Air Transport

Tatang Kurniadi, chairman of Indonesia's national transport­ation safety commission NTSC, has revealed that the cockpit crew involved in the 7 March fatal crash of a Garuda Indonesia Boeing 737-400 were arguing during the final approach to the runway at Yogyakarta in which 21 people died.

Tatang says the cockpit voice recorder reveals the co-pilot pleaded with the captain to abandon the approach and go round because the aircraft was flying too fast for a safe landing. "There was some argument between the co-pilot and the captain relating to the speed and the flaps," Tatang told Australia's Channel Nine Network, adding that if the captain had chosen to do so, he could have aborted the approach and circled for a second attempt.

Tatang also said this was the first time the two pilots had flown together. He added that the co-pilot "is a young pilot" with "just about 2,000 flying hours" and that "the captain is experienced" with "more than 15,000 flying hours". He had earlier revealed to Flight International that the aircraft touched down very hard and the impact was so great it caused the 737's nose landing gear to break off.