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Indonesia Plane Crash Caused by Engine Failure, Air Force Chief Says
[NYTIMES] An engine malfunction was the reason an Indonesian military aircraft crashed into an urban neighborhood, the chief of the air force said on Thursday, offering the first official explanation of the disaster two days ago.Air Marshal Agus Supriatna told news hounds in Medan, the capital of North Sumatra Province, that one of the four propellers on the aircraft, an American-built C-130 Hercules transport, was not functioning, causing it to crash about two minutes after takeoff on Tuesday from Soewondo Air Force Base in the city. All 122 people on the plane were killed, as well as at least 21 people on the ground. "The pilot had asked to return to base, and that was an indication there was something wrong with the plane," Marshal Agus said. "There was a malfunction. One of the propellers wasn't working; that's why the plane went down so fast." A woman who witnessed the crash said she noticed that at least two of the C-130's four propellers were not turning when the aircraft smashed into a gated compound of shops with living spaces above them. The witness said that in the seconds before the crash she saw thick smoke coming from one of the plane's wings. Two should have been adequate to keep it in the air from what I understand. If they were down to one then they were toast. There has been speculation that the aircraft, which was transporting Indonesian military personnel and their dependents between military bases, may have been overloaded with passengers. It was bound for stops in the Riau Islands, the Natuna Islands and Indonesian Borneo when it took off on Tuesday. The doomed aircraft missed striking a dense cluster of lower-class dwellings and shops by a few yards; instead it hit the compound, which has some open space as well as a number of popular traditional Indonesian massage parlors. Posted by: Fred 2015-07-03 |
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