Human error speculation over crash

Human error speculation over crash

MEDAN, North Sumatra (JP): As dozens of victims from flight
GA-152 were buried yesterday, speculation grew over reports that
human error may have been to blame for Friday's Garuda Indonesia
crash.

Minister of Transportation Haryanto Dhanutirto led a mass
burial of 48 coffins near Polonia Airport which was attended by
hundreds of mourners.

Forty four of the coffins contained the remains of
unidentified bodies while the other four contained torn and
charred limbs.

Distraught relatives lined the two-meter deep grave to view
the rows of wooden coffins. Several families, weeping and holding
hands, threw flowers from the edge of the site.

Some were forced to wear surgical masks to block out the
stench of the rotting bodies.

The mass grave is located on the same site as the cemetery for
62 people killed in the Garuda F-28 crash in 1979.

Friday's accident involved a Garuda A-300-B4 carrying 234
passengers and crew. The plane crashed just minutes before the
Medan-bound plane was due to land at Polonia Airport. There were
no survivors.

While the investigation into the accident continues,
speculation was rife about the role of human error yesterday
after press reports said that air traffic control at Polonia
might have made a mistake in guiding the plane.

Kompas daily reported that the safe flying altitude for the
mountainous region was 7,500 feet (2,270 meters). According to
the daily the control tower had instructed the pilot to descend
to 2,000 feet (606 meters).

Based on its research and data, Kompas said "human factor may
have played a role in the accident".

These speculations were fueled by a widely circulated copy of
the last conversation between the control tower and the GA-152
pilot minutes before the crash.

The transcript supports the suggestion that there was some
confusion between the pilot and the Polonia control tower.

Just before the plane crashed the pilot gave a loud shriek and
shouted "Allahu Akbar" (God is great).

S.M. Nababan, chairman of the Garuda Pilots' Communication
Forum, when asked to comment on the credibility of the
transcript, said he would wait for an official announcement from
the government.

"But if the conversation (in the transcript) did occur, it
means that Rachmo was doing the correct thing as he followed the
air traffic controller's instructions," he said after attending
the funeral of pilot Rachmo Wiyogo.

The Ministry of Transportation's director general for air
communication, Zainuddin Sikado, was not available for comment
yesterday.

An official at Polonia's air traffic control, Rivai, told The
Jakarta Post that there had not been an official report on the
matter.

Minister Haryanto in Medan yesterday refused to answer
journalists' questions yesterday. He also refused to comment on
the whereabouts of the air traffic controller who was responsible
for guiding flight GA-152 onto the runway.

As of yesterday afternoon the flight data recorder and voice
cockpit recorder, known as the black box, has not been found.

Pilot

Relatives and friends of pilot Capt. Rachmo Wiyogo flocked to
his funeral at Tanah Kusir Cemetery, South Jakarta, yesterday
morning.

The pilot's wife, Retiana, wore a black veil and managed to
hold back her tears during the ceremony. Rachmo's two sons, Alvin
Fardian, 12, and Aldri Rehardian, 7, also attended the funeral.

In another part of the cemetery, passenger Iman S. Sulwan was
also buried. Iman worked at Bank Niaga's Fatwamati branch.

Rachmo and Iman's bodies were among the 54 flown into Jakarta
Sunday evening.

After the funeral yesterday, Retiana said that Rachmo and his
mother planned to take an umrah, minor pilgrimage, on Oct. 10.

"He was trying out the umrah's white clothes a day before the
crash," she recalled. Rachmo's pilgrimage clothes were buried
with him yesterday.

Rachmo was an experienced pilot with 20,000 hours flying time.
He has worked for Garuda Indonesia for almost 20 years and began
flying Airbus-300s in 1993.

Separately, the body of the flight's purser, Solich Sunarya,
44, was flown to Jakarta yesterday. (10/21/jun)

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