Singapore Air Force helps to find missing helicopter<\/p>\n
Nethy Dharma Somba, The Jakarta Post, Jayapura<\/p>\n
The Singapore Air Force has sent a special team and an unmanned
\naircraft to help Indonesia find a helicopter that went missing
\nnear Jayapura, Papua, on Oct. 12, a senior Indonesian Air Force
\nofficer says.<\/p>\n
A 29-strong team from the Singapore Air Force began searching
\nfor the missing Twin Pack helicopter on Friday with a
\nsophisticated device called Unmanned Air Vehicle, Jayapura Air
\nBase chief Col. Anang Murdianto said.<\/p>\n
The team worked with the aircraft equipped with an infrared
\nvideo camera and operated from the control tower at the Sentani
\nAir Base near Jayapura. The drone can fly seven hours non-stop.<\/p>\n
\"The aircraft will screen everything seen on the ground. At
\nnight the crew in Sentani air base will turn the infrared mode
\non, so that all the events on the ground can still be covered,\"
\nAnang said. The Singapore team would be in Jayapura for one week,
\nhe said.<\/p>\n
Parts of the Unmanned Air Vehicle were transported from
\nSingapore on a Hercules cargo aircraft on Friday and reassembled
\nin Jayapura.<\/p>\n
\"The aircraft is very small,\" said a local resident, Lala,
\nwhen she saw it flying.<\/p>\n
The helicopter went missing on its way to Benawa hamlet some
\n150 kilometers southeast of Sentani town near Jayapura after
\ntaking off from Sentani airforce base. On board were Capt.
\nBeceau, co pilot First Lt. Satrio Utomo, mechanics Sgt Maj.
\nHaryadi and Chief Sgt. Purnomo and a civilian passenger, Anis.<\/p>\n
The Indonesian Air Force and local search and rescue earlier
\ncalled off a search for the aircraft last week.<\/p>\n
The went missing three months after another Air Force
\nhelicopter went down in the Jabung Hill area in Malang, East
\nJava, at the end of July. The Bronco OV-10 was totally destroyed
\nand both pilot and co-pilot died in the accident.<\/p>\n
An aging fleet has often been blamed for the series of
\nmilitary aviation accidents during the past few years.<\/p>\n
However, Air Force spokesman Sagom Tamboen said earlier the
\nTwin Pack helicopter was in good condition when it set out on the
\nOct. 12 flight.<\/p>",
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