Ministry of Transport: Pilot of Pelita charter plane that crashed in Nunukan confirmed dead

Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Ministry of Transport has confirmed that the pilot of a Pelita Air charter aircraft carrying fuel that crashed in the Nunukan area of North Kalimantan has died.

“The latest information we received at 15.16 WITA is that the pilot, Captain Hendrick Lodewyck Adam, has been declared dead,” said the Ministry’s Director General of Civil Aviation, Lukman F. Laisa, when contacted in Jakarta on Thursday.

The Ministry stated that the aircraft which crashed on Thursday (19/2) was an Air Tractor AT-802, registration PK-PAA, manufactured in 2013 with serial number 802-0494. It was operated by Pelita Air Service specifically for transporting fuel to remote areas.

The aircraft was reported to have crashed during a flight on the Long Bawan–Tarakan route.

The plane departed from Long Bawan Airport at 04.10 UTC (12.10 WITA) bound for Tarakan Airport, carrying a consignment of Pertamina fuel with an estimated arrival time in Tarakan of 05.15 UTC (13.15 WITA).

Lukman said the pilot had previously informed Tarakan Air Traffic Control (ATC) that the aircraft’s estimated time abeam Malinau was 04.24 UTC (12.24 WITA). However, at 04.20 UTC (12.20 WITA), an emergency locator transmitter (ELT) signal was received from the aircraft.

Based on preliminary data, the cause of the accident involving the single-crew aircraft — the pilot — is still under investigation. Captain Hendrick Lodewyck Adam was declared dead.

Regarding airworthiness, Lukman continued, the aircraft had undergone routine 100-hour and 200-hour inspections on 11 February 2026. The aircraft’s total flight hours stood at 3,303 hours.