Plane crash probe focuses on Garuda pilot
Plane crash probe focuses on Garuda pilot
FUKUOKA, Japan (Agencies): Japanese officials probing last
week's crash of a Garuda Indonesia DC-10 airplane, having already
determined that there was engine trouble prior to take off, are
now focusing on the pilot's decision to abort the flight.
Pilot Ronald Longdong, who is recovering from internal
injuries in a Fukuoka hospital, yesterday refused to meet with
investigators, Reuters said quoting officials.
Officials from Japan's transport ministry visited Longdong in
the hospital to ask him questions about the accident in which
three Japanese passengers died and 110 were injured.
"You don't have an appointment," a ministry official quoted
the 38-year-old Indonesian pilot as telling the investigators.
The Garuda office in Tokyo was not available for comment.
The plane, carrying 260 passengers and 15 crew members, had
lifted a few meters into the air on takeoff when it flopped back
and skidded off the runway with the passenger cabin ablaze.
Ministry sources said that investigators found that the pilot
applied reverse thrust to all three engines -- one under each
wing and one on the tail -- in trying to halt the aircraft.
Several passengers and crew members have said there appeared
to be an odd engine sound when the plane started its takeoff run.
The sources said the pilot also seemed to have been aware of
the odd sound when he decided to abort the takeoff.
Investigators said the DC-10 would have had enough power to
safely lift off with one engine burned out, prompting them to ask
the pilot why he chose to abort the takeoff.
One Garuda flight attendant told investigators that the
starboard engine caught fire just after takeoff.
Investigators piecing together evidence from an on-the-spot
inspection of the plane say the plane's main wing panels -- known
as "spoilers" and used to increase wind resistance in an
emergency landing or when braking -- were operating at the time
of the accident, Kyodo reported.
The position of a lever in the plane's cockpit confirmed that
the spoilers had been operating. Tire skid marks on the runway
also indicate that the plane initially lifted off and then landed
again, braking suddenly, they said.
The sources said the investigators also found that the plane's
engines were in reverse thrust mode.
The investigators have concluded that all this clearly
indicates that the pilot had decided to abort the takeoff.
Meanwhile, data from the voice recorder suggest that there was
no tense conversation in the cockpit before the crash,
investigators said.
The co-pilot, Yudhia Putra, who is also in hospital, told
police that the pilot handled the navigation control gear while
he was monitoring the speed meter and the navigation engineer was
checking instruments related to the three engines.
Under navigation rules, the co-pilot and the navigation
engineer are obliged to report data on the airplane's speed and
engine conditions during takeoff to the pilot.
The committee is trying to make sure the crew was abiding by
the rules, committee members said.
Police questioned Longdong for three and a half hours on the
day of the accident, but hospital authorities have since refused
to allow police or members of the committee to question him.
Meanwhile, Antara said a Garuda Boeing 747 plane left Fukuoka
for Denpasar on Sunday night carrying 200 passengers, mostly
Japanese, indicating that the accident has not affected the
airline's schedule or its business.
Garuda flies out of Fukuoka every Monday, Thursday and Sunday,
mostly carrying Japanese tourists bound for Bali.