Garuda plane blaze blamed on fuel tank rupture

Garuda plane blaze blamed on fuel tank rupture

FUKUOKA, Japan (Reuter): Investigators looking into an
Indonesian airliner crash believe the plane's passenger cabin
caught fire from a fuel tank that ruptured when the takeoff was
suddenly aborted by engine trouble.

Sources close to the investigation team said the finding
cleared up one mystery of the accident last Thursday in which
three passengers died and 110 were injured at this southern
Japanese airport.

They said there had been uncertainty about whether the engine
problem itself sparked the blaze or whether the mechanical
problem was not directly linked to the blaze.

Observation of the crash site showed that in the sudden
braking of the plane when the pilot realized there was an engine
problem, the full fuel tank on the right wing cracked, spewing
out fuel.

The Garuda Indonesia DC-10, carrying 260 passengers and 15
crew, had just lifted a few metres (yards) into the air on
takeoff when it flopped back to earth and skidded off the runway
with the passenger cabin ablaze.

Passengers jumped from the cabin as the flames spread.

The plane was carrying mostly Japanese on a flight to the
Indonesia island resort of Bali.

The sources said investigators found that the pilot had
applied reverse thrust to all three engines -- one under each
wing and one in the tail -- in trying to halt the aircraft.

Several passengers and crew have told investigators that there
appeared to be an odd engine sound when the plane started its
takeoff run.

The sources said the pilot also seemed to be aware at least of
the odd sound, and decided to abort the takeoff.

Meanwhile, the Japan Broadcasting Corp. (NHK) quoted pilot
Ronald Longdong Saturday as telling investigators there was
something wrong in an engine before his DC-10 jet crashed on
takeoff.

"I noticed something abnormal in the engine when the plane was
taxiing," Longdong, 38, was quoted as saying in a brief
questioning by investigators, the NHK said.

However the sources said the DC-10 had enough power to safely
lift off if just one engine was out, and they wanted to question
the pilot about why he chose to abort the takeoff completely.

Investigators from Japan, Indonesia, the plane-maker McDonnell
Douglas Corp and the engine-maker General Electric are taking
part in the probe.

They have talked once to Indonesian pilot Ronald Longdong, 38,
on the day of the crash but have been unable to question him
since because he is in hospital with internal injuries.