Garuda Crash

Mar 7th, 2007, in News, by

A Garuda plane burst into flames upon landing in Yogyakarta.

Garuda

A Garuda Indonesia jetliner, flight GA 200, a Boeing 737-400 craft, carrying 140 people, caught fire upon landing at Adisucipto airport in Yogyakarta, Central Java.

One of the passengers was an old friend of this site, Din Syamsuddin, sitting in seat 7D. Din says he feels as if he was saved by the Almighty. antara (Din Syamsuddin’s mother-in-law is reported to have died of a heart attack after hearing that Din had been on board the crashed plane. antara) About 20 other people were not so fortunate and died, including the spokesman for the Australian ambassador in Indonesia, Elizabeth O’Neill. antara

First Air Marshal Benyamin Dandel, the air force commander at Adi Sucipto airport, where the accident took place, says that the plane was travelling too fast and ran off the runway, by 300 metres. antara

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has ordered an investigation to find out whether the plane was sabotaged, while some have complained that this will give the false impression that Indonesia is not safe, in security terms. A parliamentarian in Jakarta, Ngabalin, said that the president’s instruction would cause the image of Indonesia to become poorer, and would encourage foreign interference in the making of security legislation. detik

The plane which crashed, a Boeing 737-400 craft, was built in 1992 and had been in service with Garuda since 2002. It had total flight time of 34,000 hours. After being constructed it was used by Aloha Airlines of Hawaii, and then in 1996 it moved to Star Europe airlines. Later in 1997 it went into service with Jet Airways of India, until 2002. detik

A video of the immediate aftermath of the crash:

A later video of the plane on fire:

Some photos:

Garuda Crash, March 7 2007

Garuda Crash, March 7 2007

Garuda Crash, March 7 2007

April 2nd 2007.

Examination of the plane’s black box has shown that the pilots of the Garuda Airlines passenger jet were arguing moments before it crashed last month at an Indonesian airport, killing 21 people. The airliner’s cockpit audio recordings reveal that the pilot and co-pilot were arguing over their speed and wing flap angles moments before the crash, with the co-pilot advising that the pilot take the plane up and try another approach.

Chief investigator of the crash Tatang Kurniadi said his preliminary findings would point to human error as the cause of the disaster.

I worry that this accident came from the absent-mindedness from the cockpit.

April 5th 2007.

The investigation group from the National Team for Transportation says that the cause of the accident at Adisutjipto airport, Yogyakarta, on March 7th was over speeding when landing, not because of overshooting of the runway. The aircraft’s speed during landing was alleged to be around 150 km’s per hour.

However a police investigator says the problem was overshooting. The aircraft should have landed at a distance of 610 metres but based on the marks on the runway the landing was made at a distance of 704 metres from the total runway length of 2,100 metres. tempo

April 11th 2007.

The Sydney Morning Herald has revealed details of a preliminary report by Indonesia’s Transport Safety Committee on the crash which points to gross human error as the cause. SMH claims the Indonesian authorities are trying to suppress the report. It’s main details are:

  • Yogyakarta’s runway does not meet international safety standards.
  • The pilots reported a fault in the reverse thrust of one of the engines shortly before take-off.
  • Cockpit data recordings revealed no mechanical problems before the landing.
  • The weather was calm, contradicting the pilot’s claims of a massive down draught.
  • There is no evidence of the pilots arguing in the cockpit before the crash.
  • Fire engines and rescue vehicles were unable to reach the crash site quickly and were not properly equipped.

Read on at SMH.

October 23rd 2007. The pilot who flew the plane ignored repeated warnings not to land, a final report by the Indonesian National Transport Safety Committee has found.

The pilot was said to have disregarded fifteen warnings from the Ground Proximity Warning System (GPWS) and landed even though the jet was going at “an excessive airspeed and steep flight path angle resulting in an unstable approach”.

The pilot also employed an instrument landing system approach to the runway in Yogyakarta but did not inform ground control, which had cleared the aircraft for a visual approach. antara


72 Comments on “Garuda Crash”

  1. Dimp says:

    I cannot believe that even the Australians are faster than some Indonesians to react to help the victims.

    While Hatta Rajasa is still playing the blame game, the Australians have reacted quickly and send their emergency team to help anyone who needs help.

  2. Naga says:

    Believe it or not, the is not Hatta Rajasa’s fault, the CEO of Garuda should publicly apologise and resign…

    The govt needs to make sure all inspectors are doing their jobs, all engineers are doing their checks and all pilots have current medicals and instrument/ratings qualifications. If they they fail to do these, then there must be criminal penalties for the company management, without political interference.

    “I cannot believe that even the Australians are faster than some Indonesians to react to help the victims. ”

    What do you expect?

    Indonesia should swallow their pride and learn from them…

  3. Rambutan says:

    In short, we need to ‘un chill out’

    – Get pissed off with slack attitudes from airlines
    – Get pissed off at bad road safety
    – Get pissed off when Bus Drivers nearly kill people on the roads.

    Well, we would all be pissed off 24/7. Sure way for a heart attack…

    “Un-chill-out”, huh?? Hehe, I like that!

  4. Ihaknt says:

    Indonesia should swallow their pride and learn from them”¦

    Learn? Pah! The chance of this happening is like world peace. It ain’t happening! And since when do CEO from huge national companies, ministers, or anyone from the government ever publicly apologise? I would really like to see that! I’d be very surprised if anyone takes the responsibility of this another human-error avoidable accident.

  5. Dimp says:

    Believe it or not, the is not Hatta Rajasa’s fault, the CEO of Garuda should publicly apologise and resign”¦

    What is the point of having him in office then? He is the MINISTER OF TRANSPORT, then he should be taking care of the transport industry in Indonesia. When there is a problem he should be answering to the public.

  6. Achmad Sudarsono says:

    Its a sad reality: Indonesians have a relaxed attitude to safety. These accidents are the price. We can’t pin the blame on Garuda, Hatta Rajasa, the Ministry of Transport, or SBY; we need to have some instrospection and build a national culture that says it’s not ok to chill out on the job.

  7. Achmad Sudarsono says:

    The reasons the Aussies were there first is because they don’t think it’s ok to chill out on the job. They don’t talk about stupid things like ‘nasib,’ or ‘that’s life’ – the do something.

  8. Andrew says:

    From Kompas:

    Menteri Perhubungan Hatta Rajasa mengaku telah menyerahkan jabatannya sebagai menteri kepada Presiden Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. Perkara apakah dirinya akan diganti atau diminta mundur karena rangkaian kecelakaan transportasi yang menjadi tanggung jawabnya, Hatta menyerahkan sepenuhnya kepada Presiden.

    A step better, but why didn’t he just resign?

  9. Rockstar says:

    Naga, well said!! I totally agree with you.

    Aside from that, resigning is not the best answer. This may be harsh but Hatta needs to be investigated and -if needed- be punished necessarily.
    Because seriously, he should have told those airlines to throw away junks and bring in new planes. If they don’t have the budget, then close the airlines.

    I know it’s easy to say and hard to do, but the consequence that we see today for being so ignorant is what those pictures portray.

    I mean, is it really worth to fly an old and outdated plane (or even a new plane but with less maintenance to cut the budget) and risk even a single human life? If the reason again because of the budget, then it’s really disturbing. It’s like they’re saying, yea you know a new plane is costlier than a human life.

    Pathetic and very disturbing!

    note: and what happens to the Adam Air case, where’s the investigation?

  10. Andrew says:

    note: and what happens to the Adam Air case, where’s the investigation?

    The answer my friend, is blowing in the wind… 😀

  11. Rockstar says:

    ==============================
    let me add a few things.
    Not just tell them to throw away junks, but put a severe sanction against those who refuse to do so.
    Then investigate Hatta because he indirectly is responsible. If you need to ask why, it’s because he is the minister for goodness sake. If he’s not capable of doing it, then just resign and stop sucking peeps tax and money! Arrgghh I’m angry 🙁

  12. pj_bali says:

    I would have to agree with mr sudarsono in this instance: Indonesians do have a relaxed attitude toward safety. In this respect the minister is only reflecting the attitude of his constituents. How many people would use their seatbelts in Indonesia if there was not a law forcing them to do so? How many don’t use them in spite of the law or don’t use them while seated in the back seat? When I buckled up in a taxi the driver inquired whether I thought he was a poor driver. To be polite i explained that it was not hime I was worried about. When was the last time you saw a construction working wearing a hard hard or coveralls on a building site. Usually their work apparrel consists of flip-flops and shorts. Just for interests sake how many people who regularly use this site will send or receive an sms while driving…be honest now…does anyone even see the problem with such actions?

    Granted the minister has done very little in the face of all the recent accidents in the transportation sector. But will the next one be any better? The mindset needs to change before any real change can occur.

    I was reading on another blog that over 50,000 people die every year on the roads in Indonesia. This is a total waste yet it is seemingly ignored by politicians, religious leaders and the media.

    just my 2 cents

  13. Dimp says:

    Aside from that, resigning is not the best answer. This may be harsh but Hatta needs to be investigated and -if needed- be punished necessarily.

    He need to resign so somebody who is more capable can take his place and perform what he was suppose to do in the first place, he is still raking the money into his pocket. After his resignation there should be an independent commission to investigate whether he was negligent while in the office and be punished if found guilty. Although I don’t think this will ever happen, just look at Hamid Awaludin and Yusril, they obviously were corrupt to help Tommy to get his money, yet they are still acting like nothing has happened.

  14. Ihaknt says:

    Well he should apologise, resign, and have his bonuses taken back again. And that money should be used to compesate the victims. But bet you a million bucks that won’t happen!

  15. Cukurungan says:

    Is this a breaking news for INDONESIA MATTERS? if there is a corrup gov., in competent birocrat, dumb regulatory body and so on, I don’t think so.

    But what is worst than bunch smart guy and girls doing nothing but blaming , blaming, blaming and nothing else.

  16. Ihaknt says:

    Heh Cuk ngaca dong. Unless you are talking about yourself, then, my bad.

  17. Dimp says:

    Hi Cuk,

    But what is worst than bunch smart guy and girls doing nothing but blaming , blaming, blaming and nothing else.

    What do you mean nothing else, what have you done since waking up this morning then? Have you help any of the victims. Australians (led by John Howard who you claimed to be a criminal) have sent out emergency team, burn specialists, investigators to help determine the cause of the crash. The black box has also been sent out to (surprise-surprise) Australia.

    We are not blaming Hatta Rajasa, we merely want him to be responsible to what have been happening lately in Indonesia, we are concern that if he is still in charge then there will be no improvements in Indonesia. But if you prefer to have incompetents running the show then it is up to you.

  18. Joni Arief says:

    I fully agree with our President SBY! There has to be a very thorough investigation on the Garuda crash.
    Members of parliaments tends to be very sensitive when it comes to investigations on posibility of sabotage. WHY?
    It’s about time for our people to stand up and show that the majority of our people are PEACE LOVING & NON VIOLENT.
    Our President has been elected by 60% of our people, therefore
    he should not hesitate to take what ever action necessary to protect the silent majority. Do not only heed to the vocal minority.

  19. Hassan says:

    Dimp: Australia sent that emergency team because the fate of some Australian passengers are involved in this incident. Don’t give the Australian govt. too much credit, they didn’t do it for the sheer humanitarian intent. Domestic politics are involved here as well.

    But yes, I too blamed Hatta Rajasa, our incompetent and corrupt govt., and gremlins for the recent transportation-related accidents. 😀

    The problem is, Hatta Rajasa had no shame, integrity and competency, and our governmental culture had no precedence in the act of resigning after things went wrong. Perhaps we should take to the streets in protest from now on whenever these things happen in the future, so those fools can realize that they did something wrong, and we wouldn’t tolerate them anymore.

  20. Andrew says:

    Cuk, there is a big difference between accepting responsibility (or accountability) and being blamed.

  21. Rockstar says:

    Cuk, I observe your posts for a while and I know you have something against this forum and its people. Then why stay?

    Is this a breaking news for INDONESIA MATTERS? if there is a corrup gov., in competent birocrat, dumb regulatory body and so on, I don’t think so.

    But what is worst than bunch smart guy and girls doing nothing but blaming , blaming, blaming and nothing else.

    This is of course breaking news.
    First and foremost, this isn’t really a news about a corrupt goverment but it leads to that. Thing that is really anger me is the fact that in 3 months we have 3 (as I recall or maybe more) massive transportation disaster in Indonesia. Put yourself in their shoes Cuk, what IF you were happened to be in that plane? You wouldn’t be here anymore writing some hatred post against us. This can happen to anybody. I’m angry because they treat human’s life as nothing. I’m angry because of one person’s lack of responsibility caused some people to die and some people to suffer.

    If you aren’t angry, there is something wrong with you as a human, Cuk.

    And I agree totally with Hassan, this particular issue needs to be seriously evaluated. Cuk, these tragedies shouldn’t have had happened. And I’m angry because of that. As long as our gov keeps that same mentality this so-called blaming games will keep happening.

  22. Madesh says:

    Ooo guys,

    Do not blame it to Hatta Rajasa.
    He has been thinking too much until none of his black hairs left.
    But, wait a minutes, he has had white hairs before being appointed as the Transportation Minister, which means he has been thinking nothing after that.
    If he had been using his brain he would have lost all of his hairs.
    But that’s typical of Indonesian officers

  23. Bugiman says:

    Australians and Indonesians were saddened at the latest air disaster, and maybe we should wait for all the facts before we start the “blame game”, we do not know what caused the crash, and it could be a combination of many things.
    It was good to see Australians and Indonesians working together, in the end we do learn from each other. Lets keep working together, find out what caused it, and rectify the cause, not look for some scapegoat.
    The only aspect of the disaster that angered me a little, was the painting out of the Garuda logo on the tailfin of the aircraft, as if to hide any responsibility, and I feel, a childish act. It was a waste of time, every news service in the world already had pictures of it.
    By all accounts, Garuda should be proud of it’s safety record over the last few years, in very difficult commercial times for the industry.

    Cheers to all

    Bugiman

  24. 1ndra says:

    Well, buy newest aircrafts, ships, buses and trains.
    And let the price grows up 2-4 times to get a BEP then people tend to use their own bikes and cars and flood the streets and cause more traffic jams, pollutions and sure more accidents.
    What a dilemma.

  25. Ihaknt says:

    The only aspect of the disaster that angered me a little, was the painting out of the Garuda logo on the tailfin of the aircraft, as if to hide any responsibility, and I feel, a childish act.

    Really? That’s just plain silly! Sigh! I am speechless.

  26. Hassan says:

    Madesh: If he wants to save some of his remaining black hairs, then Hatta Radjasa should resign. 🙂

    Should he wait for the next major transportation accident? Or should he wait till he goes bald?

  27. 1ndra says:

    If he’s bald, then everyone will travel on foot.

  28. Wiranto says:

    A crash like that will surely close an airline.

  29. Dimp says:

    A crash like that will surely close an airline.

    Not necessarily, Adam Air had 2 incidents within a few months, yet they are still flying, the government should be more firm on the regulations.

  30. Cukurungan says:

    Rockstar,

    I won’t be angry to anyone without apparent reason. In this accident, I didn’t think Hatta to be accountable and responsible for the Garuda crash because the root cause of the crash was not related to safety issue of the plane itself or the airport but it was caused by negligent act of the pilot who forced the plane to make hard landing while the speed of the aircraft was still too fast to make smooth landing.

    Let us wait what the pilot answers why he did so, if there is clear evidence that leads to direct or indirect fault of Hatta, yes he should not only resign but to be hanged for him will be much better.

    Regard,
    sokpintarman

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