Gatotkaca's dream: Born to fly, but not too high

Novan Iman Santosa, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

In ancient Greek mythology, Icarus is depicted as representing man's desire to fly like the birds, while here in Indonesia we have a similar mythological figure: Gatotkaca, a character from the classical Mahabharata epic.

While Icarus was a prisoner who tried to escape by making wings from feathers held together with wax, Gatotkaca was a noble knight gifted with the ability to fly. He is also known as Tetuko.

No wonder that the first plane produced in this country was named after him, the prototype of the CN-235 commuter aircraft, which made its maiden flight in 1983.

The high-wing, twin turboprop aircraft was designed and developed by the then Nurtanio Aircraft Industry (IPTN) in cooperation with Spain's Construcciones Aviacion SA (CASA).

Officially established on April 26, 1976, it was renamed Nusantara Aircraft Industry on Oct. 11, 1985, by president Soeharto. Finally, the name was changed to PT Dirgantara Indonesia (PT DI) by the then President Abdurrahman Wahid on Aug. 24, 2000.

The successful maiden flight of the CN-235 was considered one of IPTN's most prestigious achievements although the company had previously produced and assembled other types of airplanes and helicopters.

Before the CN-235, IPTN had produced various types of aircraft and helicopters under licensing agreements, including the CN-212 Aviocar under license from CASA, the NBO-105 helicopter under license from Germany's Messerschmitt Bolkow Blohm (MBB), the NSA- 330 Puma and NSA-332 Super Puma helicopters under license from France's Aerospatiale and the NBell 412 under license from Bell Textron of America.

The original codes for these aircraft did not have the prefix "N", which was added to signify that the aircraft were made by IPTN.

IPTN also acted as a subcontractor for various aircraft manufactured by Airbus and Boeing. The company's most recent subcontracting work is for the latest Airbus aircraft, the double decker Airbus A-380, which it is claimed will revolutionize the aviation industry.

After the joint venture period, IPTN considered it was time to start designing its own passenger aircraft.

First came the twin turboprop N-250, which may be termed a larger version of the CN-235 as both aircraft have similar arrangements.

A more ambitious project started in 1995 with the N-2130, a 130-seater regional aircraft powered by turbofan engines instead of turbopropeller engines. Perhaps the leap was too high and too adventurous.

Unfortunately, while the world is celebrating the first hundred years of powered aviation, Indonesia has been forced to see the once high-flying symbol of its industrial development being brought down to earth with a bang.

The year 2003 itself has been a mixed year for world aviation as it saw the only supersonic passenger aircraft, Concorde, terminate its trans-Atlantic services from New York to London and Paris due to technical and financial problems.

A more tragic blowout happened when the American space shuttle Columbia exploded in the sky upon reentry, causing the same shock and terror as when Challenger blew up during take-off.

Financial problems and mismanagement have led to PT DI retaining only about 3,000 workers out of a workforce that formerly numbered more than 9,000, a move the company says is essential for its survival.

In the early days, economists warned that Indonesia did not need an aerospace industry as it was simply too great a technological leap at a time when most of the Indonesian population were poor farmers.

They said that more advanced Asian countries like Japan and South Korea did not overly focus on manufacturing aircraft themselves even though both countries had much better industrial bases than Indonesia.

However, considering the geography of Indonesia, and the fact that it has more than 17,000 islands, air is the only viable means of transportation, especially given the thickly forested topography of Kalimantan and Papua.

In fact, the situation in Papua is even more difficult with its hilly topography making cheap land transportation impossible.

Perhaps the issue is not whether to scrap our aviation industry but rather whether it would not be better to focus more on the types of planes we are going to produce.

Of course it is impossible to compete with Boeing and Airbus in producing long-range and medium-range aircraft with more than 200 seats as even our domestic market is limited.

But in the under-100 seater, under-50 seater and 30-seater classes there are surely plenty of opportunities, especially with the advent of regional autonomy, where more and more regional administrations appear determined to procure their own aircraft.