle, you can even stall with full power on engines.

The results of the investigations should be interesting, particularly on two points:

- training of pilots

- "culture" of Airlines in Indonesia. (We consider several human factors as origin of accidents, a famous theory in Human performances & limitations has underlined the influence of what is call the 3 cultures in Aviation. Abundant litterature available on Internet)

This should merit a long debate. But the best is to wait the results of investigations before any more comments.

Asian Frog is absolutely correct in his excellent post. I also agree that although it may be interesting to debate and speculate what happened to cause an air crash, in reality it normally takes many months to sort out the real facts and details in an investigation before any valid conclusions can be drawn.

[LaoPo]

Update

Indonesia crash pilots 'argued'

The pilots of an Indonesian passenger jet were arguing about the plane's speed moments before it crashed last month, a senior investigator has said.

Tatang Kurniadi told Australian television that the co-pilot wanted to turn around instead of landing.

The two pilots, who both survived, were flying together for the first time.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6515371.stm

LaoPo