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strong>April 17, p1

An F-16 jet fighter belonging to the Indonesian Air Force burst into flames before takeoff on Thursday at an event held to honor President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo at the Indonesian Military'€™s (TNI) headquarters in Cilangkap, East Jakarta. The pilot of the jet fighter, Lt. Col. Firman Dwi Cahyono, suffered only minor injuries after jumping to safety as flames engulfed the plane.

The F-16 Fighting Falcon jet fighter was about to complete a flyby over the TNI headquarters during a ceremony to bestow an honorary rank on President Jokowi. '€œThe aircraft was about to take off and there was a fire in the engine and the pilot straightaway decided to abort the flight,'€ Air Force chief of staff Air Chief Marshall Agus Supriatna told reporters.

Your comments:  

When new or refurbished stuff come into Indonesian hands, the same accidents always happen: things just break down and fall apart. We have these annoying tendencies to be undisciplined and ignore detailed maintenance of everything, be it old buildings or machinery.

Just look at how rusty our transportation systems are (public trains, metro minis and the like), or how disgustingly abandoned all of our old buildings are '€” for example, those that were built by the Dutch. I bet the same thing happened with these fighter planes and played a central role in this explosion.

Itsbad

That'€™s what happens when you buy all this scrap equipment from the Americans. Nobody wants it, so they give it to countries like Indonesia.

John Mendes

Maybe I am more skeptical of the TNI brass than most, as I wouldn'€™t put it past them to deliberately sabotage the American-made F-16 in order to get President Jokowi to buy different jets from another nation. Corruption is everything and everywhere in the Indonesian military.

By the way, I predicted Jokowi would soon find a reason to wear a military uniform.

Dick Tracy

I am an ex-aggressor pilot with the US Air Force.

I am also an aerospace and aeronautical engineer and I have an IA (aircraft inspector mechanic rating). I flew the Viper (F-16). It is an excellent aircraft.

When these aircraft are refurbished, they go through an inspection process very carefully.

Those aircraft were not released to Indonesia until they passed all inspections. The last thing the US wants is to sell a defective aircraft to someone.

The US military standards in aircraft maintenance are the best in the world. I would be curious to know the hours that aircraft flew after delivery and what maintenance was performed.

As fast as that aircraft burned, I would first inspect for a hydrazine line or leak. Hydrazine is part of the F-16 EPU (emergency power unit). That, by the way, can happen to a brand new aircraft.

Thag

Having been to many air shows in the UK, where American aircraft were on show, and seen how high the standards of maintenance and cleanliness was of even over-20-year-old refueling tankers, for example, I'€™d hanker a guess that the local attention-to-detail was severely lacking.

Just take a look at the condition of many of the military vehicles you see on the road here to see how bad things are.

LAF

The buyer needs to be checked, just like the buyer who bought the Transjakarta buses.

Batik