Chunk of jetliner wing found on Indonesian runway

[Andrew Lim 1]

Chunk of jetliner wing found on Indonesian runway.

 

Last month, a similar-sized piece of wing fell from

a jetliner minutes after it took off from the same airport.

 

JAKARTA (AP): Workers found a piece of a wing from a passenger jet on the runway at Indonesia's main airport and investigators are trying to determine which plane it fell from, officials said Wednesday.

 

The 10-foot (3-meter) piece of wing was found Tuesday at Jakarta's Sukarno-Hatta international airport, said Yurlis Hasibuan, a senior air transportation official.

 

"It has been identified as a side engine cover, but we do not yet know which plane it came from," he said.

 

The wing piece was found on a runway used by planes on domestic flights as well as some cargo planes flying internationally, he said.

 

Last month, a similar-sized piece of wing fell from a jetliner minutes after it took off from the same airport.

 

The Boeing 737, which was operated by a local airline, landed safely but the incident added to safety concerns about commercial aviation in Indonesia.

 

The country suffered a series of accidents earlier this year that killed more than 120 people, leading the European Union to ban all the country's airlines from landing there.

 

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration downgraded the nation's rating to its lowest category.

 

Experts say the industry is plagued by poor maintenance, rule-bending and a shortage of trained professionals. (**)

 

[Michael Chai 0]

whoa! nanti skidded on the runway oh! May cause tyre puncture oh!!

[Louis L. 2]

OMG , indonesia's reputation has not been good for past few years , now it get even worse , hope they will improve in the future .

[Pieter C. 5]

Some more information...

 

Wing Part Found On Indonesian Runway

 

December 6, 2007

A three metre piece of wing from a jet aircraft has been found on a runway at the Indonesian capital's main airport and investigators are trying to trace the plane it originated from, officials said on Wednesday.

 

No airline operator had reported the part missing since its discovery on Tuesday on a runway serving Jakarta's domestic terminal, Wahyu Supriantono, chairman of the Indonesian Aircraft Technicians Association, said.

 

"From the serial number printed on the piece, we know that it is a part of the wing but we cannot trace the owner of the plane with the number," Supriantono said, adding that it was unclear whether it came from a passenger or cargo plane.

 

Frans Wenas, senior investigator at Indonesia's National Transport Safety committee, confirmed the find and said that officials were investigating the origin of the part.

 

Two weeks ago, a chunk of wing dropped off an Indonesian passenger plane carrying 144 people minutes after take-off from Jakarta, forcing the pilot to turn back.

 

Although the plane operated by Batavia Air landed safely, the incident sparked fresh concerns about the safety of flying in Indonesia following two major air accidents this year.

 

The part of that aircraft was later found near the airport and Supriantono said on Wednesday that six engineers had been suspended over the incident.

 

In January, an Adam Air jet with 102 people on board plunged into the sea off Sulawesi island. Another plane accident claimed 21 lives when a Garuda passenger jet crashed while landing in Yogyakarta in March.

 

Air travel in Indonesia, a country of more than 17,000 islands, has surged since liberalization of the industry in the late 1990s but this has triggered concerns that safety has been compromised.

 

(Reuters)