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.