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an. 3, Online

Former Indonesian Air Force chief of staff and aviation observer Chappy Hakim says he does not understand why the Transportation Ministry chose to suspend AirAsia flight QZ8501 from Surabaya to Singapore, after it was found that the low-cost airline did not have a permit to fly on Sundays.

'€œIf it'€™s proven that AirAsia flew on a day it wasn'€™t supposed to fly, the question is how could its flight plan be approved in the first place?'€ Chappy said on Saturday. '€œIt makes little sense that they chose to fly on a Sunday knowing they didn'€™t have permission to do so.'€
 

Your comments:  

Is the ministry trying to say that the plane crashed because it didn'€™t have the right permit?

The matter of the permit is a red-herring and obviously has nothing to do with the crash.

Why doesn'€™t it check which other airlines also fly on routes/days lacking all the right paperwork? And why is it only now waking up and being concerned about this permit problem?

Terry AmAsee

 
So what the ministry actually seems to be saying is that the permit, which they didn'€™t have but did, shouldn'€™t have been issued because whichever unknown party (seemingly difficult to trace, so he might be working out of a cupboard or from underneath somebody else'€™s desk) at the ministry who issued it should have been clairvoyant enough to know that there would be a future problem because of its issuance. All seems remarkably clear once you get the gist of it.

Fred Frogley

 
Jonan surprisingly had great temerity to condemn AirAsia before checking on what is going on with the Transport Ministry. With no scruples, his accusation landed straight on AirAsia on grounds of not securing a license prior to take-off (none of this happens in other parts of the world).

But CAAS (Singapore) came up with a statement that I'€™d take as a rather more reliable source, wiping out Jonan who has hitherto had a strong reputation for displaying mere image-building.

Marsilla Dewi Cohen

 
All the comments agree that the Transportation Ministry has made a huge mistake by bringing up this issue of AirAsia not having a complete set of licenses to operate on that fateful day.

But please give the families and Air Asia some time to get over some of the pain of this event and let the families at least put to rest there lost family members.

His outburst is completely uncalled for and shows a complete lack of compassion for the families of the passengers.

LTB

 Mr. President, you need to start '€œcutting the dead meat'€ in your administration '€” this is most embarrassing.

Rojak

 
I read in another journal that Jonan vented his anger at AirAsia officials when he learnt that AirAsia'€™s pilot did not seek a briefing from ground control on the weather before taking off. He was told that it was a '€œtraditional'€ exercise for pilots to check their instruments on board for weather conditions. But the minister insisted that the law required a briefing by the ground weather representatives.

He blew his top as though the briefing would have solved or avoided the air crash! But didn'€™t the pilot ask ground control for permission to take the plane above the clouds? Yes, indeed, he did that and got '€œyes'€ as an answer. It could be that the pilot chose to speak to ground control immediately after takeoff? Who is to confirm this?

Jonan, as a minister, should learn how to be tactful, sensible, mindful and patient and not to show off in front of journalists and the public. Please bear in mind that your experience in handling the KAI (previous posting) is totally different from overseeing the airline business.

Luwanto

 
A flight plan needs to be approved and once it has been approved, the flight is cleared to take off. The minister should explain why the flight plan was approved, whereas there was no permit. It doesn'€™t make sense!

Rudi Wellekens