♥♥ When your brother dies, your childhood fades,there being one less person to remember it with...
It's like losing your computer and there's no back-up ♥♥
Garrison Keillor
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Three Years
♥♥ When your brother dies, your childhood fades,there being one less person to remember it with...
It's like losing your computer and there's no back-up ♥♥
Garrison Keillor
Monday, December 14, 2009
Garuda wont reinstate pilot cleared of negligence
ROD MCGUIRK
SMH December 14, 2009
JAKARTA: National carrier Garuda Indonesia has ruled out reinstating a pilot despite an appeal court overturning his conviction for causing a crash landing in 2007 that killed 21.
The High Court of Yogyakarta quashed Captain Marwoto Komar's conviction for negligence in the fiery crash of a Boeing 737-400 airliner at Yogyakarta airport on March 7, 2007, lawyers said last week.
Komar was sentenced in April to two years in prison, half the sentence that prosecutors had asked for.
Garuda said Komar, a career pilot for 22 years, resigned after an initial accident investigation that found he ignored 15 automated warnings and calls by his co-pilot to circle around the airport again.
"He has not been employed by the company since then and we do not expect this situation to change," Garuda said in a statement.
"We wish to reassure everyone that the incident of March 2007 has not been in vain as the airline has since invested heavily in pilot training and safety."
Komar was initially charged with deliberately crashing the plane. He approached the airport too fast and the airliner careered off the runway into a rice paddy where it burst into flames.
Komar blamed mechanical problems. He told the court during the lengthy trial he knew the plane was coming in too steeply but when he turned off the automatic pilot and tried to pull up the nose manually it did not respond.
Five Australians were among the 21 killed. One hundred and twenty people survived the crash.
Indonesia has one of Asia's worst aviation records and Garuda's planes were until recently blacklisted from landing in the European Union. Experts say poor maintenance, rule-bending and a shortage of properly trained pilots may be to blame.
AP
SMH December 14, 2009
JAKARTA: National carrier Garuda Indonesia has ruled out reinstating a pilot despite an appeal court overturning his conviction for causing a crash landing in 2007 that killed 21.
The High Court of Yogyakarta quashed Captain Marwoto Komar's conviction for negligence in the fiery crash of a Boeing 737-400 airliner at Yogyakarta airport on March 7, 2007, lawyers said last week.
Komar was sentenced in April to two years in prison, half the sentence that prosecutors had asked for.
Garuda said Komar, a career pilot for 22 years, resigned after an initial accident investigation that found he ignored 15 automated warnings and calls by his co-pilot to circle around the airport again.
"He has not been employed by the company since then and we do not expect this situation to change," Garuda said in a statement.
"We wish to reassure everyone that the incident of March 2007 has not been in vain as the airline has since invested heavily in pilot training and safety."
Komar was initially charged with deliberately crashing the plane. He approached the airport too fast and the airliner careered off the runway into a rice paddy where it burst into flames.
Komar blamed mechanical problems. He told the court during the lengthy trial he knew the plane was coming in too steeply but when he turned off the automatic pilot and tried to pull up the nose manually it did not respond.
Five Australians were among the 21 killed. One hundred and twenty people survived the crash.
Indonesia has one of Asia's worst aviation records and Garuda's planes were until recently blacklisted from landing in the European Union. Experts say poor maintenance, rule-bending and a shortage of properly trained pilots may be to blame.
AP
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Ruling denies justice for Australian crash victims
DANIELLE TEUTSCH
SMH December 13, 2009
THE families of the Australians killed in the Garuda plane crash in 2007 are angry and disappointed that the pilot will escape a prison term and will be able to return to flying if he chooses.
Marwoto Komar had his conviction for criminal negligence quashed by an Indonesian court, in a shock decision made public last week.
Captain Marwoto had been sentenced to two years in prison in April after a court heard evidence he ignored 15 automated warnings and brought his plane into land too fast and from a much greater height than normal.
Yogyakarta's High Court overturned the decision, finding Captain Marwoto's action of negligence was not ''legally and convincingly proven'', clearing the way for him to return to work.
The crash at Yogyakarta Airport in 2007 killed 21 people, including five Australians: diplomat Liz O'Neill, Australian Financial Review journalist Morgan Mellish, AusAid official Allison Sudradjat and Australian Federal Police officers Mark Scott and Brice Steele. The Sydney Morning Herald journalist Cynthia Banham was badly injured.
Caroline Mellish, sister of Morgan, said the decision meant no one had taken responsibility for the tragedy.
''I'm angry because there have been no ramifications from the crash, for Garuda or Indonesia as a whole.
''The fact he has had his conviction quashed and pilot status reinstated, it's like nothing's happened,'' Ms Mellish said.
She did not expect any further action given the appeal went to the High Court in Indonesia. Ms Mellish also did not expect any diplomatic entreaties from the Australian Government because of its close ties to its Asian neighbour.
''It would be nice … but I don't hold out any hope of that happening,'' she said. ''It was always about making sure that something as extreme as this didn't happen again and that other families didn't have to go through something like this.''
Simone Kerr, sister of AusAid official Allison Sudradjat, was still in shock that the pilot would now be free to fly again. Part of the High Court finding was that Captain Marwoto's ''rights, position and status … should be restored''.
''My greatest fear is that he will be flying again. He needs to be held accountable for his actions,'' Ms Kerr, who lives in Brisbane, said.
''The conviction didn't bring Allison back, but provided some comfort. Dad would have been particularly upset.''
Allison Sudradjat's father, Kevin Keevil, died in October aged 70. Mr Keevil had prostate cancer but his wife Stasia, Allison's stepmother, said he was also worn out by grief.
Mr Keevil had described the original two-year sentencing in April as ''inadequate'', and he would have been devastated to find out that the pilot would escape all punishment, Mrs Keevil said.
''He would have been terribly upset. He lost his beloved daughter, which took a lot out of him. And now to find that this man [is free]!'' she said.
''There is no justice in this world.''
SMH December 13, 2009
THE families of the Australians killed in the Garuda plane crash in 2007 are angry and disappointed that the pilot will escape a prison term and will be able to return to flying if he chooses.
Marwoto Komar had his conviction for criminal negligence quashed by an Indonesian court, in a shock decision made public last week.
Captain Marwoto had been sentenced to two years in prison in April after a court heard evidence he ignored 15 automated warnings and brought his plane into land too fast and from a much greater height than normal.
Yogyakarta's High Court overturned the decision, finding Captain Marwoto's action of negligence was not ''legally and convincingly proven'', clearing the way for him to return to work.
The crash at Yogyakarta Airport in 2007 killed 21 people, including five Australians: diplomat Liz O'Neill, Australian Financial Review journalist Morgan Mellish, AusAid official Allison Sudradjat and Australian Federal Police officers Mark Scott and Brice Steele. The Sydney Morning Herald journalist Cynthia Banham was badly injured.
Caroline Mellish, sister of Morgan, said the decision meant no one had taken responsibility for the tragedy.
''I'm angry because there have been no ramifications from the crash, for Garuda or Indonesia as a whole.
''The fact he has had his conviction quashed and pilot status reinstated, it's like nothing's happened,'' Ms Mellish said.
She did not expect any further action given the appeal went to the High Court in Indonesia. Ms Mellish also did not expect any diplomatic entreaties from the Australian Government because of its close ties to its Asian neighbour.
''It would be nice … but I don't hold out any hope of that happening,'' she said. ''It was always about making sure that something as extreme as this didn't happen again and that other families didn't have to go through something like this.''
Simone Kerr, sister of AusAid official Allison Sudradjat, was still in shock that the pilot would now be free to fly again. Part of the High Court finding was that Captain Marwoto's ''rights, position and status … should be restored''.
''My greatest fear is that he will be flying again. He needs to be held accountable for his actions,'' Ms Kerr, who lives in Brisbane, said.
''The conviction didn't bring Allison back, but provided some comfort. Dad would have been particularly upset.''
Allison Sudradjat's father, Kevin Keevil, died in October aged 70. Mr Keevil had prostate cancer but his wife Stasia, Allison's stepmother, said he was also worn out by grief.
Mr Keevil had described the original two-year sentencing in April as ''inadequate'', and he would have been devastated to find out that the pilot would escape all punishment, Mrs Keevil said.
''He would have been terribly upset. He lost his beloved daughter, which took a lot out of him. And now to find that this man [is free]!'' she said.
''There is no justice in this world.''
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Garuda crash pilot 'wants to fly again'
ADAM GARTRELL
SMH December 12, 2009
An Indonesian pilot cleared of wrongdoing over a 2007 crash that killed 21 people, including five Australians, says he wants to fly again.
The Yogyakarta High Court on Friday overturned Marwoto Komar's criminal negligence conviction and two year prison sentence imposed earlier this year for the March 2007 crash at Yogyakarta airport.
The court ordered that the charges against Komar be dropped and he be returned to his position.
Komar on Saturday said he was relieved by the verdict.
"At times like this, after all the troubles I've been through, I feel like my prayers have been answered," he told AAP.
Komar said his "personal obsession" was to fly again.
"It is my personal intention to get my licence back," he said.
"Flying's been my life for more than 22 years.
"Until the end of time, flying will be my life."
Komar's licence was suspended in the wake of the crash and he was fired by national carrier Garuda Indonesia.
Komar has worked as a car dealer, a taxi driver and a fertiliser seller during the two and a half years since the crash. He said his family has struggled to survive on his meagre earnings since losing his pilot's job.
"If I had died in the crash, then it would've been a great loss for me and the family," he said.
"I survived but still it was difficult.
"I don't want anyone to pity me for what I've been through but this is what I've experienced.
"I just hope all's well for the future."
Komar's lawyers believe prosecutors will not be able to appeal this week's court decision to a higher court because of the order that the charges be dropped.
"The court has recognised that Marwoto did all he could to save the plane and that if he hadn't, there would have been a higher number of casualties," lawyer Mohamad Assegaf said.
Komar's Boeing 737 slammed onto the runway at Yogyakarta airport, careered into a field and exploded in flames on March 7, 2007.
Five Australians were killed in the crash: diplomat Liz O'Neill, AusAID official Allison Sudradjat, Australian Federal Police officers Brice Steele and Mark Scott, and Australian Financial Review journalist Morgan Mellish.
Investigators had argued Komar ignored a series of warnings not to land the plane as he brought it in at about twice the safe speed. But Komar blamed the disaster on mechanical problems.
The head of the Indonesian Pilots Federation, Manotar Napitupulu, welcomed the court's verdict.
"The court stated that he should be reinstated in his position and that is not impossible," Napitipulu said.
"Why not?
"If he passed all the tests, psychological test, physical test, performance test and others, then why he could not fly a plane anymore?
"His profession is a pilot and he's already been punished."
SMH December 12, 2009
An Indonesian pilot cleared of wrongdoing over a 2007 crash that killed 21 people, including five Australians, says he wants to fly again.
The Yogyakarta High Court on Friday overturned Marwoto Komar's criminal negligence conviction and two year prison sentence imposed earlier this year for the March 2007 crash at Yogyakarta airport.
The court ordered that the charges against Komar be dropped and he be returned to his position.
Komar on Saturday said he was relieved by the verdict.
"At times like this, after all the troubles I've been through, I feel like my prayers have been answered," he told AAP.
Komar said his "personal obsession" was to fly again.
"It is my personal intention to get my licence back," he said.
"Flying's been my life for more than 22 years.
"Until the end of time, flying will be my life."
Komar's licence was suspended in the wake of the crash and he was fired by national carrier Garuda Indonesia.
Komar has worked as a car dealer, a taxi driver and a fertiliser seller during the two and a half years since the crash. He said his family has struggled to survive on his meagre earnings since losing his pilot's job.
"If I had died in the crash, then it would've been a great loss for me and the family," he said.
"I survived but still it was difficult.
"I don't want anyone to pity me for what I've been through but this is what I've experienced.
"I just hope all's well for the future."
Komar's lawyers believe prosecutors will not be able to appeal this week's court decision to a higher court because of the order that the charges be dropped.
"The court has recognised that Marwoto did all he could to save the plane and that if he hadn't, there would have been a higher number of casualties," lawyer Mohamad Assegaf said.
Komar's Boeing 737 slammed onto the runway at Yogyakarta airport, careered into a field and exploded in flames on March 7, 2007.
Five Australians were killed in the crash: diplomat Liz O'Neill, AusAID official Allison Sudradjat, Australian Federal Police officers Brice Steele and Mark Scott, and Australian Financial Review journalist Morgan Mellish.
Investigators had argued Komar ignored a series of warnings not to land the plane as he brought it in at about twice the safe speed. But Komar blamed the disaster on mechanical problems.
The head of the Indonesian Pilots Federation, Manotar Napitupulu, welcomed the court's verdict.
"The court stated that he should be reinstated in his position and that is not impossible," Napitipulu said.
"Why not?
"If he passed all the tests, psychological test, physical test, performance test and others, then why he could not fly a plane anymore?
"His profession is a pilot and he's already been punished."
Crashed jet pilot's conviction quashed in high court
TOM ALLARD
HERALD CORRESPONDENT
December 12, 2009
JAKARTA: The pilot of a Garuda jet that crashed in Yogyakarta in 2007 - killing 21 people, including five Australians - has had his conviction for criminal negligence quashed on appeal to the province's high court.
Marwoto Komar was sentenced to two years in prison in April after a court heard evidence he ignored 15 automated warnings and brought his plane into land too fast and from a much greater height than normal.
The plane smashed into the runway at Yogyakarta Airport and skidded into a nearby rice field before bursting into flames.
In a decision on September 29 that was made public this week, the high court found that Captain Marwoto's action of negligence was not ''legally and convincingly proven''.
''The defendant's rights, position and status therefore should be restored.''
The judgment means Captain Marwoto can return to flying. He never went to prison as he was released on bail while the appeal was heard.
The five Australians who died were the diplomat Liz O'Neill, an Australian Financial Review journalist, Morgan Mellish, an AusAid official, Allison Sudrajat, and Australian Federal Police officers Mark Scott and Brice Steele. The Herald journalist Cynthia Banham was badly injured.
The original decision finding Captain Marwoto guilty of criminal negligence was unusual in that it did not find him at fault for ignoring the warnings or trying to land the plane at excessive speed.
Captain Marwoto's lawyer, Mochtar Zuhdi, said the high court's decision could not be appealed.
HERALD CORRESPONDENT
December 12, 2009
JAKARTA: The pilot of a Garuda jet that crashed in Yogyakarta in 2007 - killing 21 people, including five Australians - has had his conviction for criminal negligence quashed on appeal to the province's high court.
Marwoto Komar was sentenced to two years in prison in April after a court heard evidence he ignored 15 automated warnings and brought his plane into land too fast and from a much greater height than normal.
The plane smashed into the runway at Yogyakarta Airport and skidded into a nearby rice field before bursting into flames.
In a decision on September 29 that was made public this week, the high court found that Captain Marwoto's action of negligence was not ''legally and convincingly proven''.
''The defendant's rights, position and status therefore should be restored.''
The judgment means Captain Marwoto can return to flying. He never went to prison as he was released on bail while the appeal was heard.
The five Australians who died were the diplomat Liz O'Neill, an Australian Financial Review journalist, Morgan Mellish, an AusAid official, Allison Sudrajat, and Australian Federal Police officers Mark Scott and Brice Steele. The Herald journalist Cynthia Banham was badly injured.
The original decision finding Captain Marwoto guilty of criminal negligence was unusual in that it did not find him at fault for ignoring the warnings or trying to land the plane at excessive speed.
Captain Marwoto's lawyer, Mochtar Zuhdi, said the high court's decision could not be appealed.
Friday, December 11, 2009
Garuda pilot's conviction quashed
SMH December 11, 2009
AAP
An Indonesian court has overturned the criminal negligence conviction of a Garuda pilot whose plane crash landed in 2007, killing 21 people including five Australians.
The Yogyakarta High Court on Friday announced its verdict on the appeal brought by Marwoto Komar, who was convicted and sentenced to two years' prison in April.
The court said prosecutors had failed to prove Komar "officially and convincingly guilty of a crime".
The panel of five judges ordered the charges against Komar be dropped and that his "position" and "dignity" be returned.
Komar's lawyer Muchtar Zuhdy applauded the court's move.
"The defendant tried to make a maximum effort as a captain to save the plane and the passengers," Zuhdy told AAP.
"He is not guilty."
Zuhdy believes the court's order that the charges be dropped means prosecutors will not be able to appeal the decision.
"That means this decision is the final decision," Zuhdy said.
Komar's Boeing 737 slammed onto the runway at Yogyakarta airport, careered into a field and exploded in flames on March 7, 2007.
Five Australians were killed in the crash: diplomat Liz O'Neill, AusAID official Allison Sudradjat, Australian Federal Police officers Brice Steele and Mark Scott, and Australian Financial Review journalist Morgan Mellish.
Investigators had argued Komar ignored a series of warnings not to land the plane as he brought it in at about twice the safe speed.
But Komar blamed the disaster on mechanical problems.
AAP
An Indonesian court has overturned the criminal negligence conviction of a Garuda pilot whose plane crash landed in 2007, killing 21 people including five Australians.
The Yogyakarta High Court on Friday announced its verdict on the appeal brought by Marwoto Komar, who was convicted and sentenced to two years' prison in April.
The court said prosecutors had failed to prove Komar "officially and convincingly guilty of a crime".
The panel of five judges ordered the charges against Komar be dropped and that his "position" and "dignity" be returned.
Komar's lawyer Muchtar Zuhdy applauded the court's move.
"The defendant tried to make a maximum effort as a captain to save the plane and the passengers," Zuhdy told AAP.
"He is not guilty."
Zuhdy believes the court's order that the charges be dropped means prosecutors will not be able to appeal the decision.
"That means this decision is the final decision," Zuhdy said.
Komar's Boeing 737 slammed onto the runway at Yogyakarta airport, careered into a field and exploded in flames on March 7, 2007.
Five Australians were killed in the crash: diplomat Liz O'Neill, AusAID official Allison Sudradjat, Australian Federal Police officers Brice Steele and Mark Scott, and Australian Financial Review journalist Morgan Mellish.
Investigators had argued Komar ignored a series of warnings not to land the plane as he brought it in at about twice the safe speed.
But Komar blamed the disaster on mechanical problems.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Friday, July 31, 2009
Friday, May 29, 2009
Morgan Mellish Memorial Project
IMPROVEMENT OF EDUCATION QUALITY OF PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN POST-EMERGENCY YOGYAKARTA
In memory of the AFR Journalist, the Morgan Mellish Memorial Project was set up to help support a UNICEF education project in Indonesia.
In 2006 a large earthquake devastated the province of Yogyakarta in Indonesia and 1200 schools were damaged or destroyed. The funds received from the The Morgan Mellish Foundation and from Fairfax Business Media have enabled UNICEF to rebuild some of these schools and improve the quality of primary education in Yogyakarta.
The Morgan Mellish Memorial Project has helped to improve the education of thousands of children giving them a chance for a better future.
THE PROJECT – CREATING LEARNING COMMUNITIES FOR CHILDREN (CLCC)
Immediately after the 2006 Yogyakarta earthquake, UNICEF initiated provision of temporary learning spaces, basic learning materials, and psychosocial support for 270 schools benefitting approximately 20,000 children.
After the emergency phase, UNICEF focused on the provision of facilities and school building repairs and maintenance as well as working to improve the quality of delivery of basic education and generating better governance in the school management.
The objectives of this project is to improve the education of hundreds of children, giving them the chance for a better future and provide a permanent memorial to remember Morgan Mellish.
RESULTS:
The funds received from the Morgan Mellish Foundation and Fairfax Business Media have enabled UNICEF to rebuild 12 schools and improve the quality of primary education being delivered at those schools through development of teaching aids; training for teachers and community workers in school planning and resource management; grants for educational materials such as textbooks to supplement government funding.
In memory of the AFR Journalist, the Morgan Mellish Memorial Project was set up to help support a UNICEF education project in Indonesia.
In 2006 a large earthquake devastated the province of Yogyakarta in Indonesia and 1200 schools were damaged or destroyed. The funds received from the The Morgan Mellish Foundation and from Fairfax Business Media have enabled UNICEF to rebuild some of these schools and improve the quality of primary education in Yogyakarta.
The Morgan Mellish Memorial Project has helped to improve the education of thousands of children giving them a chance for a better future.
THE PROJECT – CREATING LEARNING COMMUNITIES FOR CHILDREN (CLCC)
Immediately after the 2006 Yogyakarta earthquake, UNICEF initiated provision of temporary learning spaces, basic learning materials, and psychosocial support for 270 schools benefitting approximately 20,000 children.
After the emergency phase, UNICEF focused on the provision of facilities and school building repairs and maintenance as well as working to improve the quality of delivery of basic education and generating better governance in the school management.
The objectives of this project is to improve the education of hundreds of children, giving them the chance for a better future and provide a permanent memorial to remember Morgan Mellish.
RESULTS:
The funds received from the Morgan Mellish Foundation and Fairfax Business Media have enabled UNICEF to rebuild 12 schools and improve the quality of primary education being delivered at those schools through development of teaching aids; training for teachers and community workers in school planning and resource management; grants for educational materials such as textbooks to supplement government funding.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Perilous approach
Stephen Fitzpatrick April 07, 2009
The Australian
IF it seems Indonesia's air safety record has improved since the Garuda crash two years ago that claimed 21 lives and has now seen pilot Marwoto Komar sentenced to jail, it is an illusion at best. Less than two hours after yesterday's decision, a military plane crashed into a hangar at an airbase in West Java, killing 24 crew.
And while there has not been a commercial air disaster on such a scale as the Garuda crash since that morning, a closer inspection of the lessons learned reveals structural issues affecting Indonesian aviation.
After Marwoto variously blamed wind and mechanical problems during landing, and his co-pilot Gagam Saman Rochmana changed his story on the stand to say that buffeting had caused him to black out during the fatal final seconds, the experienced 45-year-old captain has been found guilty of causing death by negligent flying, and sentenced to two years in jail.
It's a historic decision, marking one of the few times an airline captain has been found guilty of a criminal offence in relation to a crash - and the first such time in Indonesia - but Marwoto is far from the only weak spot in Indonesian aviation.
The facts of the day are well known and were repeated in the summing up in court yesterday in the central Java city of Yogyakarta, where the tragedy occurred.
Soon after dawn on March 7, 2007, Marwoto, having ignored a growing deviation from his filed flight plan while still at least 10 minutes from Yogyakarta's airport, then a series of automated cockpit voice warnings and finally the shouted urgings of his co-pilot, brought his Boeing 737-400 in at twice the correct speed.
The jet bounced three times on hitting the runway, then burst through a fence, across a military access road and into a paddy field, where it caught fire.
Among the 21 who died were five Australians: Australian Federal Police officers Brice Steele and Mark Scott, AusAid country head Allison Sudradjat, diplomat Elizabeth O'Neill and The Australian Financial Review journalist Morgan Mellish. The Sydney Morning Herald reporter Cynthia Banham was seriously injured, losing both legs.
All were travelling in connection with a visit to the ancient royal city by then foreign minister Alexander Downer.
But air accident investigators say it's never a single thing that causes a crash; rather, there is a build-up of factors, most of which could have been addressed individually.
Had it not been for the access road where there should have been a safety run-off area, Marwoto's inexplicable decision to land despite all the warnings might not have produced the torn wings, ruptured fuel tanks and subsequent inferno that caused most of the 21 deaths.
Had airport emergency services been adequately equipped and maintained, and had they been able to get across the access road to where the jet was burning, more lives could have been saved. Instead, firefighters tried in vain to direct their under-pressurised hoses from more than 100m away, hindered further by spectators riding motorcycles across them.
The Indonesian Pilots Federation says Marwoto should never have been taken to a criminal trial but instead should have been subject only to industry and civil sanctions, as are most pilots who survive such incidents.
"His licence has been revoked, that's the heaviest penalty possible for a pilot, there's nothing above that," federation spokesman Manotar Napitupulu said last week.
Critics of the stranglehold pilots' associations worldwide have over the issue of criminal prosecutions say pilots should be subject to the same duty of care and liability issues as other professionals, and to criminal prosecutions where relevant. But pilots insist judges and juries are not competent to examine negligence in their industry and insist other failings, such as maintenance, industry standards and company policy - including fuel quota regimes - have a part to play in accidents.
The key question is whether Indonesia has done anything about addressing the broader issues of transport safety that the Garuda crash revealed. The answer is a resounding no. It's not for want of trying, including through a $24 million, three-year fighting fund from Australia designed to improve our largest neighbour's ability to turn around its appalling safety record.
But barely a week goes by without an air traffic incident of some kind. Yesterday's crash of a military Fokker 27 at Bandung, killing 24, came two weeks after a plane operated by the second-string national airline, Sriwijaya Air, was forced to make an emergency landing after an engine failed at 610m. That Jakarta-bound 737-200 had barely left the runway at Tanjung Pinang, on Bintan island south of Singapore, when the pilot requested urgent clearance to divert to nearby Batam island.
Days earlier, a passenger jet operated by Lion Air slid off the runway at Jakarta's airport while landing in heavy rain, breaking the front landing gear and left wing. Luckily there were no injuries among the 158 passengers and six crew, but the extraordinary thing is how commonplace and accepted such incidents have become.
Indonesian airlines have pariah status internationally almost everywhere outside Asia except for Australia, and there have long been claims that exception exists only because of the political turmoil a ban on Indonesian carriers flying to Australia would produce. Not least, presumably, would be a reciprocal Indonesian attack on Australian airlines, and with the global financial crisis seeing Australian consumers increasingly shifting to low-cost, short-haul flights such as the traditional holiday in Bali, the economic effect would be deep and lasting.
A European Union ban on all Indonesian airlines has been in place since July 2007; it was prolonged indefinitely last June. The edict is not restricted to any one company; the flagship carrier, Garuda, had to gain a special exemption to fly President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his entourage to London last week for the G20 meeting. It was the first Indonesian flight to Europe since the restriction was imposed in response to the 2007 Garuda crash and to an earlier Adam Air disaster, when a plane disappeared off Sulawesi island on New Year's Day 2007 as its disoriented pilots misread vital instrumentation and mistakenly turned off the autopilot. All 102 people on board were killed.
Observers do not expect the EU ban to be lifted before the second half of this year, although Garuda has ordered 10 widebody Boeing 777-300 jets with which it hopes to resume services to Amsterdam next year. Indonesia's airlines are also accorded the US Federal Aviation Authority's lowest rating.
It's a precarious position for the industry to be in, since with the global economic downturn air travel across Southeast Asia is a key growth market and Indonesia's figures are especially healthy. Transport Ministry data shows domestic air travel leapt from about 10 million passengers annually six years ago to more than 40 million today.
The Australian assistance package, signed by Transport Minister Anthony Albanese in Jakarta in January last year, is meant to improve safety across all transport sectors. The troubled maritime sector, which features regular rainy-season sinkings of overcrowded passenger ferries, is also a beneficiary under the program.
The package is strictly about capacity building, not, for instance, addressing crucial concerns such as the access road at Yogyakarta, which still remains in place, partly due to squabbles over who ought to pay for its relocation. Most airports across Indonesia have similar basic structural defects of various kinds.
"This capacity building involves accident investigation training, also training flight safety inspectors with regard both to operational and technical matters," says Transport Ministry spokesman Bambang Ervan.
Indonesia's National Transport Safety Committee (KNKT) also has acquired technology recently that could aid technicians trying to pull information off black-box cockpit voice recorders and flight data recorders that can pinpoint what went wrong in the final moments of a doomed journey.
"Although we cannot yet use (these devices), we hope we will be able to by the end of this year or the beginning of next, but because they are still new, the technicians and analysts are still being trained in Australia," Ervan says.
He says Indonesia is anticipating the day it can perform credible investigations into its own disasters, a process with which, in the case of the Adam Air and Garuda crashes, it was heavily reliant on outside help. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau, for instance, played a leading hand in preparing the accident report into the Garuda crash.
The head of the bureau's Indonesian equivalent agency, Tatang Kurniadi, admitted a month ago his office was too understaffed to produce adequate investigations into most incidents and that some matters remained unexamined.
"This is a matter of human resources and skills," Kurniadi said at a transport safety workshop in Jakarta, adding that his office had just 39 investigators and that, as these were hired on a contract basis, they were not paid regularly.
Industry analyst and Angkasa (Aerospace) magazine editor Dudi Sudibyo says any recent improvements in Indonesia's airline sector fall well below requirements.
"The big problem is human resources," he says. "We are short of safety inspectors and if we want to employ more of them it's going to take time and money. And air traffic controllers are underpaid, really underpaid, even though they have (the lives of) thousands of passengers in their hands. How can they work at their best if they have to be thinking about putting food on the table? Salaries, improving prosperity, is important."
The situation came to a head last month with the announcement that 26 air traffic controllers would take leave from the state airports operator PT Pura Angkasa to work abroad, most of them in the Middle East. With an estimated nationwide air traffic controller shortfall of about 700, it was not a good omen.
Likewise, pilot retention rates are appalling. The expansion worldwide of air travel markets means the best Indonesian pilots rarely fly for Indonesian carriers.
Garuda chief executive Emirsyah Satar admitted in an interview with The Australian last year it was difficult for his airline - the country's most successful - to pay salaries attractive enough to keep top pilots.
From Sudibyo's perspective, there is a light on that horizon with the opening last month of a pilot training school in Bali. "The first 40 graduates from that school, (half) will go straight into service at Garuda, and the (rest) at Lion," he says. "So there is an improvement coming from the private sector; we can't just look to governments." But it may all be too little, too late. Sudibyo admits that with new flying schools opening, there is no way existing capacity can meet the demand of an aggressively expanding industry.
And while carriers such as Garuda and Lion, as well as the former military-owned Mandala, are modernising their fleets, there are still plenty of clunkers among the country's 200 aircraft, as anyone who travels the country knows.
Stephen Fitzpatrick is The Australian's Jakarta correspondent.
The Australian
IF it seems Indonesia's air safety record has improved since the Garuda crash two years ago that claimed 21 lives and has now seen pilot Marwoto Komar sentenced to jail, it is an illusion at best. Less than two hours after yesterday's decision, a military plane crashed into a hangar at an airbase in West Java, killing 24 crew.
And while there has not been a commercial air disaster on such a scale as the Garuda crash since that morning, a closer inspection of the lessons learned reveals structural issues affecting Indonesian aviation.
After Marwoto variously blamed wind and mechanical problems during landing, and his co-pilot Gagam Saman Rochmana changed his story on the stand to say that buffeting had caused him to black out during the fatal final seconds, the experienced 45-year-old captain has been found guilty of causing death by negligent flying, and sentenced to two years in jail.
It's a historic decision, marking one of the few times an airline captain has been found guilty of a criminal offence in relation to a crash - and the first such time in Indonesia - but Marwoto is far from the only weak spot in Indonesian aviation.
The facts of the day are well known and were repeated in the summing up in court yesterday in the central Java city of Yogyakarta, where the tragedy occurred.
Soon after dawn on March 7, 2007, Marwoto, having ignored a growing deviation from his filed flight plan while still at least 10 minutes from Yogyakarta's airport, then a series of automated cockpit voice warnings and finally the shouted urgings of his co-pilot, brought his Boeing 737-400 in at twice the correct speed.
The jet bounced three times on hitting the runway, then burst through a fence, across a military access road and into a paddy field, where it caught fire.
Among the 21 who died were five Australians: Australian Federal Police officers Brice Steele and Mark Scott, AusAid country head Allison Sudradjat, diplomat Elizabeth O'Neill and The Australian Financial Review journalist Morgan Mellish. The Sydney Morning Herald reporter Cynthia Banham was seriously injured, losing both legs.
All were travelling in connection with a visit to the ancient royal city by then foreign minister Alexander Downer.
But air accident investigators say it's never a single thing that causes a crash; rather, there is a build-up of factors, most of which could have been addressed individually.
Had it not been for the access road where there should have been a safety run-off area, Marwoto's inexplicable decision to land despite all the warnings might not have produced the torn wings, ruptured fuel tanks and subsequent inferno that caused most of the 21 deaths.
Had airport emergency services been adequately equipped and maintained, and had they been able to get across the access road to where the jet was burning, more lives could have been saved. Instead, firefighters tried in vain to direct their under-pressurised hoses from more than 100m away, hindered further by spectators riding motorcycles across them.
The Indonesian Pilots Federation says Marwoto should never have been taken to a criminal trial but instead should have been subject only to industry and civil sanctions, as are most pilots who survive such incidents.
"His licence has been revoked, that's the heaviest penalty possible for a pilot, there's nothing above that," federation spokesman Manotar Napitupulu said last week.
Critics of the stranglehold pilots' associations worldwide have over the issue of criminal prosecutions say pilots should be subject to the same duty of care and liability issues as other professionals, and to criminal prosecutions where relevant. But pilots insist judges and juries are not competent to examine negligence in their industry and insist other failings, such as maintenance, industry standards and company policy - including fuel quota regimes - have a part to play in accidents.
The key question is whether Indonesia has done anything about addressing the broader issues of transport safety that the Garuda crash revealed. The answer is a resounding no. It's not for want of trying, including through a $24 million, three-year fighting fund from Australia designed to improve our largest neighbour's ability to turn around its appalling safety record.
But barely a week goes by without an air traffic incident of some kind. Yesterday's crash of a military Fokker 27 at Bandung, killing 24, came two weeks after a plane operated by the second-string national airline, Sriwijaya Air, was forced to make an emergency landing after an engine failed at 610m. That Jakarta-bound 737-200 had barely left the runway at Tanjung Pinang, on Bintan island south of Singapore, when the pilot requested urgent clearance to divert to nearby Batam island.
Days earlier, a passenger jet operated by Lion Air slid off the runway at Jakarta's airport while landing in heavy rain, breaking the front landing gear and left wing. Luckily there were no injuries among the 158 passengers and six crew, but the extraordinary thing is how commonplace and accepted such incidents have become.
Indonesian airlines have pariah status internationally almost everywhere outside Asia except for Australia, and there have long been claims that exception exists only because of the political turmoil a ban on Indonesian carriers flying to Australia would produce. Not least, presumably, would be a reciprocal Indonesian attack on Australian airlines, and with the global financial crisis seeing Australian consumers increasingly shifting to low-cost, short-haul flights such as the traditional holiday in Bali, the economic effect would be deep and lasting.
A European Union ban on all Indonesian airlines has been in place since July 2007; it was prolonged indefinitely last June. The edict is not restricted to any one company; the flagship carrier, Garuda, had to gain a special exemption to fly President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his entourage to London last week for the G20 meeting. It was the first Indonesian flight to Europe since the restriction was imposed in response to the 2007 Garuda crash and to an earlier Adam Air disaster, when a plane disappeared off Sulawesi island on New Year's Day 2007 as its disoriented pilots misread vital instrumentation and mistakenly turned off the autopilot. All 102 people on board were killed.
Observers do not expect the EU ban to be lifted before the second half of this year, although Garuda has ordered 10 widebody Boeing 777-300 jets with which it hopes to resume services to Amsterdam next year. Indonesia's airlines are also accorded the US Federal Aviation Authority's lowest rating.
It's a precarious position for the industry to be in, since with the global economic downturn air travel across Southeast Asia is a key growth market and Indonesia's figures are especially healthy. Transport Ministry data shows domestic air travel leapt from about 10 million passengers annually six years ago to more than 40 million today.
The Australian assistance package, signed by Transport Minister Anthony Albanese in Jakarta in January last year, is meant to improve safety across all transport sectors. The troubled maritime sector, which features regular rainy-season sinkings of overcrowded passenger ferries, is also a beneficiary under the program.
The package is strictly about capacity building, not, for instance, addressing crucial concerns such as the access road at Yogyakarta, which still remains in place, partly due to squabbles over who ought to pay for its relocation. Most airports across Indonesia have similar basic structural defects of various kinds.
"This capacity building involves accident investigation training, also training flight safety inspectors with regard both to operational and technical matters," says Transport Ministry spokesman Bambang Ervan.
Indonesia's National Transport Safety Committee (KNKT) also has acquired technology recently that could aid technicians trying to pull information off black-box cockpit voice recorders and flight data recorders that can pinpoint what went wrong in the final moments of a doomed journey.
"Although we cannot yet use (these devices), we hope we will be able to by the end of this year or the beginning of next, but because they are still new, the technicians and analysts are still being trained in Australia," Ervan says.
He says Indonesia is anticipating the day it can perform credible investigations into its own disasters, a process with which, in the case of the Adam Air and Garuda crashes, it was heavily reliant on outside help. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau, for instance, played a leading hand in preparing the accident report into the Garuda crash.
The head of the bureau's Indonesian equivalent agency, Tatang Kurniadi, admitted a month ago his office was too understaffed to produce adequate investigations into most incidents and that some matters remained unexamined.
"This is a matter of human resources and skills," Kurniadi said at a transport safety workshop in Jakarta, adding that his office had just 39 investigators and that, as these were hired on a contract basis, they were not paid regularly.
Industry analyst and Angkasa (Aerospace) magazine editor Dudi Sudibyo says any recent improvements in Indonesia's airline sector fall well below requirements.
"The big problem is human resources," he says. "We are short of safety inspectors and if we want to employ more of them it's going to take time and money. And air traffic controllers are underpaid, really underpaid, even though they have (the lives of) thousands of passengers in their hands. How can they work at their best if they have to be thinking about putting food on the table? Salaries, improving prosperity, is important."
The situation came to a head last month with the announcement that 26 air traffic controllers would take leave from the state airports operator PT Pura Angkasa to work abroad, most of them in the Middle East. With an estimated nationwide air traffic controller shortfall of about 700, it was not a good omen.
Likewise, pilot retention rates are appalling. The expansion worldwide of air travel markets means the best Indonesian pilots rarely fly for Indonesian carriers.
Garuda chief executive Emirsyah Satar admitted in an interview with The Australian last year it was difficult for his airline - the country's most successful - to pay salaries attractive enough to keep top pilots.
From Sudibyo's perspective, there is a light on that horizon with the opening last month of a pilot training school in Bali. "The first 40 graduates from that school, (half) will go straight into service at Garuda, and the (rest) at Lion," he says. "So there is an improvement coming from the private sector; we can't just look to governments." But it may all be too little, too late. Sudibyo admits that with new flying schools opening, there is no way existing capacity can meet the demand of an aggressively expanding industry.
And while carriers such as Garuda and Lion, as well as the former military-owned Mandala, are modernising their fleets, there are still plenty of clunkers among the country's 200 aircraft, as anyone who travels the country knows.
Stephen Fitzpatrick is The Australian's Jakarta correspondent.
Despair as Garuda pilot gets two years
Tom Allard in Yogyakarta, Andrew West and Jonathan Pearlman
SMH April 7, 2009
A GUILTY verdict and a two-year jail sentence for the pilot at the controls of the plane that crashed and killed her brother and 20 others did nothing to soothe the pain or bring closure to Caroline Mellish.
Disoriented after a long flight from Australia, bemused and angry as she listened to the three-hour retelling of the evidence in the trial of Captain Marwoto Komar, Ms Mellish was quietly but deeply distressed after the sentence was finally revealed at Sleman district courthouse in Yogyakarta yesterday.
"I don't feel like justice has been served," said Ms Mellish, the sister of Morgan Mellish, The Australian Financial Review journalist who died in the crash, and the only Australian relative of a victim to make the journey to Yogyakarta for the verdict.
"That was the first time I ever saw [Komar]. It was quite emotional," she said. "Because I couldn't understand everything in court it didn't seem quite real. And hearing he only got two years made it even harder."
Prosecutors were considering asking for life on the grounds the crash was deliberate, but then amended their request to four years for criminal negligence.
Making matters worse for the relatives of the victims, Komar's lawyers said they would appeal against the verdict.
Elsewhere in Indonesia, 24 military personnel were feared dead when their training aircraft crashed at an air base in West Java yesterday, an air force spokesman said.
The aircraft was landing during a training flight when it crashed in Bandung, 110 kilometres south-east of Jakarta.
The father of Allison Sudradjat, an AusAID officer who died in the 2007 Yogyakarta crash, was also disappointed with the sentence, which he said was inadequate.
Kevin Keevil said the four years sought by the prosecution would have better reflected the pilot's reckless behaviour. "It does not give me any peace of mind," Mr Keevil said. "I have a personal belief that the sentence is inadequate given what transpired on the day, especially in view of the pilot's behaviour."
But Mr Keevil said he respected the Indonesian justice system, just as his late daughter did.
Mr Keevil said he still mourned for her. "I have been to her grave and shed tears over her grave but it is all I can do."
He harboured no grievance against Indonesians or their government, he said.
"We very much like the Indonesians and their country."
The prosecution of a pilot under criminal law following an accident is highly unusual, but pressure from the Australian Government, victims and their families, as well as a damning report from air transport investigators persuaded police to act.
Komar ignored 15 automated warnings - described as loud "whoop whoops" by the judges. Verbal warnings from the co-pilot to abort the landing were also ignored. He was travelling at twice the normal speed.
Five Australians were among the 21 who died. As well as Mellish and Ms Sudradjat, Liz O'Neill, a diplomat, and Mark Scott and Brice Steele, Australian Federal Police officers, lost their lives. Cynthia Banham, a Herald journalist, was badly burnt and broke her back but made a remarkable recovery.
The former foreign minister Alexander Downer said yesterday the sentence was too light and the Government should consider asking the Indonesians to push for an appeal. Mr Downer's visit to Indonesia was being followed by government officials and journalists, several of whom were on the Garuda flight.
With Karuni Rompies and agencies
SMH April 7, 2009
A GUILTY verdict and a two-year jail sentence for the pilot at the controls of the plane that crashed and killed her brother and 20 others did nothing to soothe the pain or bring closure to Caroline Mellish.
Disoriented after a long flight from Australia, bemused and angry as she listened to the three-hour retelling of the evidence in the trial of Captain Marwoto Komar, Ms Mellish was quietly but deeply distressed after the sentence was finally revealed at Sleman district courthouse in Yogyakarta yesterday.
"I don't feel like justice has been served," said Ms Mellish, the sister of Morgan Mellish, The Australian Financial Review journalist who died in the crash, and the only Australian relative of a victim to make the journey to Yogyakarta for the verdict.
"That was the first time I ever saw [Komar]. It was quite emotional," she said. "Because I couldn't understand everything in court it didn't seem quite real. And hearing he only got two years made it even harder."
Prosecutors were considering asking for life on the grounds the crash was deliberate, but then amended their request to four years for criminal negligence.
Making matters worse for the relatives of the victims, Komar's lawyers said they would appeal against the verdict.
Elsewhere in Indonesia, 24 military personnel were feared dead when their training aircraft crashed at an air base in West Java yesterday, an air force spokesman said.
The aircraft was landing during a training flight when it crashed in Bandung, 110 kilometres south-east of Jakarta.
The father of Allison Sudradjat, an AusAID officer who died in the 2007 Yogyakarta crash, was also disappointed with the sentence, which he said was inadequate.
Kevin Keevil said the four years sought by the prosecution would have better reflected the pilot's reckless behaviour. "It does not give me any peace of mind," Mr Keevil said. "I have a personal belief that the sentence is inadequate given what transpired on the day, especially in view of the pilot's behaviour."
But Mr Keevil said he respected the Indonesian justice system, just as his late daughter did.
Mr Keevil said he still mourned for her. "I have been to her grave and shed tears over her grave but it is all I can do."
He harboured no grievance against Indonesians or their government, he said.
"We very much like the Indonesians and their country."
The prosecution of a pilot under criminal law following an accident is highly unusual, but pressure from the Australian Government, victims and their families, as well as a damning report from air transport investigators persuaded police to act.
Komar ignored 15 automated warnings - described as loud "whoop whoops" by the judges. Verbal warnings from the co-pilot to abort the landing were also ignored. He was travelling at twice the normal speed.
Five Australians were among the 21 who died. As well as Mellish and Ms Sudradjat, Liz O'Neill, a diplomat, and Mark Scott and Brice Steele, Australian Federal Police officers, lost their lives. Cynthia Banham, a Herald journalist, was badly burnt and broke her back but made a remarkable recovery.
The former foreign minister Alexander Downer said yesterday the sentence was too light and the Government should consider asking the Indonesians to push for an appeal. Mr Downer's visit to Indonesia was being followed by government officials and journalists, several of whom were on the Garuda flight.
With Karuni Rompies and agencies
Monday, April 6, 2009
Garuda pilot jailed over fatal crash
Geoff Thompson, Indonesia correspondent
Radio Australia News
The pilot of a Garuda jet which crashed in Indonesia two years ago, killing 21 people including five Australians, has been sentenced to two years in jail.Marwoto Komar came to court saying he hoped to fly again, but the former Garuda pilot left as the first pilot ever in Indonesia to be found guilty of criminal negligence for crashing a plane. Four out of five judges said they found him legally and convincingly guilty of criminal negligence, and said Komar did not do enough to correct the Boeing 737's rapid descent. Komar was accused of negligently causing the deaths of 21 people when he ignored 15 automated cockpit warnings and attempted to land a Boeing 737 jet at Yogyakarta Airport at almost twice the normal landing speed. Garuda Flight 200 bounced off the runway and slammed into an embankment before breaking apart and catching fire. As judges finished reading their verdict sentencing, Komar declared "I can't accept the decision, I will appeal".Asked whether he apologised to the disasters victims, Komar said only that he was deeply mournful. In sentencing him to two years jail, judges said Komar's lack of remorse worked against him. Prosecutors were seeking a four-year jail term for Komar.The five Australians killed in the accident were a diplomat, an AusAID official, two Australian federal policemen and Financial Review journalist Morgan Melish.After the judgement, the sister of Mr Melish said two years jail was no compensation for the loss of 21 lives.
Radio Australia News
The pilot of a Garuda jet which crashed in Indonesia two years ago, killing 21 people including five Australians, has been sentenced to two years in jail.Marwoto Komar came to court saying he hoped to fly again, but the former Garuda pilot left as the first pilot ever in Indonesia to be found guilty of criminal negligence for crashing a plane. Four out of five judges said they found him legally and convincingly guilty of criminal negligence, and said Komar did not do enough to correct the Boeing 737's rapid descent. Komar was accused of negligently causing the deaths of 21 people when he ignored 15 automated cockpit warnings and attempted to land a Boeing 737 jet at Yogyakarta Airport at almost twice the normal landing speed. Garuda Flight 200 bounced off the runway and slammed into an embankment before breaking apart and catching fire. As judges finished reading their verdict sentencing, Komar declared "I can't accept the decision, I will appeal".Asked whether he apologised to the disasters victims, Komar said only that he was deeply mournful. In sentencing him to two years jail, judges said Komar's lack of remorse worked against him. Prosecutors were seeking a four-year jail term for Komar.The five Australians killed in the accident were a diplomat, an AusAID official, two Australian federal policemen and Financial Review journalist Morgan Melish.After the judgement, the sister of Mr Melish said two years jail was no compensation for the loss of 21 lives.
Garuda pilot jailed but crash victims say 'justice not served'
Stephen Fitzpatrick
Jakarta correspondent April 06, 2009
The Australian
FORMER Garuda pilot Marwoto Komar has appealed after being found guilty of criminal negligence over the plane disaster in which 21 people, including five Australians, died.
Captain Marwoto has been sentenced to 2 years' jail over the crash in March 7, 2007.
The guilty verdict came despite a last-minute plea from Indonesia's pilot federation calling for the pilot to be acquitted.
The Australians killed in the crash were diplomat Liz O'Neill, AusAID official Allison Sudradjat, Australian Federal Police officers Brice Steele and Mark Scott, and Australian Financial Review journalist Morgan Mellish.
Caroline Mellish, the younger sister of Morgan Mellish, told The Australian: “Justice has not been served – he was not given the maximum sentence.”
“If they think his wholly and solely responsible then two years is not enough. And if they think he’s not they should have mentioned the failings of the system in their judgement.”
Captain Marwoto immediately appealed the sentence and was free to go home until the next hearing. His family members were in tears after the verdict and left the courtroom.
A majority of a panel of five judges sentenced Komar in the Sleman District Court.
Prosecutors wanted Komar jailed for four years, and have said there is no evidence to support his claim that the Boeing 737 malfunctioned.
The maximum available sentence for the crime is seven years in prison.
Investigators have said Komar ignored a series of warnings not to land the plane as he brought it in at about twice the safe speed.
Jakarta correspondent April 06, 2009
The Australian
FORMER Garuda pilot Marwoto Komar has appealed after being found guilty of criminal negligence over the plane disaster in which 21 people, including five Australians, died.
Captain Marwoto has been sentenced to 2 years' jail over the crash in March 7, 2007.
The guilty verdict came despite a last-minute plea from Indonesia's pilot federation calling for the pilot to be acquitted.
The Australians killed in the crash were diplomat Liz O'Neill, AusAID official Allison Sudradjat, Australian Federal Police officers Brice Steele and Mark Scott, and Australian Financial Review journalist Morgan Mellish.
Caroline Mellish, the younger sister of Morgan Mellish, told The Australian: “Justice has not been served – he was not given the maximum sentence.”
“If they think his wholly and solely responsible then two years is not enough. And if they think he’s not they should have mentioned the failings of the system in their judgement.”
Captain Marwoto immediately appealed the sentence and was free to go home until the next hearing. His family members were in tears after the verdict and left the courtroom.
A majority of a panel of five judges sentenced Komar in the Sleman District Court.
Prosecutors wanted Komar jailed for four years, and have said there is no evidence to support his claim that the Boeing 737 malfunctioned.
The maximum available sentence for the crime is seven years in prison.
Investigators have said Komar ignored a series of warnings not to land the plane as he brought it in at about twice the safe speed.
Garuda death crash pilot jailed
Tom Allard
SMH April 7, 2009
The pilot of the Garuda plane that crashed in Yogyakarta two years ago, killing five Australians, has been sentenced to two years in prison.
Marwoto Komar was today found guilty of criminal negligence. Prosecutors had sought a four-year jail term.
One of the panel of five judges remarked that the sentence was about the prevention of future accidents rather than revenge.
The Australians killed were diplomat Liz O'Neill, AusAID official Allison Sudradjat, Australian Federal Police officers Brice Steele and Mark Scott and Australian Financial Review journalist Morgan Mellish.
Komar remained impassive as the three-hour verdict was read out.
Caroline Mellish, the sister of Mr Mellish, remained stony-faced as Komar learned of his fate.
Outside the court, Ms Mellish said: "I don't feel that justice was served."
The Boeing jet skidded off the runway at Yogyakarta airport in March 2007, after landing at twice the recommended speed, bursting into flames as its passengers frantically tried to escape.
Passengers included journalists and police officers who were following the then Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer on a tour of Indonesia. Many only chose to be on the flight at the last moment.
An investigation by transport officials into the crash showed Komar ignored 15 automated warnings to abort the landing attempt. The court also heard he had ignored verbal warnings from his co-pilot urging him to go around.
Herald journalist Cynthia Banham was badly burnt and broke her back in the incident but defied the odds and made a remarkable recovery. She is now the paper's diplomatic editor.
Last month, Komar had made his final pleas of innocence to the panel of judges who were considering charges that he was criminally negligent in causing the crash.
He blamed his co-pilot and technical problems and his legal team insisted that the death toll of 21 was largely due to the late response of fire engines.
Komar's latest defence was a departure from his previous explanations and have centred on a sudden bout of turbulence knocking the plane off course.
The accusation of culpability by his co-pilot, Gagam Rohmana, follows earlier evidence from Gagam that he had warned the pilot to abort the landing and "go around" but was ignored.
Survivors of the crash had told how the front of the plane quickly burst into flames after impact.
One of the judges dissented and said that he did not think the pilot should have been found guilty.
Komar will appeal the decision.
Tom Allard is the Herald's Indonesia Correspondent.
SMH April 7, 2009
The pilot of the Garuda plane that crashed in Yogyakarta two years ago, killing five Australians, has been sentenced to two years in prison.
Marwoto Komar was today found guilty of criminal negligence. Prosecutors had sought a four-year jail term.
One of the panel of five judges remarked that the sentence was about the prevention of future accidents rather than revenge.
The Australians killed were diplomat Liz O'Neill, AusAID official Allison Sudradjat, Australian Federal Police officers Brice Steele and Mark Scott and Australian Financial Review journalist Morgan Mellish.
Komar remained impassive as the three-hour verdict was read out.
Caroline Mellish, the sister of Mr Mellish, remained stony-faced as Komar learned of his fate.
Outside the court, Ms Mellish said: "I don't feel that justice was served."
The Boeing jet skidded off the runway at Yogyakarta airport in March 2007, after landing at twice the recommended speed, bursting into flames as its passengers frantically tried to escape.
Passengers included journalists and police officers who were following the then Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer on a tour of Indonesia. Many only chose to be on the flight at the last moment.
An investigation by transport officials into the crash showed Komar ignored 15 automated warnings to abort the landing attempt. The court also heard he had ignored verbal warnings from his co-pilot urging him to go around.
Herald journalist Cynthia Banham was badly burnt and broke her back in the incident but defied the odds and made a remarkable recovery. She is now the paper's diplomatic editor.
Last month, Komar had made his final pleas of innocence to the panel of judges who were considering charges that he was criminally negligent in causing the crash.
He blamed his co-pilot and technical problems and his legal team insisted that the death toll of 21 was largely due to the late response of fire engines.
Komar's latest defence was a departure from his previous explanations and have centred on a sudden bout of turbulence knocking the plane off course.
The accusation of culpability by his co-pilot, Gagam Rohmana, follows earlier evidence from Gagam that he had warned the pilot to abort the landing and "go around" but was ignored.
Survivors of the crash had told how the front of the plane quickly burst into flames after impact.
One of the judges dissented and said that he did not think the pilot should have been found guilty.
Komar will appeal the decision.
Tom Allard is the Herald's Indonesia Correspondent.
Plea for Garuda air crash pilot to be acquitted
Stephen Fitzpatrick
Jakarta correspondent April 06, 2009
The Australian
INDONESIA'S pilots federation has issued an urgent plea for former Garuda captain Marwoto Komar to be acquitted, more than two years after the Yogyakarta air disaster that killed 21 people, including five Australians.
A verdict is expected today in the case against Captain Marwoto, who is charged with criminal negligence in crashing the aircraft on March 7, 2007.
Australian Federal Police officers Brice Steele and Mark Scott, AusAID country head Allison Sudradjat, Australian embassy public relations staffer Elizabeth O'Neill and Australian Financial Review journalist Morgan Mellish died in the crash.
Sydney Morning Herald reporter Cynthia Banham was seriously injured.
The Australians were all travelling to the central Java city in connection with a visit there by then foreign minister Alexander Downer.
Family members and friends of the victims plan to be in the court for today's verdict. Prosecutors had initially asked for a maximum penalty of life in prison, arguing that Captain Marwoto deliberately crashed the Boeing 737-400, causing it to burst into flames after running off the end of the runway at Yogyakarta's Adisucipto airport.
However, they downgraded that charge towards the end of the trial, conceding they did not have enough evidence, and have settled on the lesser one of negligence, carrying a maximum penalty of seven years' prison.
But Manotar Napitupulu, from the Indonesian Pilots Federation, told The Australian it was already "a heavy enough penalty" that Captain Marwoto had had his pilot's licence revoked, and insisted any further sanctions should come from the transport department or from Garuda.
"We hope he will be set free, not jailed, that's clear," Captain Napitupulu said. "We view this as a matter that should not be a criminal issue, since if there's an error it should be dealt with by the Transport Ministry or by the relevant airline company.
"His licence has been revoked, that's the heaviest penalty possible for a pilot, there's nothing above that - so we hope the judges have the conscience andknowledge to set him free."
Captain Marwoto, who attempted to land the early-morning commuter jet at twice the allowable speed, has variously claimed weather conditions and mechanical failure were the cause of the crash.
However, accident safety investigators found that he knew as early as 19km out from the landing that his "glide slope" was too steep for a safe landing, but he refused to correct his approach.
Although much has been made of the fact he apparently ignored 15 last-minute automated cockpit warnings as the aircraft approached the runway, prosecutors have argued he should have been able to avoid the crash simply by following standard procedure at least 10 minutes earlier.
Co-pilot Gagam Rachmat, who initially said he had urged his captain to "go around" as they approached the runway at 221 knots - rather than the correct speed, 140 knots - also changed his evidence on the stand.
Under questioning last year by the prosecution and by Captain Marwoto's lawyers, Captain Gagam declared that he had "blacked out" as the plane hit the runway and no longer remembered anything of the crash.
Story Tools
Jakarta correspondent April 06, 2009
The Australian
INDONESIA'S pilots federation has issued an urgent plea for former Garuda captain Marwoto Komar to be acquitted, more than two years after the Yogyakarta air disaster that killed 21 people, including five Australians.
A verdict is expected today in the case against Captain Marwoto, who is charged with criminal negligence in crashing the aircraft on March 7, 2007.
Australian Federal Police officers Brice Steele and Mark Scott, AusAID country head Allison Sudradjat, Australian embassy public relations staffer Elizabeth O'Neill and Australian Financial Review journalist Morgan Mellish died in the crash.
Sydney Morning Herald reporter Cynthia Banham was seriously injured.
The Australians were all travelling to the central Java city in connection with a visit there by then foreign minister Alexander Downer.
Family members and friends of the victims plan to be in the court for today's verdict. Prosecutors had initially asked for a maximum penalty of life in prison, arguing that Captain Marwoto deliberately crashed the Boeing 737-400, causing it to burst into flames after running off the end of the runway at Yogyakarta's Adisucipto airport.
However, they downgraded that charge towards the end of the trial, conceding they did not have enough evidence, and have settled on the lesser one of negligence, carrying a maximum penalty of seven years' prison.
But Manotar Napitupulu, from the Indonesian Pilots Federation, told The Australian it was already "a heavy enough penalty" that Captain Marwoto had had his pilot's licence revoked, and insisted any further sanctions should come from the transport department or from Garuda.
"We hope he will be set free, not jailed, that's clear," Captain Napitupulu said. "We view this as a matter that should not be a criminal issue, since if there's an error it should be dealt with by the Transport Ministry or by the relevant airline company.
"His licence has been revoked, that's the heaviest penalty possible for a pilot, there's nothing above that - so we hope the judges have the conscience andknowledge to set him free."
Captain Marwoto, who attempted to land the early-morning commuter jet at twice the allowable speed, has variously claimed weather conditions and mechanical failure were the cause of the crash.
However, accident safety investigators found that he knew as early as 19km out from the landing that his "glide slope" was too steep for a safe landing, but he refused to correct his approach.
Although much has been made of the fact he apparently ignored 15 last-minute automated cockpit warnings as the aircraft approached the runway, prosecutors have argued he should have been able to avoid the crash simply by following standard procedure at least 10 minutes earlier.
Co-pilot Gagam Rachmat, who initially said he had urged his captain to "go around" as they approached the runway at 221 knots - rather than the correct speed, 140 knots - also changed his evidence on the stand.
Under questioning last year by the prosecution and by Captain Marwoto's lawyers, Captain Gagam declared that he had "blacked out" as the plane hit the runway and no longer remembered anything of the crash.
Story Tools
Friday, April 3, 2009
Garuda pilot to face judgment
Daily Mercury
3rd April 2009
AN Indonesian pilot whose plane crashed, killing 21 people, including five Australians, will learn next week whether he is to be jailed for criminal negligence.
Marwoto Komar's Boeing 737 slammed onto the runway at Yogyakarta airport, careered into a field and burst into flames on March 7, 2007.
Investigators say Komar ignored a series of warnings not to land the plane as he brought it in at twice the safe speed.
Despite initially blaming the disaster on strong winds, Komar during his trial sought to blame problems with the plane's steering and stabilisation systems.
But prosecutors - who want Komar jailed for four years - say there is no evidence to support his claim that the plane malfunctioned.
The Sleman District Court will deliver its verdict on Monday [6/4/09].
Prosecutors abandoned a charge that Komar deliberately crashed the Garuda Indonesia plane, conceding they did not have enough evidence to back it up.
If proved, that charge could have seen Komar jailed for life.
Komar's pilot licence was suspended and he was sacked by Garuda after the crash, which was one of several fatal Indonesian airline crashes in 2007.
The Australians killed in the crash were diplomat Liz O'Neill, AusAID official Allison Sudradjat, Australian Federal Police officers Brice Steele and Mark Scott, and Australian Financial Review journalist Morgan Mellish.
Five other Australians survived the crash, some of whom were seriously injured.
Despite some improvements since 2007, Indonesia, which relies heavily on air links across the archipelago, still has one of Asia's worst air safety records.
3rd April 2009
AN Indonesian pilot whose plane crashed, killing 21 people, including five Australians, will learn next week whether he is to be jailed for criminal negligence.
Marwoto Komar's Boeing 737 slammed onto the runway at Yogyakarta airport, careered into a field and burst into flames on March 7, 2007.
Investigators say Komar ignored a series of warnings not to land the plane as he brought it in at twice the safe speed.
Despite initially blaming the disaster on strong winds, Komar during his trial sought to blame problems with the plane's steering and stabilisation systems.
But prosecutors - who want Komar jailed for four years - say there is no evidence to support his claim that the plane malfunctioned.
The Sleman District Court will deliver its verdict on Monday [6/4/09].
Prosecutors abandoned a charge that Komar deliberately crashed the Garuda Indonesia plane, conceding they did not have enough evidence to back it up.
If proved, that charge could have seen Komar jailed for life.
Komar's pilot licence was suspended and he was sacked by Garuda after the crash, which was one of several fatal Indonesian airline crashes in 2007.
The Australians killed in the crash were diplomat Liz O'Neill, AusAID official Allison Sudradjat, Australian Federal Police officers Brice Steele and Mark Scott, and Australian Financial Review journalist Morgan Mellish.
Five other Australians survived the crash, some of whom were seriously injured.
Despite some improvements since 2007, Indonesia, which relies heavily on air links across the archipelago, still has one of Asia's worst air safety records.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Mellish legacy lives on in Indonesian media
Stephen Fitzpatrick
Jakarta correspondent
March 30, 2009 The Australian
INDONESIAN business journalism training took a step forward last week with a workshop in the name of Morgan Mellish, The Australian Financial Review reporter who died in the 2007 Garuda air disaster in Yogyakarta.
The four-day program, entitled Financial Literacy for Journalists, was made possible with funds raised at a Jakarta lunch speech given by Kevin Rudd last year.
Jointly run by the Jakarta Foreign Correspondents Club and the Indonesian Association for Media Development, the program attracted a dozen reporters from the archipelago.
Over the four days they ran through an intensive series of sessions aimed at improving general news reporters' ability to make sense of balance sheets, government and company budgets and annual reports, and to tease out the crucial nexus between politics and business.
Launching the fund last June, the Prime Minister said the program's emphasis on financial analysis was something Mellish "would have liked. (He) represented the finest tradition of Australian journalists and Australian foreign correspondents".
Each participant in the program will now take skills covered in the course and apply them to a particular story, with examiners to assess the results.
One journalist, Bima Marzuki from RCTI television in Jakarta, said he planned to produce a series of reports on gaps in the government budget in Nusa Tenggara Timor province -- Indonesia's vast easternmost administrative district, which includes the islands of Sumba, Flores, Maluku and West Timor.
"What we have found is that the Government there allocates up to 80 per cent of its budgets for administrative costs -- things like public servants' uniforms -- and only 20 per cent to actual projects, education and so on," Marzuki said.
He added that journalistic independence was still difficult in Indonesia, particularly with a high level of editorial intervention by proprietors and an extremely low level of union organisation.
"Even where there is (union membership), a lot of pressure is usually applied by the owners," he said. "For instance, people are told that if they're a member of AJI (the main journalists' union), they won't receive salary bonuses, that kind of thing."
Other projects by participants in the Mellish fund included a story about a district head in Java who was directing his local government's budget towards funding the local professional football team, and regional development funding being spent on a major cigarette company's marketing and research budget.
Coincidentally, the previous week saw the wrapping-up for this year of the Elizabeth O'Neill Journalism Award -- a scholarship jointly run by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Australia Indonesia Institute.
O'Neill, who also died in the Garuda crash, worked in the Australian embassy's public affairs section in Jakarta, and was a vital linking point between the two countries' media outlets.
Winners of the 2009 award were The Australian Financial Review's Canberra-based reporter Sophie Morris, who spent a month in Indonesia meeting government, business and other leaders, and Kartika Sari, the foreign news editor of Jakarta newspaper Rakyat Merdeka, who travelled to Australia for a series of interviews.
The newspaper and the embassy had had a prickly relationship for a long time. But a long bout of diplomacy seems to have won Rakyat Merdeka over.
Jakarta correspondent
March 30, 2009 The Australian
INDONESIAN business journalism training took a step forward last week with a workshop in the name of Morgan Mellish, The Australian Financial Review reporter who died in the 2007 Garuda air disaster in Yogyakarta.
The four-day program, entitled Financial Literacy for Journalists, was made possible with funds raised at a Jakarta lunch speech given by Kevin Rudd last year.
Jointly run by the Jakarta Foreign Correspondents Club and the Indonesian Association for Media Development, the program attracted a dozen reporters from the archipelago.
Over the four days they ran through an intensive series of sessions aimed at improving general news reporters' ability to make sense of balance sheets, government and company budgets and annual reports, and to tease out the crucial nexus between politics and business.
Launching the fund last June, the Prime Minister said the program's emphasis on financial analysis was something Mellish "would have liked. (He) represented the finest tradition of Australian journalists and Australian foreign correspondents".
Each participant in the program will now take skills covered in the course and apply them to a particular story, with examiners to assess the results.
One journalist, Bima Marzuki from RCTI television in Jakarta, said he planned to produce a series of reports on gaps in the government budget in Nusa Tenggara Timor province -- Indonesia's vast easternmost administrative district, which includes the islands of Sumba, Flores, Maluku and West Timor.
"What we have found is that the Government there allocates up to 80 per cent of its budgets for administrative costs -- things like public servants' uniforms -- and only 20 per cent to actual projects, education and so on," Marzuki said.
He added that journalistic independence was still difficult in Indonesia, particularly with a high level of editorial intervention by proprietors and an extremely low level of union organisation.
"Even where there is (union membership), a lot of pressure is usually applied by the owners," he said. "For instance, people are told that if they're a member of AJI (the main journalists' union), they won't receive salary bonuses, that kind of thing."
Other projects by participants in the Mellish fund included a story about a district head in Java who was directing his local government's budget towards funding the local professional football team, and regional development funding being spent on a major cigarette company's marketing and research budget.
Coincidentally, the previous week saw the wrapping-up for this year of the Elizabeth O'Neill Journalism Award -- a scholarship jointly run by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Australia Indonesia Institute.
O'Neill, who also died in the Garuda crash, worked in the Australian embassy's public affairs section in Jakarta, and was a vital linking point between the two countries' media outlets.
Winners of the 2009 award were The Australian Financial Review's Canberra-based reporter Sophie Morris, who spent a month in Indonesia meeting government, business and other leaders, and Kartika Sari, the foreign news editor of Jakarta newspaper Rakyat Merdeka, who travelled to Australia for a series of interviews.
The newspaper and the embassy had had a prickly relationship for a long time. But a long bout of diplomacy seems to have won Rakyat Merdeka over.
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Garuda pilot 'should be jailed for four years'
Tom Allard in Jakarta
SMH February 24, 2009
THE pilot at the controls when a Garuda plane crashed in Yogyakarta killing 21 people, including five Australians, should be jailed for four years for causing the accident through criminal negligence, prosecutors have told a panel of judges.
The sentence request angered Captain Marwoto Komar's lawyers but was far less than the jail term prosecutors could have asked for if they had decided he had deliberately caused the crash on March 7, 2007. "The air at the time was clear, the runway was clear and no other plane was about to take off," prosecutors told Sleman District Court in Yogyakarta. "The defendant was not careful enough … [and] is legally and convincingly proven to have caused the death of 21 people and left 32 others with serious injuries."
Yesterday the court heard that on approach the plane was travelling at 240 knots, about twice the speed recommended for a safe landing. It also tried to land from 5000 feet, rather than the appropriate height of 4000 feet.
Despite being told twice by his co-pilot, Gagam Rohmana, to abort the landing and "go around", Komar ignored the warnings. Earlier, the court was told he also ignored more than a dozen automated warnings, including blaring sirens in the cockpit, before the crash.
Komar has insisted the crash was due to sudden turbulence. The court has heard evidence from air traffic controllers and meteorologists that there was no weather event detected to back the pilot's claim.
In his testimony last year, the co-pilot confirmed he had urged Komar to abandon the landing and try again. But, in sometimes contradictory evidence, he also said he blacked out before the accident, citing turbulence.
The crash caused an outpouring of emotion and concern in Australia, not least because it was the latest in a series of plane crashes in Indonesia. There have been no big accidents since but prosecutors have taken the unusual step of prosecuting Komar under the penal code, rather than its air transport laws.
His lawyers maintain it is improper for their client to be charged as a criminal under the penal code. "The prosecutors' spirit was only to punish the defendant," said Mohammad Assegaf, the main defence lawyer. "The article [in the penal code] was aimed at terrorists not at airplane crew. Besides, when a Garuda plane crashed down in the Bengawan Solo river in 2003, which caused one death and the plane was broken, why wasn't the pilot taken to the court - and he is still flying until today?"
The Australians killed were an AusAID official, Allison Sudradjat; the diplomat Liz O'Neill; federal police officers Brice Steele and Mark Scott, and the Australian Financial Review journalist Morgan Mellish. They were following the then foreign affairs minister, Alexander Downer, on a visit to Indonesia.
Mr Downer had earlier taken a government business jet to Yogyakarta, which was too small to fit the entourage.
If the judges agree with the prosecutors, Komar will serve less than four years in jail because the three months he has already spent in prison will be deducted from the sentence. The trial continues on March 10.
with Yuyuk Sugarman
SMH February 24, 2009
THE pilot at the controls when a Garuda plane crashed in Yogyakarta killing 21 people, including five Australians, should be jailed for four years for causing the accident through criminal negligence, prosecutors have told a panel of judges.
The sentence request angered Captain Marwoto Komar's lawyers but was far less than the jail term prosecutors could have asked for if they had decided he had deliberately caused the crash on March 7, 2007. "The air at the time was clear, the runway was clear and no other plane was about to take off," prosecutors told Sleman District Court in Yogyakarta. "The defendant was not careful enough … [and] is legally and convincingly proven to have caused the death of 21 people and left 32 others with serious injuries."
Yesterday the court heard that on approach the plane was travelling at 240 knots, about twice the speed recommended for a safe landing. It also tried to land from 5000 feet, rather than the appropriate height of 4000 feet.
Despite being told twice by his co-pilot, Gagam Rohmana, to abort the landing and "go around", Komar ignored the warnings. Earlier, the court was told he also ignored more than a dozen automated warnings, including blaring sirens in the cockpit, before the crash.
Komar has insisted the crash was due to sudden turbulence. The court has heard evidence from air traffic controllers and meteorologists that there was no weather event detected to back the pilot's claim.
In his testimony last year, the co-pilot confirmed he had urged Komar to abandon the landing and try again. But, in sometimes contradictory evidence, he also said he blacked out before the accident, citing turbulence.
The crash caused an outpouring of emotion and concern in Australia, not least because it was the latest in a series of plane crashes in Indonesia. There have been no big accidents since but prosecutors have taken the unusual step of prosecuting Komar under the penal code, rather than its air transport laws.
His lawyers maintain it is improper for their client to be charged as a criminal under the penal code. "The prosecutors' spirit was only to punish the defendant," said Mohammad Assegaf, the main defence lawyer. "The article [in the penal code] was aimed at terrorists not at airplane crew. Besides, when a Garuda plane crashed down in the Bengawan Solo river in 2003, which caused one death and the plane was broken, why wasn't the pilot taken to the court - and he is still flying until today?"
The Australians killed were an AusAID official, Allison Sudradjat; the diplomat Liz O'Neill; federal police officers Brice Steele and Mark Scott, and the Australian Financial Review journalist Morgan Mellish. They were following the then foreign affairs minister, Alexander Downer, on a visit to Indonesia.
Mr Downer had earlier taken a government business jet to Yogyakarta, which was too small to fit the entourage.
If the judges agree with the prosecutors, Komar will serve less than four years in jail because the three months he has already spent in prison will be deducted from the sentence. The trial continues on March 10.
with Yuyuk Sugarman
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