CN-235 plane crash caused by human error: Team
JAKARTA (JP): A military investigation team has found that the recent crash of a locally built aircraft was caused by human error and that there was nothing wrong with the airplane.
The chief of the Ministry of Defense and Security's team, Lt. Col. Syarki Puteh, said there was no indication that the military version of the CN-235 aircraft had developed any trouble before crashing.
The plane, built by state-owned IPTN, crashed while conducting a test to parachute-drop a four-ton cargo at Gorda Serang airbase in West Java on May 22. All six people, including an American instructor, aboard the airplane died in the crash.
"The rope which was connected to a parachute and was supposed to hold the cargo, broke suddenly when the pilot was about to drop it," Syarki said.
He said the situation deteriorated when the pilot failed to drop the cargo although he had brought the plane upright.
"Normally, the cargo will drop if the airplane is in an upward position. But in the incident, the cargo could not drop because the exit was blocked by the anchor," he said.
He said the cargo's movement was also hindered because it was jammed on a side rail.
When asked who was most responsible for the accident, Syarki said it was the American instructor William Denton, who was on the test flight.
Denton, who knew the specifications of each rope used in the test, used a rope which was too weak to hold the parachute.
The Defense Ministry's director general for facility and services, Maj. Gen. (ret) I Made Sadha, said the accident would not affect the Armed Forces' plan to spend US$300 million to buy several of the CN-125 military version of the aircraft.
Sadha refused to say how many aircraft the military was planning to buy.
"The accident has not dented our trust in the CN-235 aircraft," he told a press conference packed with local and foreign journalists.
IPTN is determined to take part in the prestigious Paris Air Show that will open Saturday. It will display the Gatotkoco, the N-250 prototype, and a CN-235 MPA (Maritime Patrol Aircraft).
In a related development, IPTN's lawyers said yesterday they would go ahead with their plan to sue The Jakarta Post over its report on the accident, unless the daily agreed to meet its three-point demand for an out-of-court settlement.
The Post, quoting a source at IPTN, had reported that fire was seen billowing from the fuselage of the plane before it crashed and that there were indications that one of the plane's propellers had broken before the fire started.
The demands include that a correction and apology to IPTN be published in local and foreign publications for the inaccurate report. The format and editorial content of the correction and apology would be determined by IPTN.
IPTN also demands that the Post pay compensation, the amount is to be negotiated.
"If The Jakarta Post fails to give satisfactory response within seven days, IPTN will take necessary legal action," IPTN's chief lawyer Adnan Buyung Nasution said.
Buyung said the correction and apology that the Post made in its May 24 edition were "inadequate" given the damage it had caused to IPTN's reputation.
Though he believed the Post had not had bad intentions with its May 23 article, Buyung said the Post had neglected the negative impact of its article on IPTN as foreign newspapers quoted it.
"The article might have been a bad advertisement for IPTN's credibility. Some interested foreigners have questioned Habibie (IPTN's president director) regarding the Post's article," he said.
"IPTN may have lost an international tender for small airplanes' procurement due to the report," he said.
He cited three Abu Dhabi newspapers and the Sunday Times of Singapore which had quoted the Post's article.
IPTN is competing for a US$300 million procurement contracts for small airplanes in the Middle East (United Arab Emirates), South Korea and Australia. (imn)