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.