No certified helipads on 400 high-rises: Expert
JAKARTA (JP): An aviation experts said that none of the around 400 high-rise buildings built in Jakarta have rooftop helipads with technical specifications approved by the authorities.
"Indeed we don't expect a fire to happen, but if one does it is faster to evacuate occupants by helicopter," said Andreas Prayogo, an executive of PT Gatari Air Service, in a seminar yesterday.
A now defunct Jakarta Ordinance No. 3/1975 initially enforced owners of buildings higher than 40 meters to build helipads to evacuate occupants in case of an emergency.
A new ordinance in 1992, however, abolished the requirement on the grounds that the Jakarta fire department had been equipped with long and electronically-controlled ladders.
Prayogo said that currently only 10 buildings, including Djajanti Plaza, BNI 46 Building, Hotel Grand Hyatt, Hotel Mandarin, all in Central Jakarta, had already constructed helipads.
Some of them have applied to the Directorate of Airworthiness Certification of Transportation Ministry for an operating license and certification.
"But the approval doesn't exist," Prayogo bluntly said, adding that inconsistency in the standard of auditing and certification processing had hampered such applications.
Other speakers in the seminar included Barry Harvey, an executive of Bixindo Utama Aviation management consultant, Ida Bagus Ngurah Winata Manuaba, an executive of the Atlantic Richfield Indonesia Inc. oil company and Budhi Suyitno, the director of the certification directorate.
Prayogo said that the nagging traffic problem in Jakarta will apparently force chief executive officers (CEOs) to use helicopters.
"It means that they should rent a property equipped with a rooftop helipad," he said, listing a number of big companies which usually lease Gatari's helicopters.
Equipment
Manuaba said that different standards of the steel-made helipads have confused helicopter users.
Speakers agreed that a popularly recognized rooftop helipad should be developed with electronic equipment comprising of radio communication, lighting, marking signs and fences.
Different agencies, however, set up different technical methods. Citing an example, Prayogo said that the Indonesian authorities enforce a minimum 14-by-14 square meter helipad. The Montreal-based International Civil Aviation Organization, however, strictly requires an 18-by-18 square meter steel-made helipad.
Gatari held the seminar under the theme "Improving Safety Through Standardization and Certification of Helicopter Landing Areas."
Gatari, which claims to have been the first Indonesian company to offer a helicopter service, is owned by timber tycoon Muhammad (Bob) Hasan and the Humpuss business group.
Gatari currently has 30 helicopters after losing one in an accident earlier this month in Tomini Bay, Central Sulawesi. (09)