Air Force's missing helicopter still no where to be found<\/p>\n
Nethy Dharma Somba, The Jakarta Post\/Jayapura<\/p>\n
Despite assistance from the Singapore Air Force, the search to
\nfind an Air Force helicopter that went missing on Oct. 12 near
\nJayapura in Papua, has not borne results, an official said on
\nMonday.<\/p>\n
The Singapore Air Force had sent a special 29-member team, led
\nby Lt. Col. Anselm Morais, along with an unmanned aircraft to
\nassist in finding the missing helicopter, which has further added
\nto the long list of military aviation accidents in Indonesia.<\/p>\n
The Singapore team, which arrived in Jayapura on Oct. 27
\naboard two Hercules aircraft, searched for a week using a
\nsophisticated Unmanned Air Vehicle, or drone.<\/p>\n
The aircraft was equipped with an infrared video camera and
\noperated from the control tower at the Sentani Air Base near
\nJayapura. The drone can fly non-stop for seven hours.<\/p>\n
\"The result is nothing,\" the commander of Jayapura Air Force
\nBase, Col. Anang Murdianto, told The Jakarta Post on Monday.<\/p>\n
\"The teams returned to Singapore in two phases; the first
\nbatch left on Nov. 2, and the second left on Nov. 3,\" he said.<\/p>\n
He said the search would be continued independently, meaning
\nit would be carried out during regular training rounds in
\nJayapura as well as in cooperation with related institutions
\nlocated near the area where the helicopter reportedly went
\nmissing.<\/p>\n
The missing helicopter was carrying two pilots and two other
\ncrewmembers on a regular training mission when contact was lost.<\/p>\n
The aircraft reportedly took off from Sentani military
\nairfield near Jayapura at 8.35 a.m. on route to Benawa hamlet
\nsome 150 kilometers southeast of Jayapura.<\/p>\n
Traffic control officers in Sentani lost contact with the
\nhelicopter at 10 a.m., prompting senior Air Force officers in the
\ncity to order a search.<\/p>\n
The helicopter's disappearance came three months after an Air
\nForce aircraft went down at Jabung Hill, Malang, East Java, at
\nthe end of July. The Bronco OV-10 was totally destroyed and both
\npilot and co-pilot died in the accident.<\/p>\n
The series of military aviation accidents has been blamed on
\nthe age of the fleet, but Sagom Tamboen, an Air Force spokesman,
\nsaid the Twin Pack helicopter was in good shape when it set out
\non the ill-fated flight.<\/p>",
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