LION AIR'S MD-90S FLEET TEMPORARILY GROUNDED FOR SAFETY CHECKS

akarta, Mar 10, 2009 (Asia Pulse Data Source via COMTEX) -- The ministry of transportation has ordered the grounding of all Lion Air MD-90 aircraft for three to four days for safety checks after one of them skidded at Soekarno-Hatta airport here on Monday.

"The decision was taken to ascertain the safety of all the aircraft," the ministry's director general of air transportation, Herry Bhakti Singayuda, said here on Tuesday replying a press questions about Monday's incident.

A Lion Air MD-90 skidded on the runway of Soekarno-Hatta airport after landing in heavy rain but none of its 165 passengers and crew members were injured in the incident.

Previously, on February 23, another Lion Air aircraft of the same type made an emergency landing at Hang Nadim airport in Batam after its front wheel failed to function. All passengers were safe but 30 percent of them suffered shock.

Herry said although nobody was killed in the two incidents the authorities considered it important to check all MD-90 planes because they had often been involved in accidents.

"The checks are to be done as an anticipatory effort to prevent the recurrence of incidents. It is also to be done to make sure that all of the planes are still airworthy. The decision on whether or not the planes are airworthy will be taken fairly and wisely after thorough investigations," he said.

He said the pilots that had flown the ill-fated planes meanwhile had been banned from flying any plane for a month pending the results of the investigation on the incidents by the National Committee for Transportation Safety (KNKT).

"If the results show human error they will be given a sanction," he said.

He said plane accidents could be caused by various factors but the main three of them were human, weather and technical factors. In view of that he said a thorough study had to be done to find out the real cause of the two incidents and this was the authority of the KNKT.

"Study was also needed to see if the planes have routinely been checked in line with aviation rules and the law," he said.

Herry said accidents could happen on any plane including the new one accidents. He said the government could not as yet tell if the MD-90 type could still be operated or not.

According to the ministry's data only Lion Air operated MD-90s totalling five units. "So, if they are all grounded it is hope it will not disrupt national seat capacity," he said.

Lion Air MD-90 in Batam landing incident

By Leithen Francis

A Lion Air Boeing MD-90 late yesterday landed at Batam airport without its front landing gear extended, resulting in damage to the undercarriage and the airport having to be closed.
The Indonesian airline's general director, Edward Sirait, says the MD-90, local registration PK-LIO, was on a domestic flight from Medan to Batam when the crew discovered the aircraft's front landing gear was unable to be deployed.
He says the pilots carried out an emergency landing at Batam and no one on board was injured.
The aircraft had to be towed to the apron and the airport was closed until 0600 this morning, adds Sirait.
Local news reports say the emergency landing happened at around 1915 local time yesterday. Pictures taken last night show fire crews spraying foam on the aircraft to prevent fire.

Lion Air has five MD-90s as well as MD-80-series aircraft but has been phasing out its older MDs with new Boeing 737-900ERs.

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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.

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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.