Ferry Sinkings in Indonesia

This past week in Indonesia has seen two ferries sink, one off the coast of Bali and one off the coast of Kalimantan. What is it with Indonesian ferries and their uncanny ability to regularly sink?

Understanding that Indonesia is a collection of 17,000 plus islands makes it easy to see why sea transportation is critical to the movement of goods and people. So, in some ways the fact that there is an accident or two would seem to be part and parcel of the odds.

However, the regularity with which accidents occur really should raise more alarm bells than it does. It should also generate a little bit more action than the obligatory Minister of Transportation statement that the government is dedicated to ensuring the safety of its citizens who have no option but to take sea transportation to get to where they need to be.

Simple solution is a complete overhaul of the safety and compliance system. This overhaul does not necessarily imply changing of the current prevailing laws and regulations, but rather seeing that the regulations that are already in force are, in fact, enforced.

On Wednesday, a ferry, Putra Romo, sank in the Straits of Badung off the coast of Bali. Of the 27 people on board, nine are dead and three are missing. Then, last night, the Sari Mulia sank off the coast of Kalimantan on a routine trip from Negara to Banjarmasin. The ship, as is often the case in Indonesia, was overcrowded. Best estimates to date are that one hundred have been rescued, five are dead, and a further eighteen are missing.

This is certainly not a good start to the fasting month.

(picture is a random ferry image that can be found here)

Qatar, Doha, and Qatar Airways

I had the pleasure of flying with Qatar Airways all the way from Jakarta to Washington DC. You can probably guess that this is going to be positive in terms of the comments about Qatar Airways.

Qatar Airways bills itself as the 5-Star Airline and this is probably apt based solely on my only experience with the airline and this is in spite of a delay in Doha.

The planes are new so this is always a good start as this means that the comfort level is likely to be good. I was not disappointed on this front. Although, more leg room would never go astray.

The service was first rate. The food was 5-star. It really was like eating at a hotel, Parmesan covered chicken breasts with roast pumpkin and beans...awesome. Even more fun was that when the lights went down there was a self-service option. That is, the staff provided hot and cold sandwiches, as well as drinks. You just meandered your way back to the galley and helped yourself to whatever you wanted - very cool.

The flight was long, so it was nice that the service and food was excellent.

I did not get to see any thing much of Qatar and Doha, except what I could see from the terminal and flying in and out of the airport. However, I got to see more of the international terminal in Doha than I wanted to.

For an international airport that is supposedly a hub for those travelling in the Middle East then it still has a fair way to go on that front. There is probably a litany of complaints in this regard that I should keep to myself, but hey, that would not be me.

For an international airport there is next to nothing in the terms of duty free shopping. There is really only one shop and this is hardly duty free. I was looking at buying a real camera (real being something other than point and shoot) however the duty free price in Doha was the equivalent of IDR 3 million more expensive than what I could pay for it at a legitimate electronics shop.

However, such is life on that front. That, though, was not the big thing for me. The toilets / restrooms were of a quality that made the restrooms at Soekarno-Hatta look like a 5-star joint. Each of the toilet facilities at the terminal required one to have Jesus-like skills, particularly the ability to walk on water. And, at least two of the restrooms were under repair. For me this is just crazy for what is supposedly a 5-star airport. Nevertheless, on the positive side the water was hot which meant there was a certain enhanced cleaning possibility if you know what I mean.

The security at the terminal was interesting to say the least. I am all for enhanced security if this means that I am guaranteed of flying safe. As someone transiting through the airport the security was pretty strict. To get of the plane and into the terminal required all of your stuff to be x-rayed, this included taking off your belt. However, this was ramped up on getting into the lounge to reboard the plane. What made this experience even less fun was that the security staff were scary in an agressive way.

Getting into the lounge required not only the belt to come off again, but the shoes, face towels, hankies, laptops, cameras, coins, keys, mobile phones, and the list goes on. This is part and parcel of an increased security presence however getting shoved against a wall and yeleed at not to move while your stuff goes through the x-ray machine is a little disheartening.

So, in short Qatar Airways service and food was excellent! The terminal at Doha was a little less than expected.

Qantas -- Safe or Not?

The story goes that the national press is always harder on the national flag carrier than it is on other airlines. Yet, in the case of Qantas (photo) then perhaps this increased glare of the spotlight is warranted considering the consistent failures logged over the last month or so. For an airline that has prided itself on its safety record while allowing its service standards to slip. I must admit that I have not flown Qantas in years, and the reason for this was that their service was less than expected.

However, on with the safety issues. Qantas is taking a bit of a hammering of late as the list of failures grows ever-longer. The most recent of these "events" includes a Perth bound 737-300 making an unscheduled toilet stop in Adelaide on its way from Sydney. It seems that the ground staff had forgotten to empty out the bowels of the plane and consequently mid-flight things went all to crap. I guess this is both in the literal and figurative senses of the word.

After the delay the flight continued on its merry way.

The second "event" was the delay to the QF2 flight out of London. which was delayed some 15 hours because of a broken rudder. I guess though this was not a mid air which is probably a relief for the passengers that were taking this flight.

These two "events" follow a string of other incidents including a mid-air explosion that forced a plane to divert to Manila in the Philippines, a hydraulic leak that forced a plane to divert to Brisbane, and the loss of a panel from a plane in flight that was not discovered until the plane landed at its destination.

The best is yet to come as a drunken Qantas flight attendant fell against a fire alarm in a hotel in New Zealand that caused a full-scale evacuation of the hotel in the wee hours of the morning. The flight attendant has since resigned. Another flight attendant from the same flight refused to take a breath test before boarding the plane and was stood down from the flight. This served to delay the flight for several hours as a new crew was flown in to cover for their drunk and embarrassed colleagues.

I guess people will have to draw their own conclusions on this expanding list of events.

Update on Garuda Pilot

Well, it seems that Garuda in a show of solidarity with the pilot allegedly responsible for the crash that killed 21 people in Yogyakarta last March (2007), it has offered the gentlemen the option of resigning or being fired. He, Captain Marwoto Komar, opted to resign.

Apparently, the final report suggests the the pilot was so 'fixated' with landing that he ignored 15 warnings lamps and alarms.

The unfortunate pilot is being charged with negligence for his actions leading up to the crash. He is currently out on bail.

Aircraft Safety - The Indonesian Way

The rate that Indonesian aircraft seem to be in accidents generally, and fatal accidents more specifically, should beg some pointed questions to the officials tasked with ensuring that the Indonesian sky is safe. Yet, within the last week there has been another incident where a Mandala flight crash-landed in Malang, no fatalities which is a blessing for those on board and their families, but all the same another crash statistic for Indonesian airlines.

The statistics do not lie. Indonesia's air safety record is woeful, perhaps not as bad as some other nations, but to say that "we're not the worst" is surely no saving grace or sustainable claim to fame. On an average of one million flights in Indonesia there are 3.77 fatal accidents. The world average is a mere 0.25. A statement to the effect that this is "unacceptable" is tantamount to travellers in Indonesia being short-changed by the airlines they fly with and the Government agencies tasked with supervising them. Everyone knows that it is unacceptable but what are the airlines and the Government going to do about it?

The reality is a simple one for an archipelagic nation such as Indonesia, air travel is a quick and easy way of lessening the distance between islands. This makes the movement of goods and people easier, and perhaps even more importantly for a nation that focuses so much on nationalism and demands patriotic pride from its people, then safe and efficient air travel would really give credence to the idea of "unity in diversity" as safe and efficient air travel would allow greater unity to be fostered among a diverse range of people.

Even though this is about aircraft safety, it could easily be about transport safety in general. Those who no longer fly because of the woeful safety records of Indonesia's flag carrier, Garuda, and its myriad of budget carriers have to choose between ferries for inter-island travel and trains for travel on Java, and local buses in just about all other places.

Just during this past Idul Fitri holiday there has been a fatal ferry accident. The ferry industry is both figuratively and literally overloaded. It is common practice for official passenger manifests not to reflect the total number of people on board. Trains and buses fare no better in the accident sweepstakes that seems to be travel in Indonesia.

Certainly, if nothing else, this horrendous safety record should give pause for concern. The ball is clearly in the Government's court. Simply, to use a tennis analogy, the Government must return serve or let itself be 'aced'.

Time will tell!