Air Force Chief Imposes Temporary Flight Ban on Super Tucano
12 February 2016 13:22 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta-Air Force Chief of Staff Marshall Agus Supriatna has temporarily banned 11 units of Super Tucano aircraft from flying after the crash of TT-3108 aircraft at Blimbing Regency, Malang, on Wednesday.
“Every time plane crash incident occurs, we will ban the plan from flying,” said Agus on Thursday, February 11, 2016.
According to Agus, the flight ban will remain until the cause of the plane crash is found. He said an investigation team is currently collecting and assembling the debris of the plane to ease the investigation.
Air Force spokesman First Marshall Dwi Badarmanto denied allegations of poor aircraft maintenance. He said maintenance is conducted routinely by Air Force’s engineers. “We conduct maintenance in several phases: in every 50 flight hours, 100 flight hours and 300 flight hours,” said Dwi.
He also denied assumptions that maintenance funds are not prioritized by the Air Force. As proof, all of Air Force’s maintenance depots work well, including maintenance depots for aircraft, radar and communication devices. “But I don’t remember the budget amount,” Dwi said.
INDRA WIJAYA