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Merpati MA60 Crashes Off West Papua

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Indonesia has one of the worst airline safety records in the world and unfortunately this accident helps it retain that title. I flew on a Merpati MA60 four years ago from Bali to Lombok, only a few weeks after the aircraft had been delivered. The return flight was on a F-28 and it was one flight I was was very glad to get off. The general condition of the aircraft was terrible, which makes you wonder how well the critical parts and systems of the aircraft have been maintained. It certainly put me off flying Merpati again.

 

All Indonesian air carriers are still banned from flying in the European Union with the exceptions of Garuda

Indonesia, Airfast Indonesia, Mandala Airlines, Ekspres Transportasi Antarbenua, Indonesia Air Asia and Metro

Batavia. The complete ban list can be found at http://ec.europa.eu/transport/air-ban/doc/list_en.pdf

 

From the latest reports it sadly seems all passengers and crew have been killed.

 

Geoff

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Indonesia has one of the worst airline safety records in the world and unfortunately this accident helps it retain that title. I flew on a Merpati MA60 four years ago from Bali to Lombok, only a few weeks after the aircraft had been delivered. The return flight was on a F-28 and it was one flight I was was very glad to get off. The general condition of the aircraft was terrible, which makes you wonder how well the critical parts and systems of the aircraft have been maintained. It certainly put me off flying Merpati again.

 

All Indonesian air carriers are still banned from flying in the European Union with the exceptions of Garuda

Indonesia, Airfast Indonesia, Mandala Airlines, Ekspres Transportasi Antarbenua, Indonesia Air Asia and Metro

Batavia. The complete ban list can be found at http://ec.europa.eu/transport/air-ban/doc/list_en.pdf

 

From the latest reports it sadly seems all passengers and crew have been killed.

 

Geoff

 

Thanks Geoff for the update. May those perished RIP.

 

Unfortunately, among the airlines in the list you have given, only GA and QZ are reliable and have vast networks. Metro Batavia is also a safe bet. Air Fast Indonesia has a small fleet only and not sure where they fly to. I think their main market is oil drilling ad-hoc charter.

 

Mandala went bankrupt last year. Haven't heard of Ekspres Transportasi Antarabenua as well. :sorry: :blink:

Edited by JuliusWong

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7 May 2011 Last updated at 10:53 GMT Share this pageEmailPrint

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Indonesia: 'No survivors' after plane crashes off Papua

 

There were no survivors from the crash of an Indonesian passenger aircraft into the sea with up to 27 people on board, a navy officer says.

 

The plane went into the sea in poor weather just short of the airstrip serving the small port town of Kaimana, in the eastern province of West Papua.

 

Fifteen bodies have been recovered by rescuers searching for survivors.

 

The Indonesian archipelago relies heavily on air transport and has one of Asia's worst air safety records.

 

"I can confirm that all the passengers were killed when the plane exploded as it crashed into the sea," the unnamed navy officer, who took part in the search and rescue operation, told ElShinta radio.

 

"The aircraft was smashed to pieces... We found 15 bodies floating on the water and the other passengers are trapped inside the wreckage."

 

Transport ministry official Bambang Ervan told AFP news agency there were 21 passengers and six crew on board the twin turbo-prop plane, operated by Merpati Airlines, which was flying from the coastal city of Sorong.

 

Indonesia has seen a number of commercial airline crashes in recent years.

 

In 2007, the European Union banned all of Indonesia's airlines including the national carrier Garuda.

 

In 2009, Garuda and three other carriers were taken off the EU's list, but Merpati Airlines remains on it.

 

Source: BBC

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Bad maintenance of aircraft has resulted in such tragedy, if the locals have no such talent, they should probably employ the outsources to help them.

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Some info, The Xian MA60 "Modern Ark 60" is a turboprop-powered airliner made by China's Xi'an Aircraft Industrial Corporation under the China Aviation Industry Corporation I (AVIC I). The MA60 is a stretched version of the Xian Y7-200A

 

On 7 May 2011 Merpati Nusantara Airlines Flight 8968 (with Indonesian registration PK-MZK) went into sea near West Papua in Indonesia in bad weather with poor visibility on visual approach to Kaimana Airport. It had left Sorong Airport with 21 passengers and 6 crew members on board. All passengers and crew were killed, making this the first reported fatal accident for the Xian MA60.

 

More.. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xian_MA60

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Bad maintenance of aircraft has resulted in such tragedy, if the locals have no such talent, they should probably employ the outsources to help them.

 

Working with Indonesians in the aviation industry and I seriously don't think that it's the talent that is the problem. Most of the time it boils down again back to the airline. It's always the spares, tools, equipments, spares pool and many other cost related factors that cause them the big chunk of their operations cost. If it is again maintenance, why does the DGCA of Indonesia let them go during the audits?

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Bad maintenance of aircraft has resulted in such tragedy, if the locals have no such talent, they should probably employ the outsources to help them.

 

Poor maintenance by untalented locals causes pre-landing accident in bad weather? wow. if there is such thing, i would nominate you for an 'irrelevant assumption in a statement' award.

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Sorry if I jumped into the conclusion too quickly by saying the plane crashed due to maintenance. Weather might be taken into account but all of us know that Indonesia aviation has got real bad impression in terms of aircraft safety & maintenance.

 

If weather is to be blamed for all the time, why does neighbour countries like Malaysia and Singapore do not suffer such accidents or tragedies? So it's quite obvious in certain points too.

 

Another source of news via The Wall Street Journal =>WSJ

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Yes it is very easy to be a keyboard warrior!

 

I am not sure why the plane crashed. Not familiar with the airport facilities nor this aircraft type.

 

However, I would say that it is always safer to fly on reputable airline when in Indonesia. Merpati is not one of them, unfortunately!

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No worries big mike. You should also notice that in recent years, Indonesia MRO industry standards have improved by leaps and bounds which have not only culminated in the EU ban being lifted off its major airlines, but also the entry of some major MRO players and OEMs to the country (see SR Technics + GMF Aero MoU as the most recent).

 

Only fair for us not to write them off just yet with this crash. After all, it could be ANYTHING.

 

Weather may play a part, but you shouldn't compare to Malaysia and Singapore too as we generally have much better ATC and navigational equipment compared to some dinghy airport in the Irian.

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No worries big mike. You should also notice that in recent years, Indonesia MRO industry standards have improved by leaps and bounds which have not only culminated in the EU ban being lifted off its major airlines, but also the entry of some major MRO players and OEMs to the country (see SR Technics + GMF Aero MoU as the most recent).

 

Only fair for us not to write them off just yet with this crash. After all, it could be ANYTHING.

 

Weather may play a part, but you shouldn't compare to Malaysia and Singapore too as we generally have much better ATC and navigational equipment compared to some dinghy airport in the Irian.

 

Noted and thank you for highlighting Malaysia & Singapore have better equipment to navigate the air planes compared to Indonesia's, a plus plus to the aviation's safety among these territories.

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