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.