Air Transport

Indonesia’s Directorate General of Aviation and Communication (DGAC) has grounded two commercial pilots as a probe continues into an incident in which they landed their passenger aircraft at the wrong airport in Padang.

The Wings Air Boeing MD-80 was to have landed at Padang’s commercial airport, Minangkabau International, but instead was flown to the old commercial airport, Tabing, which is now a military facility, says a senior Jakarta-based DGAC official involved in the probe. Wings Air is a unit of Lion Air, Indonesia’s largest privately owned carrier.

Before landing, the pilots sought clearance from air traffic control (ATC) to land at Minangkabau, adds the official. He declines to be drawn on why the pilots landed at the wrong airport because this is now subject to investigation, but he says the incident occurred at about 10:00 on 5 September.

The aircraft was on the ground at Tabing airport only briefly before it was flown to Minangkabau, which is a few miles away, he says.

Even though the DGAC official is adamant the pilots only had ATC approval to land at Minangkabau, Lion Air claims the pilots requested approval to land at Tabing. It says the pilots did this because the “instrument landing system was not functioning too good” and weather conditions were “hazy”.

Tabing airport’s runway was clearly visible, but Minang­kabau airport was less so, he says.

LEITHEN FRANCIS/SINGAPORE