TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Citing bad weather as the reason for an airplane accident is a common occurrence, and such an excuse fits well with the lie of the land in Papua. Its vast areas are studded with mountains and narrow landing spaces are built on valleys between hillsides. When the weather turns bad, the airplane risks hitting a hillside or the pilot would reduce its altitude without noticing the mountain in front of him.
The Trigana Air plane flying from Jayapua to Oksibil, carrying 54 passengers, among them the five crew members, hit the side of a hill at Okbape District, in the regency of Pegunungan Bintang, last week. The plane burst into flames when it crashed, killing all passengers. Yet the weather was reported to be clear that day, with a five-kilometer visibility, appropriate conditions for flying. Moreover, this was the second flight on the same route that day. At the helm was an experienced pilot.
So, what happened to cause this tragedy in Papua? We must still await the investigation of the black boxes which were found by the Search and Rescue (SAR) team. But one question still hangs: why did the pilot reduce altitude, which led the plane to hit a hillside?
On the other hand, it behooves the Transportation Ministry to improve conditions of small airports in remote areas. Papua has many such airports, given that air transportation is the only link between towns and districts in Papua. The basic question is whether those airports have adequate facilities to provide safe flights, as mandated by air safety regulations.
Oksibil Aiport, for example, is known to have only one manual weather forecasting device. In extreme weather conditions, which can change at any time, is it true that when the fatal Trigana Air plane passed the Oksok hill, the weather was clear? Conditions experienced by the SAR team when it evacuated the victims' bodies showed that the weather was not that good. Mist and fog can descend suddenly.
Beyond the problem of adequate equipment, what is the operational oversight system for non-international airports? Sentani Airport, although it is a busy entry point for tourists, is one of them. Yet, Timika is classified as an international airport. Sentani and other airfields in Papua should be given equally serious attention by the Transportation Ministry.
The lack of oversight can be seen by the confused passenger manifest of the Trigana Air plane which crashed enroute to Oksibil. The name of passengers in the list did not match with those in the ill-fated plane, which can have disastrous repercussions on insurance claims.
If the passenger manifest can be chaotic, we cannot imagine how the cargo manifest would be like. The problem is that with small airline operations like this one, violations are easily committed, particularly when flight schedules are infrequent and the cargo requiring to be flown piles up rapidly. The Transportation Ministry must be stricter in its oversight duties. Since 2006, there have been nine crashes, killing more than 100 people. We must not allow Papua be a graveyard of airplanes.
Minister Ignasius Jonan, who promised to improve the oversight of the airline industry after the fatal Air Asia crash on December 28, must prove the veracity of his words. Don't just focus on big airlines and international airports. Oversight of small airlines flying over frontier areas and airports must also be a priority. (*)
