Putri Prameshwari

Garuda Indonesia Flight Forced to Land

A PT Garuda Indonesia jetliner carrying 49 passengers made an emergency landing on Friday at Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport after one of its wheels came loose, officials said. No passengers were hurt in the incident.

Pujobroto, Garuda’s corporate secretary, said a Boeing 737 was forced to return to the airport 15 minutes after it took off for Aceh after a problem occurred with one of the left wheels.

“The captain flying the plane, Johnny Siregar, said the wheel was loose,” he said, “and according to the procedure he had to return to base.”

The plane then circled the airport for about an hour to burn fuel before landing safely.

Flight GA-142 took off at 8:14 a.m., Pujobroto said.

“All passengers were transferred to the next flight at 11 a.m.,” he added.

Bambang Ervan, a spokesman for the Transportation Ministry, said an inspector from the ministry was sent to the site to make the appropriate safety checks on the aircraft.

“The plane is grounded until maintenance and repairs are finished,” Bambang said.

JA Barata, from the National Transportation Safety Committee (KNKT), said he had sent two investigators to probe the incident.

“We will check whether or not it was caused by a mechanical problem,” he said.

Edward Silloy, the airport’s chief administrator, said that the aircraft had been removed to a secure location for maintenance.

He said the airport was closed for a few minutes while Flight GA-142 landed.

“The runway was closed and we had to divert other flights,” he said, adding that the airport reopened at 10 a.m. on Friday.

The EU lifted a travel ban on flagship carrier Garuda Indonesia, Mandala Airlines, Airfast and PrimeAir in July.

The move was in response to what the European Commission, the EU’s regulatory arm, deemed “significant improvements” by the nation’s civil aviation authority.

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