F-16 crash blamed on weather

JAKARTA (JP): Armed Forces Chief Gen. Feisal Tanjung confirmed yesterday that one person died when an Air Force F-16 fighter crashed on landing at the Halim Perdanakusumah military air base Monday.

Feisal blamed the accident on the weather. "The weather was very bad and it caused turbulence while the pilot was landing," Feisal said.

The pilot, Capt. Dwi Sasongko, died in the accident that took place at 1.20 p.m. The jet hit landing signals at the end of eastern runway and broke into several pieces.

The aircraft belonged to the Madiun, East Java-based, Iswahyudi Air Force squadron. It had flown over Jakarta in a routine city safeguarding exercise before crashing.

Air Force spokesman Col. Mirsyahban Ashfa said the accident happened while the air base was clouded in fog and heavy rain.

Feisal ruled out sabotage. He also declined to speculate that human error caused the accident, but said that a special Air Force team was investigating the case.

Dwi, 30, still single, graduated from the Air Force Academy in 1989. A member of Indonesia's Blue Falcon acrobatics team, he had previously piloted F-5 Tiger IIs and Hawk Mk 53s.

The body of Dwi was flown to Yogyakarta yesterday morning and then on to his hometown of Klaten, Central Java, for burial. Meanwhile a military ceremony led by Air Force commander Vice Marshal Sutria Tubagus was held in Dwi's honor here.

Another F-16 crashed in 1994, five years after the fleet of 12 Lockheed Martin Corp-made jets worth US$600 million arrived here.

The Air Force has five squadrons of combat fighters comprising 10 F-16s, 12 F-5s, 14 Hawk Mk 53s, seven Hawk Mk 109s and 20 A- 4s.

Indonesia planned to buy another nine advanced fighters last year after the United States canceled selling 28 F-16s to Pakistan.

But the fate of the deal estimated at $200 million has been hanging in the balance due to mounting pressure by the U.S. Congress against it, citing Indonesia's human rights record.

A White House spokesman announced last October that the United States planned to go ahead with the jet sale, saying that Indonesia was a good ally of the U.S. in an important region of world, the stability of which was of vital interest to the U.S.

Congress also succeeded in blocking the sale of five Jordan- owned F-5s in 1993 to Indonesia over human rights violations in East Timor. (amd)