Air Force Hawk-200 warplane crashes in Riau
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.