Tourist Object: Garuda flight GA-200

The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta, Jakarta

The ill-fated Garuda passenger jet that crashed Wednesday in Yogyakarta struggled with strong wind shear that damaged the front exit door, preventing many business-class passengers from escaping when the plane burst into flames, experts said.

The exact cause of the accident, however, will be established based on the analysis of the flight recorder, or “black box”, currently underway in Australia.

The Boeing 734-400 aircraft built in 1992 overshot its runway at the Adi Sucipto airport and burst into flame in a rice paddy 300 meters away. Of the 140 passengers and crew aboard, 21 died, while the rest escaped through the emergency exits at the back.

Capt. Stephanus Geraldus, president of the Garuda pilots’ association, told the Associated Press that the doomed aircraft’s pilot felt a very powerful downdraft just before landing. This is a phenomenon typically caused by differences in air temperature or pressure.

Such wind shears have been blamed for causing other accidents involving commercial jetliners.

Pilots experiencing a strong downdraft are “one moment sitting with the aircraft under control and the next minute pushed to the ground very rapidly,” Tom Ballantyne, chief correspondent of Orient Aviation magazine, told the news agency.

“As he reacts, the aircraft will become slightly unstable, it may start to shudder or shake,” he said, adding that while there are standard ways to restore control of the plane, the pilot’s natural reaction is unfortunately to speed up.

“When the wind changes direction again, he ends up going too fast,” he said.

Some survivors and eyewitnesses said flight GA-200 was traveling too fast while landing.

Capt. Novianto, vice president of Garuda’s flight safety department, said Yogyakarta’s runway is uneven in some places.

“We feel the wavy points when taxiing after landing and when taking off,” said Novianto, a senior pilot experienced in flying Boeing 737-400 aircraft. Garuda has 39 of them.

He added that the aircraft’s braking system was malfunctioning upon landing at Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta airport from Palembang on Tuesday, a day before the crash.

“The damage was repaired on Tuesday night and the plane was declared flight-worthy afterward,” he told The Jakarta Post.

On Friday, the team investigating the accident completed its work. Team chairman Mardjono said the wreckage would be cut up and moved.

Mardjono refused to go into detail about the team’s findings, saying an official statement would be released after the flight recorder had been analyzed.

In Jakarta, Vice President Jusuf Kalla said he was ashamed of the recent string of transportation mishaps.

“People wonder why so many accidents have been happening here in Indonesia,” he said when meeting with Malaysian chamber of commerce delegates.

Kalla said Indonesia would tighten its laws on transportation safety and if accidents persisted, all relevant officials would be fired.

Meanwhile, forensic doctors at Yogyakarta’s Dr Sardjito Hospital announced Friday that five of the bodies of the 21 victims had not yet been identified.