Thread: Indonesian pilot to be tried for negligence in 2007 crash

Indonesian pilot to be tried for negligence in 2007 crash

Jakarta - An Indonesian district court ruled Monday to proceed with the negligence trial of a pilot of a national flag carrier plane that crashed last year killing 21 people.

Chief Judge Sri Andini said the panel of judges court rejected a not guilty plea filed by the defendant and his defence lawyers at the previous hearings, and ruled to continue the trial on charges punishable by life imprisonment.

Andini adjourned scheduled the trial to resume on September 15 when witnesses will be called, the state-run Antara news agency reported.

Pilot Marwoto Komar is accused of negligence for ignoring 15 alarms to abort the landing of the Garuda Airlines Boeing 737 at the Adi Sucipto airport in the central Java city of Yogyakarta, on March 7, 2007.

Prosecutors indicted Komar for deliberately forcing the plane to land even though it's speed was excessive - roughly twice the safe speed - causing the jet to bounce and skid off the runway, killing 21 passengers.

Komar pleaded not guilty, saying that with that with 22 years' experience as a pilot he would not have deliberately crashed the plane.

Among the 21 victims were five Australians who were traveling to Yogyakarta for an official visit by then-foreign minister Alexander Downer. Downer was not on the same plane.

Komar's arrest in February sparked protests from fellow pilots who said it was the first time a pilot in Indonesia had been charged with criminal offences over a crash. They urged authorities to establish an air transport tribunal rather than bringing the case to criminal court.

The Yogyakarta accident followed a crash on New Year's Day 2007 of an Adam Air jet into the sea off West Sulawesi province, which killed all 102 people on board.

The two accidents caused worries about the safety of Indonesian airlines and prompted authorities to pledge to tighten the monitoring of domestic carriers.//dpa

Uncut footage GA-200 Garuda Indonesia Plane Crash

Boeing 737 07/03/07 (7 March 2007) - First Half : Freelance video cameraman, Wayan Sukardo, who survived the plane crash in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, captures the chaos of the crash scene after he crawled from the burning wreckage. Second Half : taken from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation Evening News.