ATP airplanes lack spare parts: Minister
JAKARTA (JP): The government said the ill-fated Merpati aircraft which crashed and killed 15 Saturday was airworthy despite a lack of spare parts.
Minister of Transportation Haryanto Dhanutirto said yesterday the supply of spare parts for Merpati Nusantara Airlines' fleet of British-made Advanced Turbo Prop (ATP) were insubstantial. He said it was for this reason the government had ordered the aircraft grounded pending further investigation into the crash. The investigation was expected to take three months.
"The aircraft, with flight number MZ-106, was in a suitable condition to fly, even though we lack spare parts," according to Haryanto.
The airline, a subsidiary of national flag carrier Garuda Indonesia, has five ATP planes; two of them had been allowed to fly despite the lack of spare parts.
"Those two airplanes were reportedly suitable to operate," Haryanto said. "Actually the spare parts were available on the market but we are on the waiting list," he said on the sidelines of a function at the Jakarta administration office.
"For the time being, we will keep the remaining four ATP planes grounded until we can clarify the cause of the accident," he said. "The black box will be sent to Australia soon."
Haryanto also expressed his condolences to the families of the 15 passengers killed in the accident, and said no one could have foreseen the horrible accident.
"After receiving the report on the crash on Saturday, the investigation team and I went to Belitung Island directly to see the wreckage," Haryanto said.
"The report said the recording of the airport tower's conversation with pilot Bartholomeus Suwardi did not indicate any trouble," he said. "That last conversation occurred when the airplane was at a height of 2,500 feet and four minutes before the plane went down."
Haryanto said the plane was heading for the airport's landing strip when it suddenly tilted left, plunged and exploded.
The plane carried 53 people, including a crew of five.
The ATP planes served shuttle routes between Jakarta and Tanjung Pandan, Semarang (Central Java), Surabaya and Malang in East Java, Bangka and Tanjung Pinang.
These routes would be replaced by F-28 aircraft except the Jakarta and Tanjung Pinang route which would use F-27, he said.
He also said five villagers at the nearby crash site would be given awards for their assistance in the tragic crash. He did not elaborate.
Compensation
Merpati spokesman Tondo Widodo said yesterday that compensation of Rp 40 million (US$16,583) would be paid to relatives of the deceased and Rp 10 million ($4,145) to injured passengers.
The funds would be channeled through state-owned insurance company PT Jasa Rahardja to the rightful next of kin and injured passengers with appropriate proof of identification as soon as possible, Tondo said without specifying a timeframe.
Saturday's crash was the first involving an aircraft operated by Merpati since a Twin-Otter plane crashed in East Nusa Tenggara in January 1995, killing all 10 people onboard.
It was also Indonesia's second worst plane crash after a Casa light aircraft crashed into a gasworks in South Kalimantan province in early December 1996, killing 17 people.
Airport authorities said that the weather was fine at the time of the crash. (01/10)