Indonesia: Military plane crash kills 11 people

A Fokker F-27 military aircraft with registration A-2708, belonging to the 2nd medium airlift group of the Indonesian Army, crashed near Halim Perdanakusuma military airport, killing 11 people.

On June 23, the spokesman for the Indonesian Air Force, Colonel Azman Yunus, in an interview with the media did not deny the news that the cause of the Fokker F-27 military aircraft crash in the area near Halim Perdanakusuma military airport in the capital Jakarta on the afternoon of June 21, which according to the latest news killed 11 people, was due to engine failure.

The Fokker 27 aircraft crashed into the Rajawali residential area near the Halim Perdanakusuma military airport. (Source: Internet)

Mr. Azman Yunus said that “this could be a possibility,” but refused to give further details, affirming that the Fokker F-27 was purchased by the Indonesian Air Force in 1977, had been regularly inspected and ensured of technical safety conditions, and the accident occurred during a training exercise.

However, local sources quoted witnesses who saw the Fokker F-27 crash into an air force housing complex near the airport, saying one of the plane's engines failed, and before crashing it was flying very low over the residential complex in Rajawali.

An unnamed military officer said that leaving an engine idle was part of regular training for pilots.

Investigating the cause of an accident can be more complex and difficult than with civilian aircraft, because military planes are not equipped with flight data recorders, commonly known as black boxes.

Azman Yunus said military investigators were conducting searches and examining other evidence, including information from witnesses, radio communications, the plane's wreckage and debris, and the statements of all those involved in the crash to determine the cause, and the investigation, which may have help from the National Transportation Safety Committee (KNKT), would be completed in three months, but the results would not be made public.

The crashed plane, coded A-2708, belonged to the 2nd medium airlift group, based at Halim airport, and this unit also had CN-235 aircraft in its inventory.

The last survivor of the accident died on the morning of June 22, bringing the total number of deaths to 11.

This accident is not the first in the process of modernizing the Indonesian Air Force's old and outdated military equipment.

Previously, on April 6, 2009, a Fokker F-27 crashed into a hangar while trying to land at Husein Sastranegara International Airport in Bandung in heavy rain, killing 24 people.

The Indonesian Air Force is in the process of purchasing nine Airbus CN-295 military aircraft to replace its aging Fokker F-27s, the Indonesian Defense Ministry said.

According to (Vietnam+) - DT