Bad weather was believed to have caused the crash of an Indonesian Army helicopter in West Java province on Monday (June, 08 2009), the sixth military aircraft accident this year. Three of its five crew and passengers died in the accident in the Cianjur regency, the latest tragedy to hit the Indonesian Military (TNI). Heavy rains in the area at about 2 p.m. seemingly led to the NB0-105 helicopter crashing to the ground in Kampung Rawabeber, Situ Hyang village, Pagelaran district. The crash claimed the lives of the Army’s Special Forces Command (Kopassus) training center Col. Ricky Samuel and head of the training center's training section Capt. Agung Gunarto. Both officers were based in Kopassus' training center in Batujajar. The chopper’s co-pilot, First Lt. Agus Sudarso died while being transported to the Gatot Subroto Army Hospital in Jakarta. His body was then returned to the Cianjur General Hospital. Meanwhile, pilot Capt. Hadi Isnarto and a third passenger, First Lt. Agus Sudarso, also from Kopassus, were in critical condition. “They [the victims] were on a routine training flight,” Siliwangi Military command chief Maj. Gen. Rasyid Qurnuen Aquary told reporters. On April 6, a Fokker F-27 Troopship from the Indonesian Air Forces crashed at a hanger in the Husein Sastranegara Air Force Base compound, Bandung, killing six crew and 24 soldiers from the Air Force' Special Force (Paskhas). Bad weather was also believed to have caused the accident. The deadliest and latest tragedy happened in Magetan, East Java on May 20 when the air forces C-130 Hercules heavy transport aircraft broke into pieces, claiming 101 people, including 52 officers and soldiers. The first accident this year was in March when a Hughes helicopter crashed in Semarang, with no casualties. Two other minor accidents occurred in April and May. Politicians, including Vice President Jusuf Kalla, also a presidential candidate, have used the accident to criticize the government’s decreased military budget. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono denied that his administration had cut the budget for the maintenance of military weaponry. Instead, the government was only postponing the purchase of new war equipment. Army spokesman Brig. Gen. Christian Zebua claimed the 1988-made chopper was still airworthy. “It was still very, very airworthy. So, it’s the bad weather,” Zebua told Antara. The helicopter had been conducting a training support mission when it was caught in hard rain and strong winds. The ill-fated helicopter was reportedly on its way from Pangalengan, Bandung to Batujajar training center in Cimahi. The utility helicopter was manufactured by state aircraft maker PT Dirgantara Indonesia under license from German firm Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm.
Author: Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post with a little modified Indonesia Today
