3 Alleged Fighter Jets Delay Prabowo's Flight, BPN Blames Jokowi

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Muddled information spread of 3 fighter jets maneuvering across the runway that hindered the plane carrying presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto, which was already set to take off.

The incident that eventually delayed Prabowo’s flight to Purwokerto was first informed by retired Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI) chief of staff Johannes Suryo Prabowo in one of his Tweets on Wednesday, April 3.

“Info, the aircraft carrying @prabowo aborted takeoff caused by 3 passing jet fighters at the end of the runway. The complaint and CVR will be officially reported,” said Johannes’ tweet through his account @marierteman.

Asked about the incident, Prabowo Subianto – Sandiaga Uno’s campaign team (BPN) spokesman Ferdinand Hutahaean recalled the incident from the testimony of a person who accompanied Prabowo at the time. He told Tempo today, a similar occurrence as stated by Johannes Suryo Prabowo.

Ferdinand blamed the incident on the airport’s air traffic controller (ATC) that had initially cleared Prabowo’s plane to take off, which was forced to stop at the runway.

“If it continued to take off, the most possible occurrence is an air collision,” said Ferdinand.

However, Ferdinand did not stop at the ATC but also directly blamed President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, which he views is the president’s responsibility to make sure the safety of its citizens including Prabowo.

“The government has failed in this instance,” Ferdinand firmly said to Tempo.

Air Force Questions the Incident 

Following the incident, TNI's air force (TNI AU) denied the accusations suggesting 3 jetfighters of TNI's airforce (TNI AU) deliberately blocking the aircraft that had Prabowo Subianto. The institution said that the occasions are remotely related to each other’s flight schedule.

“The #TNIAU fighter jets have nothing to do with the flight schedule of the 9H-NYC (Prabowo’s plane),” TNI AU wrote through its official Twitter account @_TNIAU on Wednesday, April 3.

TNI AU asserted the information that previously spread is untrue and that the air force received information that the actual failure to takeoff was caused by a mistake by the ATC that was on-duty. The ATC authorized the takeoff of Prabowo’s plane during the same time a Wings Air was in its final approach before landing at the airport.

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