The Indonesian government’s efforts to improve its aviation safety reputation has suffered a setback with the May 7 crash of an MA-60 turboprop belonging to Merpati Nusantara Airlines.
MZ8968 crashed Saturday killing all 27 on board (21 passengers and six crew members) when the MA-60 turboprop crashed 600 meters short of the runway at Kaimana Utarom after departing the Sorong airport an hour earlier. The aircraft was attempting to land in poor weather, with heavy rain and strong winds.
The aircraft, registered PK-MZK, was delivered to Merpati in 2010 and had logged 615h in 764 flight cycles, said Indonesia’s ministry of transportation, adding that because the aircraft was so new, it had yet to undergo heavy maintenance. The MA60 is a 56-seat aircraft powered two Pratt & Whitney Canada PW127J turboprop engines.
Indonesia has been making inroads in improving aviation safety, seeing several airlines removed from the European Union blacklist after the country was subject to a blanket ban in 2007. The FAA, at the time, also sanctioned the country.But ACTUALLY safety problems have persisted!!!
The European Union points out in its latest blacklist update that Indonesian safety officials notified them in March “that only 9% of the fleet of aircraft operating in Indonesia had yet to be fitted with the required ICAO equipment, that the [regulator] had issued an exemption permitting operations until the end of 2011, and that aircraft not fitted after this date would be grounded.”
Merpati Nusantara Airlines has been in the spotlight more than once. It suffered a runway overrun with a Boeing 737 injuring around 20 people when the aircraft landed in heavy rain at Manokawi Airport in Indonesia’s Papua Province. The airline -- which remains blacklisted by the EU -- also suffered a fatal accident in 2009.
Merpati still has some MA60s on order and due for delivery soon, under a deal signed between the Chinese and Indonesian Government in which China provided cheap financing. Merpati is a cash-strapped carrier that Indonesia’s government owns. The country’s transport minister, Freddy Numberi, has said publicly that Merpati will take delivery of the remaining MA60s on order and that the May 7 accident will have no impact on the deal.
Director general of Indonesia’s Directorate of Civil Aviation (DGCA), Herry Bakti, has also defended his organization’s decision to allow MA60s to operate in Indonesia. He says even though the Chinese-built aircraft has no FAA or EASA certification, it does have Chinese and Indonesian certification.
Merpati’s decision to purchase MA60s was already a controversial deal prior to the May 7 accident. The carrier, for example, complained in 2009 that one of its recently delivered MA60s, PK-MZC, had developed a crack in its vertical stabilizer. The aircraft had to be grounded and was only returned to service after the aircraft’s manufacturer Xian Aircraft changed a section of the aircraft’s stabilizer.
The MA-60 crash is the second accident in Indonesia this year after the death of five persons in the crash of a Casa Aviocar in February at Bintan Island, Indonesia.
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