Indonesia To Amend Aviation Law Following Recent Tragedy

20th Jan 2015

The latest air tragedy involving another Indonesia-based airline has prompted the Indonesian government to consider amending its aviation law to improve safety standards.

The decision to amend the law was known during the parliamentary hearing last January 20, three weeks after the deadly crash of QZ 8501 on December 28, 2014 which claimed the lives of all 162 people on board including its 7 crew members.

It was learned, based on the radar data, that the plane accelerated its ascent in an abnormally fast rate. The speed was clocked at 6,000 feet per minute which was way beyond the normal speed for a commercial flight—the recommended is between 1,000 and 2,000 feet/minute. Even fighter jets can't possibly achieve that rate for a safe flight.

The exceedingly fast rate of the plane's acceleration in such a short time was clearly beyond the aircraft's limit which resulted to the catastrophic consequence.

Legislators have agreed that the current aviation law should be amended in order to avoid similar incident in the future.

Among other things, the legislative body has proposed to revise certain rules governing the issuance of permits to would-be operators and safety standards of all flights, the health condition of flight crews and ground controllers. Some of the rules have already been amended and imposed on airlines and more will soon follow.

According to authorities, some airlines violate some rules like selling tickets on new routes even before they could get approval of their application to operate such routes.

Authorities want to strictly impose the law by requiring airlines to secure a permit four months prior to the commencement of their operation. Only then shall they be allowed to sell tickets on such routes.

Transport Minister Ignasius Jonan has already suspended the offending airline's Sunday service between Surabaya and Singapore.

It was learned that AirAsia Indonesia has no permit to fly on a Sunday on the said route. AirAsia Indonesia flight QZ 8501 left Surabaya on a Sunday morning on its way to Singapore when it met its tragic end.

Based on the result of the preliminary investigation, the crash was caused by human error mainly because the pilot flew the plane at a dangerously high speed to a higher altitude.