Jakarta too risky for commercial helicopters

Jakarta too risky for commercial helicopters

M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Jakarta would not likely have regular passenger helicopters as
flying in the city was too dangerous and costly even for
businesspeople, an aviation expert said on Wednesday.

An experienced pilot and production director of PT Derazona
Air Service, Achmad Machfud, said that flying conditions over
Jakarta were extremely risky given the uncertainty of the weather
here.

"There are many risks when flying over a city like Jakarta
which has drastic weather changes and violent air turbulence,"
Machfud told reporters.

A commercial helicopter slid off its helipad atop the Sahid
Jaya Hotel in Central Jakarta and crashed on Tuesday, killing
three people on board. Experts speculated that the cause of the
accident was severe turbulence over the hotel as well as a
defective helipad.

Machfud said that regulations on flights above the city were
very strict which could also hamper companies from establishing
commercial flights.

"The cost to charter a 4-seat helicopter for example is US$750
per hour, and for a 13-seater it's US$2,100 per hour," Machfuld
said, adding that regular customers for helicopter flights were
mostly offshore oil drilling, mining and logging companies.

The president director of Derazona, Atty Milyarti, said that
there was no way for the company to lower its charter rates
because the profit margin was already too small.

"Feasibility studies might conclude that an air taxi business
in Jakarta would be lucrative, but in reality it would not be
fruitful," she said.

A safe helicopter flight in Jakarta was also in need of
helipads that complied with safety standards for landing,
Machfuld said.

"The most important thing for a helipad is its bearing
capacity, or its ability to support the weight of the helicopter
upon landing," he remarked, adding that the helipad must be
equipped with wind socks and also free from obstructions like
satellite dishes or TV antennae, which were commonly found on
tops of buildings.

He added that there were 24 helipads in the city, all of which
had licenses from the Ministry of Transportation for operation.
Such licenses must be renewed once a year.

Of the helipads in Jakarta, 18 are located on top of high rise
buildings and some are no longer operative.

The helipad on top of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Central
Jakarta for example was shut down after the terrorist attack on
the World Trade Center in New York on Sept. 11, 2001.

A public relations officer from the hotel, Dhanes Wari, told
The Jakarta Post that after the Sept. 11 attack, the hotel's head
office in Hongkong asked its management to stop using the
helipad.

The helipad used to be open for public use.

Dhanes said that thus far the management could not afford to
pay the insurance premiums and as a consequence it had to close
the helipad for commercial use.

She added that the management had no plans in the future to
once again operate the helipad.

Separately, Chairman of the National Committee for
Transportation Safety Oetardjo Diran said that some of the
helipads in the city must be brought under scrutiny.

"If it is true that some helipads in Jakarta do not comply
with regulations from the Directorate General of Air
Transportation, the helipad factor may contribute to helicopter
accidents," Oetardjo was quoted by Antara as saying.