Slippery runway caused Lion accident: Safety board
Slippery runway caused Lion accident: Safety board
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
In its report on last year's crash of a Lion Air MD-82 at Adi
Sumarmo International Airport in Surakarta, Central Java, the
National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said that the
accident was due to water accumulating on the runway following
heavy rain, which led to the plane skidding off the tarmac.
"After conducting an investigation, we concluded that the
plane experienced hydroplaning, a condition where the amount of
water on the runway makes it slippery like ice," said NTSB
investigator-in-charge Ertata Lananggalih.
Flying from Jakarta, the Lion Air McDonnel-Douglas MD-82 plane
skidded off the slippery runway after landing at the airport on
Nov. 30, 2004. It then crashed into a concrete structure that
tore the front part of the aircraft's body open before it came to
a halt after slamming into the metal fence of a nearby cemetery.
A total of 26 people died in the accident and 56 others were
injured.
Ertata said that there were more than three millimeters of
water on the runway at the time the plane landed.
He explained that the accumulation of such excessive water
could have been caused by the blockage of a drainage channel.
However, an audit of Adi Sumarmo airport failed to reveal any
drainage problems.
Besides the slippery runway, the accident was also contributed
to by a strong tailwind and the fact that the plane's spoiler and
reverser had jammed a few seconds after landing.
The spoiler and reverser are components that help slow down a
plane after landing. The malfunctioning of these two parts
hampered the deceleration of the plane.
A strong tailwind of 13 knots prolonged the skid.
"One knot of tailwind requires 60 more meters of runway," said
Ertata. The length of the runway at Adi Sumarmo International
Airport is 2500 meters.
The Lion Air accident prompting the transportation ministry to
audit 23 international airports in the country.
Seventeen of the audited airports -- including Adi Sumarmo
International Airport -- had problems related to runway rubber
deposits on their touchdown areas, while 12 of the 23 airports
did not have the additional 500 meters of runway required as an
additional safety measure.
The ministry has issued binding recommendations for the
upgrading of these airports.
Other problems affecting airport runways were water
accumulation, large and small cracks, and faded runway markings.
The only airport given a completely clean bill of health was
Pattimura International Airport in Maluku.
Meanwhile, the ministry's Director of Air Transportation Cucuk
Suryo Suprodjo said that during a previous audit conducted before
last year's Idul Fitri holiday, Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in
Cengkareng, west of Jakarta, was also found to be free of any
major problems.
The accident prompted the ministry to conduct a safety audit
on 11 airlines, including airline management, company procedures,
aircraft maintenance, cabin crew licenses and operational
procedures.
The results revealed that most of the airlines followed the
regulations but each had certain specific areas of concern that
needed follow-up. (003)