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A Special Tribute to Garuda Indonesia A330-200 PK-GPJ

This is one of three New Garuda Indonesia Airbus A330-200 with new livery, and also comes with a modern new executive class design!

93 killed in Indonesian military plane crash

MAGETAN, Indonesia – An Indonesian military plane carrying more than 100 people crashed into a row of houses and burst into flames, killing at least 93, the latest in a string of accidents plaguing the air force's beleaguered fleet.

Local television flashed footage of fire engulfing the mangled wreckage of the aging C-130 Hercules. Black smoke billowed in the air, as soldiers carried the injured on stretchers to waiting ambulances.

Military spokesman Sagom Tamboen said the plane was transporting troops and their families, including at least 10 children, when it tumbled from the sky near an air force base in East Java province. It slammed into several houses in Geplak village, killing three on the ground, and then skidded into a rice field.

It was not clear what caused the crash.

But air force spokesman Bambang Sulistyo said the plane was nearly 30 years old and several witnesses described seeing its right wing fall off while it was still in the air.

"I heard at least two big explosions and saw flashes of fire inside the plane," said Lamidi, a 41-year-old peasant who was working in his rice field. "The wing snapped off and fell to the ground."

The plane's charred tail and several chunks of its wing and body were scattered across the paddy.

Tamboen said the plane was carrying 109 passengers and crew when it went down 325 miles (520 kilometers) east of the capital, Jakarta. The death toll climbed to 93, he said. At least 15 people survived, Sulistyo said, many with bad burns.

The country's air force has long complained of being underfunded and handicapped by a recently lifted U.S. ban on weapons sales. It has suffered a series of accidents, including a Fokker 27 plane that crashed into an airport hangar last month, killing all 24 onboard.

The C-130s are considered the backbone of the transport wing. The air force has operated the giant planes since the early 1960s, when it received a batch of 10 from the United States in exchange for the release of a CIA bomber pilot shot down in 1958 while supporting an anti-government mutiny.

About 40 more were inducted into the air force inventory over the next 20 years. Many were secondhand and provided by Washington before the Clinton administration introduced sanctions on military deliveries over bloodshed in East Timor in 1999.

The air force complained that many of the planes quickly became unserviceable because of the lack of spare parts. Though the embargo was lifted by the Bush administration, the air worthiness of many is still in question.

Tamboen promised a full investigation of all military aircraft.

There have also been a series of commercial airline crashes in recent years, killing more than 120 people. The EU responded by banning all Indonesian carriers from flying to Europe.

A military transport plane crashed into an airport hangar in Bandung Airport while trying to land in heavy rain on Monday, killing all 24 personnel

JAKARTA, April 6 (Bernama) - The 18 Indonesian Air Force commandos killed in the Fokker 27 crash in Bandung at noon Monday were undergoing an orientation course that includes parachute jump training by instructors.The turboprop aircraft was making a landing after a regular training flight when the mishap occurred at around 1:05 pm local time (1135 IST) in Bandung, 110 kilometres southeast of Jakarta, an Indonesian air force spokesman said.

Bambang said the aging turboprop plane, manufactured in 1976, took off from Jakarta's Halim Perdanakusumah Airport with the Air Force trainees and crashed at about 12:30 p.m. on Monday. "Most of those on board were undertaking parachute training," he said, adding that an investigation was under way.The passengers consisted of 18 Air Forces' special troops and 7 plane crews. They were about to fly for a routine parachute training.

All the passengers onboard the ill fatted Fokker 27 plane were killed, Detik.com quoted an official statement issued by Air Forces' special forces spokesperson Lieut.Indonesian news agency Antara reported that the Indonesian Air Force Fokker 27 which slammed into the hangar also fell onto six aircraft and two helicopters under maintenance.Yanto said. "It is true that a Fokker 27 of the Indonesian Air Force has crashed at the airport," he said.

Mujiono, an eyewitness and employee of a subsidiary of PT DI said that the accident took place about 10 minutes after heavy rain. At that time, he was standing in a hangar at the eastern tip of the runway, about 200 meters of the ACS building. "A huge fire ball licked into the air," At least 17 paratroop trainees of the Indonesian Air Force lost their lives the mishap.Earlier, Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Nairiza said the plane was carrying 18 officers and seven crew members. He said it was flying from Jakarta. "All of them were killed in the accident," detik.com quoted Nairiza as saying.The country's air force has long complained of being underfunded and handicapped by a recently lifted U.S. ban on weapons sales. It has suffered a series of accidents, including a Casa 212 plane that crashed during an aerial surveillance mission last year that killed 18 people.

The military personnel were on a parachute training exercise, air force officials said, adding that poor visibility because of a rainstorm likely caused the accident.

The crash happened about 1 p.m. Monday local time in the city of Bandung, according to air force First Marshal Bambang Sulistyo. Rescue crews could not recover bodies because of the fire, he said.[27] Bambang Sulistio, an air force spokesman, said an investigation was under way, but that it was too early to discuss the possible causes of the crash. "Before we fly there are procedures and checks to make sure the plane is in good condition," he said.[19] Air force spokesman Bambang Sulistio earlier said no one could have survived the crash.[10] Air force spokesman Bambang Sulistyo said the cause of the crash was unknown.[7]

None of the 24 on board survived, said air force spokesman Bambang Sulistyo. There were no casualties on the ground, he added.

The 18 commandos killed were scheduled to jump on Wednesday under the guidance of instructors, a spokesman for the Indonesian Air Force Commando Unit was quoted by the website detikbandung. He said the instructors did not rejoin the group after jumping.Col. Nayriza, the air force spokesman, said Monday the crew's fate was unknown.

We are still forming a team to find out the cause of the accident," Air Force Chief of Staff Marshal Subandriyo said here on Monday.

FedEx cargo plane crashes at Tokyo airport; 2 dead

By JAY ALABASTER, Associated Press Writer (Video Footage after the news)


TOKYO – A FedEx cargo plane smashed into a runway and burst into a ball of fire while attempting to land at Tokyo's main international airport Monday, killing the American pilot and copilot. Investigators believe wind shear, or a sudden gust of wind, may have been a factor.

Questions were also being raised about the safety of the MD-11, a wide-body airliner built by McDonnell Douglas and based on the DC-10.

The flight from FedEx's hub in Guangzhou, China, appeared to bounce after its initial touch down, and then skipped along the main runway at Narita Airport before flipping over and coming to a fiery halt, footage from airport security cameras showed.

Firefighters and rescuers immediately swarmed the MD-11 plane but the pilot and copilot — Kevin Kyle Mosley, 54, and Anthony Stephen Pino, 49 — were killed. Mosley lived in Hillsboro, Oregon, while Pino was from San Antonio, Texas, according to online records at the Federal Aviation Administration.

They were the only two people aboard.

Investigators said the accident may have been caused by low-level turbulence or "wind shear," sudden gusts that can lift or smash an aircraft into the ground during landing, said Kazuhito Tanakajima, an aviation safety official at the Transport Ministry.

Unusually strong winds of up to about 47 miles per hour (76 kilometers per hour) were blowing through Narita City on Monday morning around the time of the crash, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.

But Tanakajima said the wind speed at the time of the accident was not enough to be considered dangerous, unless wind shear was involved. He said there was headwind of about 45 miles per hour (72 kilometers per hour), and a crosswind of about 7 miles per hour.

Strong winds and turbulence have caused other recent incidents at the airport.

Last month, a flight from the Philippines was jolted by severe turbulence as it circled prior to landing, injuring 50 passengers and crew members.

The MD-11 has been involved in accidents in which it flipped while landing, and pilots have complained about the aircraft in the past. The plane is no longer used by carriers for passenger travel but is widely employed for moving cargo.

In 1999, an MD-11 flipped over and burst into flames, killing three people during a crash landing in a storm in Hong Kong. And in 1997 one of the planes landed hard, flipped and caught fire while landing in Newark, N.J.

Tomoki Kuwano, a former Japan Airlines pilot and aviation expert, said that although wind shear could not be ruled out, the MD-11 has a tendency to be unstable during landing.

"In the past, the MD-11 has a record of landing failure," he said. "And when that happens it often flips over."

FedEx said it was investigating the cause of the accident.

"We will continue to work closely with the applicable authorities as we seek to determine the cause for this tragic incident," it said in a statement.

The plane smashed into the longer of Narita's two runways, which remained closed Monday with all incoming flights diverted, said airport spokeswoman Misuho Fukuda.

Parts of the wreckage were still burning hours after the crash, forcing the cancellation of dozens of flights. At least 10,000 passengers were affected, according to airlines contacted by The Associated Press.

Japanese media reported that Monday's was the first fatal crash at Narita Airport, a major international hub located about 35 miles (60 kilometers) east of central Tokyo. It is Japan's second-busiest airport, after Tokyo's Haneda Airport, which is used primarily for domestic flights.

Last month, FedEx opened a new $150 million operations hub for the Asia-Pacific region in Guangzhou.

Sandra Munez, a spokeswoman for FedEx in the U.S., said customers that had packages on the plane will be dealt with on an individual basis through the company's risk management and claims departments.

"As soon as the authorities give us permission, we contact customers and notify them of the incident," she said.

___

Associated Press writers Tomoko Hosaka, Shino Yuasa and Mari Yamaguchi contributed to this report.

1995 Garuda Indonesia Commercial

Another Garuda Indonesia Commercial during the 1990's Golden Age. Adding another newest fleet of that time, including: 5 Airbus A300-B4, 8 MD-11, 3 Boeing 747-400, and 15 Boeing 737-400.