Indonesia's National Transportation Safety Committee (NTSC) has recommended improvements to pilot training, better oversight of airlines and an upgrade of the airport at Yogyakarta in the wake of a Garuda accident in March.
In the final report the NTSC says of the Boeing 737-400 (PK-GZC), which crash landed at Yogyakarta on 7 March, that "the pilot-in-command descended the aircraft steeply in an attempt to reach the runway, but in doing so the airspeed increased excessively". The report adds that because the aircraft "was being flown at speeds that were in excess of the wing flaps operation speed, the co-pilot elected not to extend the flaps as instructed by the pilot-in-command". The aircraft touched down with flaps at 5e_SDgr, which "is not a landing flap setting". The aircraft speed on touchdown was 221kt (410km/h), 87kt faster than the normal landing speed for full flap.
The report is also critical of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGAC), saying that the DGAC's flying operations surveillance of Garuda "was not effective" in identifying lapses in Garuda's pilot training. "The records show no evidence that the co-pilot had been checked or received simulator training in the appropriate vital actions and responses required to retrieve a perceived or real situation that might compromise the safe operation of the aircraft," it says.
Yogyakarta airport is criticised because the NTSC found that "the rescue and firefighting vehicles were unable to reach the accident site and some did not have appropriate fire suppressant", adding that the "delay in extinguishing the fire" and "the lack of fire suppressant" may have made prejudiced chances of survival. Twenty-one of the 140 people on board were killed and the aircraft was destroyed by fire.
The NTSC has recommended Yogyakarta airport invest in firefighting equipment, construct a safety area at the runway ends and provide access to the overrun areas.
Source: Flight International
