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Papua airport resumes operation after accident
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Crash-landing – A Grand Caravan aircraft belonging to private airline Asian One Air crashes in its attempt to land at Aminggaru Airport in Ilaga, Puncak, Papua, on Oct.13. (Courtesy of the Puncak administration/File)
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minggaru Airport in Ilaga, Puncak regency, Papua, resumed operations after a Grand Caravan skidded off the runway, forcing its closure on Thursday.
Airport head Daniel Joko told The Jakarta Post on Friday that a three-member National Transportation Safety Commission (KNKT) team had arrived in Timika and would fly to Ilaga to investigate the accident.
It is suspected the pilot was late in landing the aircraft, touching down mid-runway, and so it continued to beyond the edge of the runway.
Papua Police chief Insp.Gen. Paulus Waterpauw said in Jayapura on Thursday that there had been no fatalities in the accident.
Piloted by Capt. Jaron Burhani with co-pilot Adj. Comr. Stefanus, the Asian One Air single-engine turboprop plane departed from Moses Kilangan Airport in Timika to Ilaga Airport. It carried 1 ton of goods and had no passengers on board.
“It is suspected the landing was made in foggy weather, leaving the pilot unable to see the tip of the runway when landing the aircraft,” Paulus said.
The accident resulted in the plane having a broken propeller and left-side brake.
With a 600-meter long runway, which is 18m in width, Ilaga’s airport operates from 6 a.m. and closes at noon daily because of heavy fog, which blankets the airport every afternoon.
It serves 15 to 30 flights using Caravan and Twin-Otter aircraft belonging to several airlines, including Susi Air, which gets a flight subsidy to serve regular flights from Timika to Ilaga with a ticket price of Rp 292,000 (US$22.38) per passenger. (ebf)
