Indonesia investigates plane crash that killed 99

Published 6:31 am Thursday, May 21, 2009

MAGETAN, Indonesia — Indonesia promised today to ground all of its C-130 Hercules planes if investigators determine that mechanical problems caused a crash the day before that killed 99 people.

The accident — which occurred in clear weather moments after pilots spoke with air traffic control — was the third involving a military aircraft in just two months. It also followed complaints that the air force could hardly afford spare parts for its aging fleet.

Survivors said they heard at least two loud explosions and felt the C-130 wobbling from left to right as it plummeted to the ground Wednesday, losing a wing as it hit some trees and then slamming into a row of houses.

It skidded 700 yards before halting in a rice field.

There were 110 people on the plane, which was carrying troops and their families from the capital, Jakarta, to Indonesia’s easternmost province of Papua, home to a decades-long insurgency.

It was making several stops along the way and was attempting to land at an air force base in East Java province when it crashed.

Air force official Bambang Samoedra said at least 99 people were killed, including at least 10 children and two villagers on the ground. Fifteen people were injured, many with severe burns.

“People were screaming hysterically as the plane was going down. We were being thrown around all over the place,” Pvt. Saputra told Internet news portal Detik.com. “Then it just blew up, and I found myself lying in a field, 20 yards from the wreckage. I couldn’t stand up, and some villagers came to help me.”

“Fire was rising up to the sky,” said Saputra, who suffered head and arm injuries. “I just submitted myself to God.”

Indonesia’s air force, long underfunded and handicapped by a recently lifted U.S. ban on weapons sales, has suffered a string of plane crashes.

Twenty-four people were killed last month when a Fokker 27 crashed into an airport hangar during a training mission.

And just last week another C-130 lost its landing gear and slammed into a house, injuring four people, and triggering a review of all Hercules planes, including several that were recently refitted in Singapore as part of efforts to improve safety.

Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono noted today that there was not enough money in the budget to properly maintain the military’s aging fleet.

“Ideally, the maintenance cost should be 20 percent to 25 percent of the overall military budget, but at present it’s below 10 percent,” he said, promising to ground all C-130s if Wednesday’s crash was the result of technical or mechanical failure.

The plane was nearly three decades old.

But Samoedra, the air force official, insisted it was in good condition, passing both a maintenance and flight check earlier this week, and pilots did not indicate to air traffic control that they were having problems.

When asked if human error might be to blame, he told reporters: “The investigation is ongoing. We don’t want to speculate.”

The air force has experienced an exodus of experienced transport pilots in recent years, as they sought to join the rapidly expanding network of low-cost airlines formed after the industry was deregulated.

The air force has operated C-130s — the backbone of its transport wing — since the early 1960s, when it received a batch of 10 from the United States in exchange for the release of a CIA bomber pilot shot down in 1958 while supporting an anti-government mutiny.

About 40 more were delivered over the next 20 years, many secondhand and provided by Washington before the Clinton administration imposed sanctions on military deliveries because of violence that broke out during East Timor’s 1999 break for independence.

The air force complained that many of the planes quickly became unserviceable because of the lack of spare parts. Though the embargo was lifted several years ago, the air worthiness of many planes remained in question.