Indonesia's IPTN carves a niche in world aviation history

Texts and photos by Endy M. Bayuni

PT IPTN made history this month at the Paris Air Show by becoming the first Asian country to bring a commercial passenger airplane to the prestigious biennial event. The state-owned company invited a number of Indonesian journalists to witness the event. The following and three other articles on this page are The Jakarta Post's reports from Paris.

PARIS (JP): A typical daily flying-program schedule at the recent Paris Air Show went something like this: ... 15H27 F-16B, 15H33 EMB-145, 15H38 IPTN N-250, 15H44 MDC C-17 ...

The N-250, the first wholly Indonesian-designed aircraft and show piece of PT Industry Pesawat Terbang Nusantara (IPTN), made its international debut this year at the June 15 to June 22 show.

The twin turboprop airplane made history whose significance went beyond Indonesian national borders: The plane is also the first Asian commercial passenger plane to be brought to the show at Le Bourget airport.

It signifies Indonesia's entry, albeit in a small way, into a tightly competitive global aviation industry that is dominated by the United States and Europe.

The first prototype of the N-250 was flown into Le Bourget.

In the morning, it sat in a huge open field alongside a military version of the CN-235, which IPTN produces jointly with CASA of Spain, and dozens of other new types of aircraft, both military and civilian, from other makers.

In the afternoon, the N-250, the first turboprop plane using the fly-by-wire system, made a dynamic display along with the big names in the military and civilian aircraft industry, showing various maneuvers and agility in taking off and landing.

The first N-250 prototype, nicknamed Gatotkoco, after the Javanese epic flying hero, made its maiden flight in August 1995 on the eve of Indonesia's 50th independence anniversary. The plane was also one of the centers of attraction at the Second Indonesian Air Show in Jakarta last year.

IPTN was forced to drop its plan to bring the second prototype, Kerincingwesi, after it lost its two best test pilots, along with three other staffers, in a CN-235 crash near Jakarta in May. The plane lost balance and crashed after a parachute rope tied to cargo snapped before it could drop the load during a test to drop cargo at low altitude.

IPTN still mourns their deaths but this has made its leaders more committed to making its participation in Paris a success.

The three-day hitchless flight Gatotkoco made from IPTN's plant in Bandung to Le Bourget was dedicated to Erwin Danuwinanta, IPTN's chief test pilot who died in the crash and who was also the first man to fly the N-250 in August 1995.

Here at Le Bourget, IPTN hired a chalet that seemed to be endlessly busy and it also had a stand where the models of its present and future planes were exhibited. The fuselage and interior of the N-2130 took up a huge amount of space at the stand.

Virtually everyone at the top of IPTN's leadership was in Paris, not only to witness history in the making but to help introduce and promote the N-250 and unveil future IPTN projects to the global aviation industry.

The Paris Air Show may have been overshadowed by talks of an impending merger between Boeing and McDonnel Douglas and of restructuring of Airbus Industrie, raising the prospect of an industry ran by two giants only, but these did not dent the optimism IPTN has about its future in the aviation industry.

No one was more proud than B.J. Habibie, IPTN's president.

For him, this year's event was a promise fulfilled.

"Ten years ago, I had the honor to announce here that IPTN was planning to have a very modern turboprop airplane flying at high speed subsonic region and introducing for the first time, turboprop fly-by-wire," Habibie said.

"And I said then that we were planning to have that airplane's first flight before August 17, 1995, on the 50 anniversary of Indonesia's independence.

"And I told the people here that we planned to be here with that airplane in 1997.

"Here we are today. We've kept to our schedule and I've kept my promise," Habibie said at a packed press conference held on June 17, the third day of the air show.

Habibie talked at length about his new airplane, future projects that include making a jet plane and manufacturing engines, and about a dream that became reality in Paris this month.

He related the story of how he, as a young man of 19 years old, made his way in 1965 by bus to Le Bourget from Germany, where he was studying, to visit the Paris Air Show.

"As a student and freshman, I came with some German friends and I was very proud that I could attend such a distinguished event that I had previously only read about in books.

"But because we didn't have money, I, myself and two German friends, stayed in St Denis, just outside Paris. We came here by bus ... we could not spend money for lunch, so, we brought some apples and bread and ate them here.

"I could not take photographs because I was too poor to own a camera," Habibie said, as he recalled some of the planes and models that he saw in 1965.

Habibie said they then sat outside the chalets where negotiations were taking places among aviation executives.

"Then I told my German friends that if my dream was to come true, I hoped one day I would come back to this place and see the first all-Indonesian designed airplane fly.

"My German friend then said: `Ah, you're kidding. And what do you think you will be then?'

"I replied: `I will be happy, I will be honored to be one of those engineers, maybe designing the landing gear or the flaps.'"

"Man plans but God decides," Habibie said.

"Forty-two years later, I came back, not designing the landing gear but to be honored and to have the privilege and the chance to develop people in Indonesia who are in a position to understand science and technology, to further apply science and technology and to become modern and very excellent experts.

"I'm proud ... No, proud is not the right expression, because proud is more egocentric.

"I thank to God that on Friday I came here not by bus but landing in my own airplane, coming from Indonesia," he said to loud applause from the audience. "... And that I did not go to St. Denis, I am honored to have a quarter at the Ritz," he quipped, drawing laughter.

Far from making a sales pitch -- he seems to have left this to his staffers -- Habibie, who is state minister for research and technology, underscored what the N-250 means for Indonesia.

"For my country, this is more than a plane. It is what you call a statement.

"It's a product which young Indonesians can really show to themselves, their families, the people and to the world that understanding science and technology and applying science and technology are not, and never will be, the privilege of the rich, the West or Japan.

"It's the privilege of the human race," he said.