Indonesia works toward issuing flight certification

Indonesia works toward issuing flight certification

JAKARTA (JP): The International Civil Aviation Organization
(ICAO) vowed yesterday to provide Indonesia's Directorate General
for Civil Aviation with technical assistance to allow it to issue
flight certificates for Indonesian-made aircraft.

The organization's president, Assad Kotaite, said after
meeting with President Soeharto at Merdeka Palace here yesterday
that technical assistance is among the various cooperation issues
presently being discussed by the organization and the Ministry of
Transportation.

Other projects include technical assistance for the expansion
of airports in Manado, North Sulawesi, and in Ambon, Maluku.

Kotaite said the ICAO was to provide technical assistance
until next year to make flight certification possible, but it
will now continue to the end of 1997. The program will allow the
Directorate General for Civil Aviation to issue certificates for
such aircraft as the N-250, which is being produced by the state-
owned aircraft manufacturer PT Industri Pesawat Terbang Nusantara
(IPTN).

Kotaite was accompanied by Director General for Civil Aviation
Zainuddin Sikado in the meeting with Soeharto.

The N-250, Indonesia's first domestically-designed medium-
range commuter plane, made its inaugural taxiing test on Sunday
in preparation for a maiden flight scheduled for 10 a.m. on
Thursday in a ceremony which will be attended by President
Soeharto.

An N-250 prototype -- named Gatotkoco after a flying hero in
the ancient Mahabarata epic -- carried out low-speed (25 knots,
or 45 kilometers per hour) taxiing tests (ground maneuvers) on
Sunday at IPTN's grounds in Bandung, West Java.

Alex Supelli, a senior IPTN official, said in Bandung that the
taxiing test would be gradually accelerated to reach medium and
maximum speeds and eventually to prepare the aircraft to fly.

Taxiing tests, he said, allow the pilot to master the
aircraft's system when it operates on the ground.

Medium-speed (40 knots, or 60 km per hour) taxiing tests were
conducted to test the aircraft's wing, tail and brake systems,
while high-speed (90 knots, or 150 km per hour) taxiing tests,
scheduled for today, will ensure that the aircraft is safe to fly
close (five meters) to ground level for a period of five to six
minutes.

It will also test the aircraft's ability to conduct rolling,
yawing and pitching movements.

Broken

Sunday's taxiing tests, however, were disturbed when one of
Gatotkoco's generator shafts broke down during a medium-speed
test and had to be replaced.

According to Supelli, who accompanied State Minister for
Research and Technology B.J. Habibie, the aircraft's safety
electricity system allowed the following tests to be carried out
while the spare parts were being delivered.

Habibie said the spare parts were taken from Cengkareng, west
of Jakarta.

He assured that the damages would not have an impact on the
aircraft's first flight on Thursday. "There will be no problem
with its first flight. This sophisticated aircraft will be ready
to fly," he said.

Supelli explained that the aircraft's security system is made
up of several layers to anticipate any damages. "This way, if
something goes wrong, a spare system will be on hand," he said.

Supelli said that the damaged shaft has already been taken
care of. He added that "the shaft actually should not have
broken...It was a matter of negligence which caused the safety
system to operate, which mechanically broke off the shaft".

He said that if further tests ran well, the Gatotkoco would be
airborne on Thursday, with pilot Edwin Danuwinata and co-pilot
Erwin in the cockpit.

The Gatotkoco is scheduled to run its "hopping" tests today,
which involves taking off and landing after 10 meters, as a test
of the aircraft's overall responses.

IPTN's team of experts will conduct further tests all day
today to ensure complete safety both on the ground and in the
air.

Habibie, who is also the president of IPTN, said that only
US$400 million from the projected N-250 budget of $650 million
has so far been used.

He was quoted by Antara as saying that IPTN, which currently
employs 16,000 people, has received orders for 192 units of the
N-250, both from local and foreign buyers.

"The break-even point will be gained after 259 units are
sold," Habibie said to hundreds of local and foreign journalists
on Sunday.

"Indonesia's aircraft industry, which has succeeded in the
designing of the N-250, has boosted the country's reputation on
an international level. This can be seen, for example, from
proposals from 26 cities in the U.S. to conduct mutual
partnership programs with IPTN," Habibie said.

The Gatotkoco, which has a 70-seat capacity, made its debut
last November at an inauguration ceremony attended by President
Soeharto.

Of the 192 plane requests, 188 orders for the sub-sonic
aircraft, which applies a "fly-by-wire" technology, have come
from Merpati Nusantara airlines -- a subsidiary of the flag
carrier Garuda Indonesia -- and two other domestic airlines,
Bouraq Airlines and Sempati Air.

Gulfstream International Airline has also signed a letter of
intent to purchase N-250s while a U.S. company is said to have
ordered 10 units and a European firm another 24 units.(pet/pwn)