Garuda Flight 200 update

[Ben Longden]

Death plane came in too fast

 

Mark Forbes, Jakarta

 

April 7, 2007 Melb Age

 

A GARUDA Boeing 737 was travelling at 410 km/h, nearly double normal landing speed, when it slammed into Yogyakarta Airport's runway last month, bursting into flames and killing 21 people, according to the crash investigators' report.

 

The confidential report points to pilot error as the cause of the crash. Aviation experts confirmed speed and flap warnings would have been sounding in the cockpit and the pilot should have aborted the landing.

 

The preliminary report of Indonesia's Transport Safety Committee also reveals that:

 

■Yogyakarta's runway does not meet international safety standards, with its safety run-off only a quarter the recommended length.

 

■The Boeing's pilots reported a fault in the reverse thrust of one of the plane's engines shortly before take-off.

 

■Cockpit data recordings revealed no mechanical problems before the landing.

 

■Weather conditions were calm, contradicting the pilot's claims of a massive downdraft.

 

■There is no evidence of the pilots arguing in the cockpit before the crash.

 

■Fire trucks and rescue vehicles were unable to reach the crash site quickly and were improperly equipped.

 

Indonesian Transport Minister Hatta Radjasa has attempted to block the release of the "preliminary factual aircraft accident report", but The Age has obtained a full copy from sources in Jakarta. It contains all the technical details of the crash, but makes no final analysis.

 

It is clear that, having ruled out mechanical faults, investigators are focusing on pilot error and possible charges against Captain Marwoto Komar and co-pilot Gagam Rohman.

 

Psychiatrists have been brought in to analyse why Captain Komar ignored equipment warnings and continued the landing.

 

The report also raises the prospect that the inadequate safety run-off at Yogyakarta Airport and the failure of emergency services to respond quickly could have contributed to the crash and the number of fatalities.

 

Under international safety specifications, the safety run-off at the runway's end should ideally extend for 240 metres, with a minimum requirement of 90 metres. Yogyakarta's safety area is only 60 metres.

 

After bouncing more than a third of the way along the runway, the Boeing 737 did not have the space to stop. It overran the safety area, ploughed across the airport fence and an access road, and slid to a halt in a paddy field 210 metres away.

 

The 737's right wing was torn off crossing the road, severing fuel lines that started a fire. With front exits destroyed, most of the 21 who died were trapped near the front of the plane and perished in an "intense, fuel-fed, post-impact fire". One hundred and nineteen passengers and crew survived.

 

The airport rescue and fire fighting service was "unable to gain immediate access to the accident site" as it was outside the airport perimeter and there was no access road.

 

"The equipment used for the application of water/foam was not suitable to reach the wreckage," the report states.

 

According to cockpit recordings and radio transmissions, conditions were calm and clear for landing.

 

With the plane approaching at much faster than normal speed, its flaps were not in the landing position, investigators found. They were only extended five degrees when normally they would be at 30. It is believed investigators found no indication of flap malfunction.

 

Aviation consultant Gerry Soejatman told The Age the plane was coming in "way too fast". Recorded warnings of "low gear, low flaps" would have been broadcast in the cockpit. Normal procedure would be to abort the landing.

 

It is believed the co-pilot suggested a "go-around" seconds before the crash.

 

The report reveals that, before leaving Jakarta, the pilot told ground engineers that the left engine thrust-reverser fault light on the cockpit instruments had illuminated.

 

"The engineers reset the thrust reverser in the engine accessories unit and the fault light extinguished."

 

The plane was then classified airworthy.

 

The report states that the "investigation is continuing and will include further examination and analysis of the aircraft and the flight and voice recorders".