Air Force Hawk-200 warplane crashes in Riau
M. Ara Syaf The Jakarta Post Pekanbaru
An Air Force Hawk-200 jet fighter crashed on Friday at an air base in Riau's provincial capital, Pekanbaru, followed by conflicting explanations regarding the cause of the crash.
The aircraft's pilot, Major Agung Sasongko Jati, survived the accident by ejecting from the plane. Agung, who is an instructor in the Sky Hawk Squadron, also pilots U.S.-manufactured F-16 Falcon bombers in Madiun, East Java.
Eyewitnesses, who requested anonymity, said the accident occurred when the fighter failed to take off properly at the air base in Simpang Tiga at 9:09 a.m. local time on Friday, and crashed into a swampy area, catching fire minutes later.
They said the fire, thought to have broken out when the aircraft's full load of fuel ignited, produced a thick cloud of smoke at the crash site, forcing a suspension of flights at the nearby Sultan Syarief airport for one hour.
A reliable source, who also requested anonymity, said he did not know the cause of the accident but said, "I saw that the fighter was badly damaged ... it's lucky that the pilot survived the accident."
Second Lt. Syarif Amir, spokesman for the air base, rejected the witnesses' accounts of the crash, saying it was a minor accident and that the warplane had not caught fire.
"The accident is not as severe as witnesses have stated," he said.
Syarif said a minor accident occurred when the plane slid into a swampy area around 20 meters off the landing strip as the pilot was attempting to land.
"It's a minor accident and not fatal. A team of technicians are making the necessary repairs and in a short time the plane will be able to be used for training again," he said.
Although denying that the plane had caught fire, he admitted that five water tankers had been deployed to the crash site but added that only three had been used, while the other two remained on standby.
Later, Air Force spokesman Rear Marshal Imam Wahyudi clarified that the training jet was irreparably damaged in the accident after trying to take off.
He said the plane, produced in 1997, was in a condition to fly and all safety procedures had been conducted prior to take-off.
"Today, a team has been sent to Pekanbaru to investigate the cause of the crash," he said.
The crash was the fourth involving a Hawk aircraft since the Air Force purchased 24 Hawk-100 and Hawk-200 jet fighters from British Aerospace Plc. in Britain in 1993. The eight Hawk-100 trainers and 16 ground attack Hawk-200 fighters were bought at a cost of 500 million pounds (US$770 million).
The three previous accidents involving fighters of the same model occurred at the Pekanbaru airbase on April 26, 2000, and at Supadio air base in Pontianak, West Kalimantan, on Oct. 19, 2000, respectively, while a Hawk-100 crashed in Riau in 1999.
The Air Force also lost two of its 12 F-16 jet bombers in two separate crashes in Jakarta and Madiun several years ago.
Besides the remaining 20 Hawk fighters and 10 F-16 Falcon bombers, the Air Force is also operating several F-5 Tigers.