21 July 2008

Garuda Pilot -- Trial

Captain Marwoto Komar the pilot of the ill-fated Garuda flight that crashed in Yogyakarta on 7 March 2007 is to be tried for his alleged negligence in the deaths of 21 people and the injuries of many more.

The trial is to be held in the Sleman District Court (near Yogyakarta) in Central Java. The trial is scheduled to begin on Thursday. There is to be a panel of judges to hear the case.

The final report by Indonesia's air safety investigators stated that Komar was so "fixated" with landing that he ignored 15 alarms and the pleas of his co-pilot. Nevertheless, Komar's arrest was greeted with protests and claims that the data from the black boxes and other flight recording equipment was inadmissible in a court of law pursuant to prevailing laws, regulations, and practices.

This means that the police would have had to obtain evidence that did not rely on the black boxes or the flight recorder information. Obviously the Office of the Public Prosecutor believes that the police have done a sufficient job in this regard to warrant proceeding to trial.

10 comments:

Unknown said...

Maybe the co pilot is going to be the star witness.

Anonymous said...

This is about the only thing on at the moment which is possibly more interesting that the trial of Artalyta and the Rangunan mutilation case!

Rob Baiton said...

GJ...

I believe that is the case!

Brett...

I don't know that it is that exciting :D

Anonymous said...

Although it's necessary to have a trial, sadly it won't change a thing. One mistake (or should I say carelessness) too many?

Rob Baiton said...

Maybe a trial will change a few things, particularly if it encourages pilots to take extra caution when commanding a big piece of steel and aluminium that flies through the air at 900kms an hour!

It is one mistake too many or the straw that broke the camel's back! Yet, it is an insane proposition that pilots cannot be held responsible for their negligent actions.

I can appreciate that accidents happen, but this was one that did not need to happen!

Anonymous said...

why is that evidence inadmissible?? any idea??

Rob Baiton said...

I need to check to confirm, but I remember reading something at the time about some kind of international(?) agreement that makes it so...

But I will do a little research and see if I can come up with something a little more certain in this regard.

I will post any links I find.

Unknown said...

Hopefully the Garuda practice of coming in "hot" will be revised. I have experienced this many times and posted on several times about this. Rarely had the experience with other airlines around the world, so why Garuda??

I have been to a aircraft crash after it hit the ground at 900kph was not a pretty sight/site!!!

Rob Baiton said...

GJ...

At 900km/h it never is!

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