|
|
| No longer "Fun is in the Air" for
Adam Air, grounded by Indonesian Air Transport from midnight Mar 20, over
safety concerns. "They must fix their capability within three months or
have their AOC (Air Operator Certificate) revoked," said
spokesman Bambang Erfan. Adam Air have had 12 of their fleet of 20 B-737's
repossessed, they also couldn't pay their insurance bill. |
|
|
|
Adam Air B-737-400 in Batam
|
| The airline has suffered many accidents
and incidents, the latest on March 10 when Flight 292, a Boeing 737-400
skidded off the runway in Batam, all survived but the aircraft is a write-off. |
|
Incidents and Accidents
|
| 2006: At least one plane skidded
off a runway, and two others flew on with serious gear malfunctions when
they should instead have made emergency landings. |
|
|
| 2006 Feb 11: Flight 782, registration
number PK-KKE, lost navigational and communications systems 20 minutes
into a flight from Jakarta to Makassar. The plane was subsequently flown
into a radar "black spot" and was lost for hours, later landing at Tambolaka
Airport over 1000km off course. |
| 2007 Jan 1, air traffic controllers
lost contact with flight 574 en route. The Aircraft, PK-KKW, had 96 passengers
and 6 crew. On January 10, parts of the aircraft's tail stabilizer were
found 300m offshore. The flight recorders and suspected debris have been
located, but may not be recovered due to a dispute between Adam Air and
the Indonesian Government over who should pay recovery costs. |
|
|
|
Ouch! PK-KKV at Surabaya
|
| 2007 Feb 21: Adam Air Flight
172 a Boeing 737-300 flying from Jakarta to Surabaya, had a hard landing
at Juanda International Airport. The incident caused the body of the plane
to break in the middle. No serious injuries reported. |
|
|
|
|
Indonesian Air
Safety
|
|
WHY NO ONE CARES
|
|
 |
|
| Firstly Indonesia is an archipelago
of 17,508 islands, the only surface transport between islands is by very
old, very slow, rusty car ferries that sink at an alarming rate. |
|
|
|
Dec 29, 2006 The Senopati
Nusantara sank off Java with more than 500 missing.
|
| To travel say from Timor to
Jakarta can take a week. On the larger islands the roads are very poor
and congested. Travel by broken down |
|
|
|
A bus crash near Jakarta
|
|
|
| old buses is slow and dangerous,
many roll over and suffer head on collisions, multitudes die every year.
Bali to Jakarta a distance of ~1,000Km takes over 24 hours by bus. In
the past, the well to do could fly with Garuda or Merpati, the others just
had to take the risk and suffer the horror journey. |
|
|
Low
Cost Carriers Arrive
|
|
| A few years back many Indonesian
entrepreneurs, jumped on the Low Cost Carrier bandwaggon. Old aircraft
no longer able to fly in the west because of new noise rules could be leased
at very low rates. They offered Indonesians fares often close to ground
transport and a journey time of an hour or so, against days. Sure the planes
were a bit battered, but compared to the busses and ferries, this was first
class. Now and again the planes crashed, but most non-fatal, an acceptable
risk against drowning, dying in a bus crash or not going at all. The cash
strapped airlines often cut costs on maintenance to keep their fares low,
they know, if the fares increase they would loose their market. We must
remember Indonesia is a developing country, one day when their economy
is at the level of the west, they too will be able to afford safe transport
. |
|
|
