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.