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Adam Air jetliner disaster caused by Structural Failure?


Thursday January 25, 2007

Preliminary findings of the National Committee for Transport Safety, KNKT, concluded that two most probable reasons for Adam Air Boeing 737-400 disappearance were: Structural Failure and Abnormal Weather Conditions, said Chief Investigator, Frans Wenas to Bisnis Indonesia’s Hendra Wibawa.  The plane, with 102 passengers and crew on board was on a routine direct flight between Surabaya on Java and Manado in North Sulawesi on 1 January, when it inexplicably disappeared from the radar screen at the Makassar Air Traffic Control tower. (See also Indonesia Digest 02.07)

Until today, 24 days after the accident, the exact location where precisely the plane had gone down still remains unknown, although hundreds of pieces of aircraft debris have been found washed along the beaches of Majene and Pare-Pare in South Sulawesi. 

Nonetheless, advanced technological equipment on the US Navy Ship Mary Sears and the Indonesian Navy vessel KRI Fatahillah, as well as satellite scanning have detected images of large metal pieces, possibly of a plane’s fuselage, in the Makassar Straits at a depth of 2,000 meters below sea level. This finding will be developed further, said Transport Minister Hatta Rajasa, after which it will be assessed whether it is at all possible to salvage the fuselage and the bodies of the passengers. Although, at this depth, the Minister admits Indonesia does not possess the technology to raise the wreckage from the bottom of the sea.    

A Singapore search and rescue team that was one of the first to scour the Straits of Makassar to locate the aircraft, has returned to Singapore, since the ship’s sonar equipment have been found unable to penetrate to a depth of over 1,500 meters below sea level.

In the latest development, the USNS Mary Sears is reported to have received signals from the missing plane’s black box, which is supposed to be at a depth of over 2,000 meters. 

Meantime, upon its preliminary findings, KNKT, recommended three actions to be taken by the government. These are firstly, that the Transport Minister reprimands Air Traffic Control (ATC) personnel to be more watchful, referring in particular to ATC Makassar staff. Secondly that pilots, - in this case in particular Adam Air pilots – control the aircraft speed when the plane meets with turbulence, and thirdly that Principle Maintenance Inspectors (PMI) of all airlines take note of the complaints mentioned in aircraft log books, especially those that had been noted down repeatedly. 

Meanwhile also, in order to improve and ensure airline safety in Indonesia, the Civil Aviation Watch, PAUKI, recommended two important actions to the government and Parliament. These are: firstly that KNKT become an independent Board similar to the Civil Aviation Board (CAB) in the United States, and be empowered to objectively assess, not only operators, but also regulators and regulations. Secondly, airline operators be obligated to submit routinely their financial audits through Standard Uniform Accounts. Because, it is through such audits that the independent Board may detect whether airline safety has been jeopardized in favour of gaining more profits.