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.

Airline Mogul(Long Version): Indonesian International Airlines Commercial

Garuda Indonesia Ads (60th Anniversary)

Sriwijaya Air Boeing 737 in runway overrun at Jambi, Indonesia

On the afternoon of August 27, 2008, a Boeing 737-200 passenger aircraft operated by Indonesian carrier Sriwijaya Air overran the end of the runway on which it had just landed at Jambi, on the island of Sumatra. The aircraft, operating as Sriwijaya Flight SJ-062, was arriving from Jakarta, the Indonesian capital, at the time of the accident. News reports from Indonesia say that several of the 125 passengers and six crew members on board the flight were injured, as well as two or three people on the ground. The injured, including two flight attendants, were taken to Jambi's Asia Medika Hospital for treatment.

The aircraft (registration number PK-CJG) landed at Jambi's Sultan Thaha Airport (DJB) but failed to stop, departing the end of the runway. The aircraft reportedly hit a house before coming to rest in a field several hundred meters beyond the end of the runway. According to news reports, the weather had been rainy prior to the accident, and the runway may have been wet.

Indonesia's National Flight Safety Commission (KNKT) is investigating the cause of the accident.

Garuda Indonesia New Concept (FLY HI)

Indonesia grounds Adam Air; may be permanently shut down in three months

Tuesday, March 18, 2008
This B737-400 in standard Adam Air livery is roughly comparable to the aircraft involved in all the accidents and incidents mentioned in this story.
This B737-400 in standard Adam Air livery is roughly comparable to the aircraft involved in all the accidents and incidents mentioned in this story.

Indonesia has suspended the operating license of PT Adam Skyconnection Airlines, who trade as Adam Air, over safety concerns. The airline has recently suffered safety problems and financial difficulty.

Formed in 2003, Adam Air hit financial crisis on Monday when two major shareholders, investment companies who control 50% of the airline, anounced they were pulling out and selling all shares back to the original owners, who still control the other half. The reasons given were a lack of improvement in safety and alleged financial mismanagement.

The shares were bought after two major accidents hit the budget carrier last year. On New Year's day Adam Air Flight 574 disapeared and was found to have crashed into the ocean near Sulawesi, leaving 102 missing and presumed dead. Shortly afterwards, another company aircraft snapped in half during landing, but fatalities were prevented because the compromised airframe held together. Both were Boeing 737 (B737) aircraft. At the airline's height, it operated 22 of these, serving domestic routes accross the Indonesian archipelago and daily international flights to Malaysia and Singapore.

Adam Air also had a serious incident in early 2006, when all navigational systems on a B737 failed, causing the plane to inadvertantly enter an accident blackspot. The aircraft was lost for several hours before performing an emergency landing hundreds of miles from its intended destination.

On March 10, another Adam Air B737 overshot the runway during landing at Batam island's airport. Since then, Adam Air has been issued two deadlines in rapid succession by the authorities - one to solve safety issues, and one to prove its financial viability. They have cut routes from 52 to 12, and defaulted on all payments on their aircraft to the leasing companies, who have seized back 12 of them.

Gustiono Kustianto, director of one of the two leasing companies, said the carrier's "life expectancy is less than a month," and that it owes US$14 million to leasing companies compared to $4.8 million of free capital.

Aviation director general Budhi Mulyawan Suyitno said that Adam Air had been grounded due to inadequate Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) standards and poor pilot training. He said that investigations into last week's crash, which injured five people and severely damaged the aircraft, had revealed "the pilot had no idea what to do in an emergency situation." The airline will spend three months grounded, after which it will be shut down entirely if it does not show it has improved.

"The Transport Ministry has decided to revoke Adam Air's operational specification, effective 12am Wednesday (4am AEDT), said Suyitno. "With this, Adam Air is banned from operating its aircraft. All of its planes must be automatically grounded." He commented that a quaterly evaluation had uncovered "violations that could put passengers' safety at risk".

The news coincides with a two-day ultimatum from Adam Air's insurance provider. Failure to pay the insurance premiums would also have resulted in grounding.

Founder Adam Suherman - whose family owns half the airline alongside Sandra Ang - commented today that the situation with the shareholders had demoralised pilots. "That in turn would affect their performance. It is very dangerous." He also said that he was not surprised Adam Air had been grounded. Yesterday, he said that there were no plans to file for bankruptcy.

His immediate reaction to the news from the insurance - which preceded the grounding by several hours - was that his airline likely could not insure the entire fleet, saying "There have been warnings from the insurance companies... Because every aircraft that is in operation must be insured, the operational activities will be temporarily suspended until there is a further decision from shareholders."

Adam Air's 2007 accidents, coupled with Garuda Indonesia Flight 200, sparked an industry review that determined none of the nation's air carriers were safe. The United States subsequently warned against using Indonesian airlines, and they were all added to the list of air carriers banned in the EU.

Garuda captain arrested, charged with manslaughter

Captain Marwoto Komar, the pilot in command (PIC) of a Garuda Indonesia B737-400 that crashed at Yogyakarta in March of 2007 has been arrested and charged with manslaughter. The accident occurred as Garuda Flight GA 200, with seven crew members and 133 passengers on board, arrived at Yogyakarta on a scheduled flight from Jakarta. Twenty-one people lost their lives after the aircraft overshot the runway at Yogyakarta, broke through a fence, crossed a road, and came to rest in a rice paddy where it caught fire.

In October of 2007, Indonesia's National Transportation Safety Committee (NTSC) issued a report on the accident, as well as an English-language media release about their findings. The media release stated that the NTSC's main finding was that "...the flight crew’s compliance with procedures was not at a level to ensure the safe operation of the aircraft."

More specifically, the NTSC media release said this of Capt. Marwoto Komar:

The aircraft was flown at an excessive airspeed and steep flight path angle during the approach and landing, resulting in an unstabilized approach. The PIC did not follow company procedures that required him to fly a stabilized approach, and he did not abort the landing and go around when the approach was not stabilized. His attention was fixated or channelized on landing the aircraft on the runway and he either did not hear, or disregarded the [Ground Proximity Warning System (GPWS)] alerts and warnings and calls from the copilot to go around.
Many in the international aviation community have expressed concern that the NTSC investigation fell short by not investigating more fully the reasons behind the actions of the captain, as well as his co-pilot, Gagam Jahman Rochman. The latter was accused of not following company procedures to "take control of the aircraft from the PIC when he saw that the pilot in command repeatedly ignored the GPWS alerts and warnings."

Upon hearing of Marwoto Komar's arrest, the Federation of Indonesian Pilots (FPI) staged a protest rally at the House of Representatives in Jakarta. The pilots, led by FPI president Manotar Napitupulu, told members of the House Commission in charge of transportation that this "criminalization of a pilot" could eventually affect flight safety. Their view is shared by many others.

The International Federation of Air Line Pilots' Associations (IFALPA), an advocacy group representing more than 100,000 pilots in more than 95 countries worldwide, issued a statement expressing concern over the arrest of Marwoto Komar, citing concerns that echo those of the FPI. Here is an excerpt from the IFALPA statement:
IFALPA believes that the circumstances of the accident as set forth in the final report of the Indonesian investigation authority leaves many serious questions concerning the crew actions prior to the accident. Central to these concerns are the underlying reasons for the reported behavior of Captain Marwoto Komar. Experienced pilots have considerable difficulty in attempting to explain what is reported in the context of normal airline operations.

The Federation believes that the explanations proffered by the report do not square with the collective experience of our members. The Federation has continually maintained that the report, while final, is in fact incomplete and that additional investigation into the underlying pathology of the crew actions is required to make certain that the factors contributing to the observed actions are fully identified. Unless this is done, there is little possibility that aviation safety in the area of
crew performance can be improved by the lessons of this accident. Clearly, a criminal prosecution at this time may well foreclose further investigation for safety purposes.

IFALPA is firmly of the belief that the criminalisation of individuals involved in accidents and incidents does little to improve air safety. Furthermore, IFALPA strongly insists that the principles recommended in Attachment E of ICAO Annex 13, which hold that there should be no criminal liability without intent to do harm, be the standard to which the crew is held. The Federation demands that any Indonesian criminal proceeding respect both these principles and the concept of due process.

The Federation expects that Captain Marwoto Komar will be released without the need to post a monetary bond as he has agreed to fully cooperate with the police investigation and clearly poses no danger to society. He remains a professional
who was involved in an unfortunate tragedy.

IFALPA will continue to closely monitor the criminal proceedings with the aim of ensuring that the judicial process in Indonesia is fundamentally fair and impartial for all crewmembers.
An article on the Australian news website News.co.au reports that Marwoto Komar's attorneys had requested that he be released from detention on bail, but that the request had been denied. The article quoted the Yogyakarta Police Chief, who said, "The letter from the suspect's lawyers has been accepted, but bail is not granted yet because we still need him for the investigation."

Adam Air Skids in Batam

TEMPO Interactive, Batam: Adam Air flight number KI-292 with the route of Jakarta-Batam skidded on the runway of Hang Nadim airport in Batam, Kepulauan Riau, yesterday. The B-737-400 aircraft with 171 passengers slid 70 meters toward one side of runway. Three people were injured with one remaining unconscious. The victims were taken to the hospital of Otorita Batam.

Danke Drajat, director of Adam Air communication department, said there were no severely injured passengers in this incident. “Only several are shocked”, he said. He confirmed all passengers have been evacuated. Adam Air, he said, has submitted this incident to the National Flights Safety Commission.

Razali Akbar, Head of Hang Nadim Airport, said that before the skid, the aircraft had touched the runway but it suddenly flew back. The landing then had to be done again. On the second landing , the aircraft looked unstable. After it landed, the aircraft turned to the right and went off the runway. “It is not clear why it suddenly skidded”, Rajazali said.

Razali said there were no sparks when the aircraft skidded. After it stopped, the front wheel was left dangling while the back wheel was down on the ground. Both left and right wings were broken. “It was raining when the aircraft landed”, he said.

Razali also confirmed that the runway condition was proper for take-off and landing because the viewing distance was 3,000 meters more out of a total of 4,025 meters . The runway and all navigation devices were functioning well. “This condition is adequate for the landing of a B737-400”, he said.

In response to this incident, the provincial police of Kepulauan Riau, held Sugiarto, pilot of Adam Air, while waiting for the KNKT team from Jakarta. Police also secured the plane to prevent any unexpected accident.

For two hours, the airport of Hang Nadim was closed for taking-off and landing. Hence, there were delays for the flight to Natuna (Merpati Airlines) and Jakarta (Air Asia and Lion Air).

The landing of several airlines was changed to another airport. Batavia airline from Jakarta, landed in Pekanbaru. Some of them-- Sriwijaya Air, Lion Air, and Mandala Air-- must return to Jakarta.

Tatang Kurniadi, Head of KNKT, said this incident is being handled by the Directorate of Airworthiness - - DSKU). KNKT only handles the accident incident. However, the minister of transportation ordered KNKT to analyse the incident. “Any incident, even the smallest one, should be of concern,” Tatang said.

Black Box from Adam Air Crash in Celebes Straits Revailed the "Human Error"

JAKARTA (AFP) - The pilots of an Indonesian jet caused a 2007 crash which killed all 102 people aboard by accidentally disconnecting the plane's autopilot, investigators said Tuesday.

The two pilots for budget airline Adam Air were trying to fix a problem with the plane's navigation instruments when they disconnected the device and lost control of the Boeing 737-400, government investigators found.

The jet was carrying 96 passengers and six crew when it plunged into the sea off Sulawesi island on January 1, 2007.

"Without the autopilot, the plane went out of control, listing to the right and pitching down," investigator Santoso Sayogo told a press conference.

Data recovered from the "black box" flight recorder revealed the co-pilot shouted "pull up!" six times before the plane went down.

Other final comments from the pilots were "Do you see it's messed up?" and "it's starting to fly like a bamboo ship!", according to data recovered from the flight recorder.

It also revealed the pilots were concerned they were going off course, but did not send a distress call.

Transport Minister Jusman Syafei Djamal said Adam Air had registered 154 defects in the Boeing 737-400's navigation system in the three months before the crash, showing the planes were poorly maintained.

"The accident happened because of a combination of several factors, including the failure of both pilots to intensively monitor flight instruments, especially in the last two minutes of the flight," Indonesia's transport safety chief Tatang Kurniadi said.

Another investigator said the plane was travelling at 10 times the normal landing speed when it hit the water and would have broken up on impact. No bodies were ever recovered.

Indonesia imposed a three-month flying ban on Adam Air this month after uncovering "violations that could put passengers' safety at risk."

The move followed a series of incidents that raised doubts over the airline's safety record, most recently when an Adam Air Boeing 737-400 with 175 people on board skidded off the runway in foul weather this month.

Last year all Boeing 737-300 aircraft operated by the airline were grounded temporarily after the fuselage of one plane cracked on landing, and in 2006 a jet went missing for several hours, eventually landing many miles from its intended destination.

The three-month ban is part of a push by Indonesia's government to improve the country's air safety record following a series of fatal accidents blamed on lax enforcement of safety regulations, poor maintenance and a lack of investment in transport infrastructure.

Last March, 21 people were killed when a jet from national carrier Garuda skidded off a runway.

Shortly after that, the European Union banned all Indonesian airlines from its airspace over security concerns and the United States advised its citizens not to use them.

Djamal said the government had stepped up its monitoring of the country's airlines and was now conducting quarterly inspections as part of efforts to overturn the EU ban.

"We will provide feedback to the airlines to enable them to improve their safety procedures," he said.

"We will also impose an immediate operating ban if there is any indication that an airliner may be putting passengers' lives at risk."