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Indonesian Airline Under Fire for "Illegal" Flight

Posted on: Tuesday, 14 February 2006, 09:00 CST

Indonesian airline under fire for "illegal" flight

JAKARTA, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- The Indonesian government has expressed anger to a local airline for ordering pilots to fly a plane after an emergency landing without examination by authorities, reports said Tuesday.

The Ministry of Transportation has threatened to revoke license of Adam Air after its pilots continued the flight of a Boeing 737- 300 before undergoing check by the National Committee for Transportation Safety (KNKT), reported Kompas newspaper.

The plane made an emergency landing on Tambolaka Airport in East Nusa Tenggara province on Saturday and continued the flight about 600 km to the South Sulawesi capital of Makassar without government approval.

"The flight between Tambolaka Airport and Makassar was without any permit and very dangerous. Although the plane arrived at destination safely, it was against the law," air transport director Mohammad Iksan Tatang was quoted as saying.

Tatang said the government might consider revoking Adam Air license because the illegal flight puts Indonesia at the risk of international sanction.

KNKT chairman Setio Rahardjo said continuing flight after an incident breached both national and international regulations.

"A plane must not fly immediately after an incident, primarily if the incident was very serious," he said.

The plane made the emergency landing after pilots reported a faulty navigation system that misled it out of the scheduled Jakarta- Makassar route. Pilots decided to continue flight to Makassar before the KNKT team arrived.

Source: Xinhua News Agency - CEIS

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