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| Investigators inspect the wreckage of a crashed Lion Airlines MD-82 jetliner near Solo, Indonesia. (File Photo) |
JAKARTA,12/04 - In the wake of a plane
crash that killed 26 people this week, the Indonesian Ministry of Transportation
is preparing a regulation that will require air transportation operators
to employ more experienced pilots.
Minister Hatta Radjasa was quoted Saturday by The Jakarta Post newspaper
as saying that the regulation would, among other things, set minimum flight
hours for pilots who fly commercial planes and ensure the airworthiness of
the aircraft before takeoff.
"The operators will undergo a safety audit, where a team from the transportation
ministry will check whether their pilots meet the minimum flight hours
requirement and regular fleet maintenance is conducted," Hatta said.
He added that the regulation was also aimed at encouraging the operators
to beef up ground checks of their planes for the sake of passenger safety.
The minister did not go into details, saying the regulation was being drafted.
An MD-82 aircraft belonging to budget carrier Lion Air crashed at Adi Sumarmo
Airport in the Central Java town of Solo on Tuesday after it skidded off
the wet runway during a heavy rain and smashed into a wall.
Another aircraft belonging to Bouraq and an F-16 jet fighter also skidded
off the runway at Hasanuddin Airport in Makassar.
"I am not going to say whether it was human error or
a mechanical error or bad weather which caused the crash, because we are
still conducting the investigation and we will announce the result after
we have completed all necessary data," the minister said.
The government-sanctioned National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is
currently conducting an investigation into the accident and has sent the
plane`s "black box" to the United States. |
