ATP airplanes lack spare parts: Minister
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)