Garuda, Mandala abort their flights
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
A Garuda Indonesia airliner flying from North Sumatra's capital of Medan made an emergency landing on Tuesday morning at Sultan Syarif Kasim II Airport in Pekanbaru, Riau, due to a fuel indicator problem.
In another incident on Tuesday, a Mandala aircraft returned to Soekarno-Hatta Airport in Jakarta after only 10 minutes in the air due to glitches with landing gear warning lamps.
There were no casualties in either of the incidents, which came just a day after a Mandala aircraft crashed into a dense residential area in Medan, killing 150 people on board and on the ground.
All 82 passengers of the Garuda Boeing 737-400 airplane were immediately transferred to other flights.
"Captain Toni Bagus saw that the plane's fuel indicator was faulty, and immediately landed at a nearby airport, which is in line with flight safety procedures," Garuda Indonesia spokesperson Pudjobroto was quoted as saying by Antara.
Among the fortunate passengers were Minister of Social Affairs Bachtiar Chamsyah and five members of the House of Representatives Commission V on transportation, telecommunications and public works.
They were flying from Medan after making a visit of condolence for North Sumatra governor Tengku Rizal Nurdin, who was killed in the Mandala crash on Monday.
"There was only a problem with the fuel indicator. Our procedures rule that pilots should immediately land at a nearby airstrip if something suspicious occurs," he said.
Brushing off maintenance problems, Pudjobroto said the plane could still fly for many years to come. The plane was immediately repaired after landing.
Passengers, however, recalled a more frightening situation aboard the plane when the pilots told them that the plane's right engine had broken down.
Social ministry's director general of social assistance Amrun Daulay, who was accompanying Minister Bachtiar, said light turbulence occurred some 40 minutes after take-off.
"We were told by the pilots that there had been damage to the right engine and were told to remain calm. The pilots tried to fly manually, but later decided to land at a nearby airport," he was quoted as saying by detikcom.
The relatively minor incident was especially frightening for passengers following Monday's crash of the Mandala aircraft due to a total engine shutdown on takeoff at Polonia Airport in Medan.
In Jakarta, Mandala officials said the pilot of the Boeing 737-200 bound for Jambi made a U-turn because its landing gear lamps did not go off after takeoff.
"The lamps should have gone off when the plane was already flying. But they didn't," Mandala spokesperson Alex Widjojo explained.
The pilot of the plane decided to return to Jakarta to prevent any further problems and ensure the safety of passengers, Alex added. The plane is of the same type as the aircraft that crashed in Medan on Monday.