Putri Prameshwari & Markus Junianto Sihaloho

Military Helicopter Crashes in Bogor, Killing 4, Injuring 3

The military added another aviation accident to its poor safety record on Friday when an Air Force helicopter crashed during a maintenance test flight in Bogor, West Java, killing four soldiers and injuring three others.

“The helicopter took off from the Atang Sanjaya Air Base for a test flight after being repaired,” said Maj. Adam, a spokesman for the air base.

The crash was the fourth such incident involving military aircraft in the past two months.

The four passengers killed were identified as Sobiq Fanani, the pilot; co-pilot Wisnu; and technicians Catur Heli and Doddy. The three injured soldiers were Ronny, Efram and Ferdinand, all technicians. All the victims were taken to Atang Sanjaya Hospital near the air base.

Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono said on Friday that the Air Force would launch an investigation into the accident.

“Let’s wait for an official report from the military,” he said.

Juwono denied that the string of accidents involving military planes was caused by a lack of maintenance. “The aircraft would not have been given permits to fly had they not fulfilled the requirements,” he said.

Last Monday, an Army helicopter flying in bad weather crashed near Cianjur, West Java, killing three of the five soldiers aboard the aircraft.

An Air Force Hercules C-130 transport plane crashed in Magetan, East Java, on May 20, killing 101 people. On April 6, a Fokker-27 training aircraft burst into flames after crashing into a hangar at Hussein Sastranegara International Airport in Bandung, West Java, killing all 24 people aboard.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono interrupted his presidential election campaign in Malang, East Java, on Friday to express his condolences to the families of those killed in the accident.

“Of course, President Yudhoyono needs a complete report from the Air Force chief and military chief,” presidential spokesman Andi Malarangeng said. “But we are sorry for the tragedy.”

Aviation observer Dudi Sudibyo said that the recent string of accidents could hurt the reputation of the country’s aviation industry because people might not distinguish between military and civilian aircraft.

“All they know is that it’s not safe to fly in Indonesia,” he said.

Bambang Susantono, chairman of the Indonesian Transportation Society, said that the Air Force and civil aviation authorities should cooperate.

“They need to sit down together and decide on standard procedures to apply to both military and civil aviation,” he said. “Regardless of whether an accident is civil or military, it still endangers other people on the ground.”

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