Govt prepares stricter air safety regulations
Govt prepares stricter air safety regulations
Fabiola Desy Unidjaja and Tony Hotland, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta
In the wake of a plane crash that killed 26 people this week, the
minister of transportation is preparing a regulation that will
require air transportation operators to employ more experienced
pilots.
Minister Hatta Radjasa said after a Cabinet meeting on Friday
the regulation would, among other things, set minimum flight
hours for pilots who would fly commercial planes and ensure the
airworthiness of the aircraft before takeoff.
"The operators will undergo a safety audit, where a team from
the transportation ministry will check whether their pilots meet
the minimum flight hours requirement and regular fleet
maintenance is conducted," Hatta said.
He added that the regulation was also aimed at encouraging the
operators to intensify ground checks of their planes for the sake
of passenger safety.
The minister refused to go into details, saying the regulation
was being drafted.
An MD-82 aircraft belonging to budget carrier Lion Air crashed
at Adi Sumarmo Airport in the Central Java town of Surakarta on
Tuesday after it skidded off the wet runway during a heavy rain
and smashed into a wall.
Another aircraft belonging to Bouraq and an F-16 jet fighter
also skidded off the runway at Hasanuddin Airport in Makassar.
"I am not going to say whether it was human error or a
mechanical error or bad weather which caused the crash, because
we are still conducting the investigation and we will announce
the result after we have completed all necessary data," the
minister said.
The government-sanction National Transportation Safety Board
(NTSB) is currently conducting an investigation into the accident
and has sent the plane's black box to the United States.
Separately the Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI) said
consumers' rights to enjoy a comfortable and safe trip on public
transportation had long been neglected, but the government seemed
powerless to take any measures against violators.
"It's regrettable that the Lion management keeps on blaming
the accident on the weather, the pilot or the passengers for not
using seat belts. Like it or not, Lion is part of the flaws (in
the system) that led to the accident," YLKI chairwoman Indah
Suksmaningsih said on Friday.
She said whether or not the airline is held responsible for
the accident, Lion Air should at least apologize for the
accident, especially to the families of the victims.
Indah said Lion must have been informed about the unfavorable
weather when the plane was about to take off, but instead it
ignored the situation and decided to fly anyway.
"If they had decided to delay the flight due to poor weather,
I'm sure the passengers would have been fine with that decision,"
she said.
Another example of the neglect of consumer rights is the high
number of complaints reported to YLKI by bus passengers when they
traveled to their hometowns and back during the Idul Fitri
holiday last month.
"At least 126 complaints were received, mostly about illegal
increases in bus fares. This illegal increase happens every year
and it seems that the government cannot do anything about it,"
lamented Indah.