Air force still searching for missing aircraft

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Fri, 06/27/2008 4:15 PM  |  National

The Indonesian Air Force is still searching for its aircraft went missing since Thursday morning while being on an aerial photography training mission, chief spokesman Air Commodore Chaeruddin Ray told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

"We are combing all the mountain slopes from where the aircraft was last contacted down south to the sea," he said.

"We cannot pinpoint the exact location as the airplane's emergency locator beacon (ELB) simply does not send any signals."

Chaeruddin said the airplane was in airworthy condition when it was cleared to take off.

"The airplane is also equipped with jungle and survival kits," he said.

The NC-212-200 light transport airplane belongs to the 4th Squadron at the Abdulrachman Saleh Air Force Base in Malang, East Java.

The airplane took off from the Halim Perdanakusumah Air Force Base in East Jakarta at 9:23 a.m. The contact was lost at 10:28 a.m. It is predicted that the airplane went down around Salak Mountain in Bogor, West Java.

There were 18 people including three foreigners in the airplane for a training mission using digital mapping camera.

The foreigners are Briton Kwon Ping Anthony, Indian Mahendra Kumar and Singaporean Tan Hong King. There are also three Indonesian civilians. All six were from a firm supplying the camera.

The airplane is manned by five crew member and seven officers from the air force' aerial mapping and surveillance agency.

Chaeruddin said the air force deployed two Puma and two NBO- 105 helicopters while the national SAR agency deployed one NBO- 105 chopper. (nvn)

Copyright © 2008 The Jakarta Post - PT Bina Media Tenggara. All Rights Reserved.