Black box findings may not be revealed
JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Transportation Haryanto Dhanutirto hinted yesterday that the results of the examination of the flight data and voice cockpit recorder, referred to as the blackbox, of the Garuda Indonesia Airbus which crashed last month, may not be made known to the public.
Haryanto told journalists that once the investigation team had finalized its findings the government would reveal them to the House of Representatives commission responsible for transportation.
"Then we'll discuss with the commission whether or not to publicize the findings," the minister was quoted by Antara as saying in Semarang, Central Java.
The Garuda Indonesia Airbus 300-B4 crashed on Sept. 26 killing all 234 aboard.
Despite an intensive search, the blackbox was only found Tuesday. The blackbox was found buried 20 centimeters deep.
Haryanto said that although the blackbox had been found, it could take eight months to determine the cause of the accident.
"The blackbox will be taken to Australia and investigated by a team led by Professor Diran. From there, the results will be discussed," the minister said.
"It's a long process and could take three months, five months, six months or even eight months," he added.
The government has so far been tight-lipped about what might have caused the accident. President Soeharto has called on the people to be patient and not speculate on the matter. (mds)