Airline 'ignored safety checks'
2007-01-19 07:14
Jakarta - A former pilot of Indonesian carrier Adam Air alleged on Thursday
the airline's management had often forced pilots to fly aircraft
lacking safety clearance, or with malfunctioning parts.
An Adam Air Boeing 737-400 with 102 people on board went missing
on New Year's Day.
Sutan Salahuddin, who worked for Adam Air for 18 months, said
management in 2005 twice overrode his objections to flying aircraft
that had not met safety standards.
"There was no maintenance check by engineers but I was forced to
sign the maintenance log," Salahuddin, 36, said of one instance
when he said he was forced to fly from Jakarta to the North Sumatra
city of Medan.
In the second instance, one of the company owners directly
ordered him to fly an aircraft to Padang in West Sumatra, despite
his objections following a malfunction in the navigation back-up
system.?
"I was called directly by the owner," he said, adding that the
practice was very unusual.
"I was really scared," he told journalists, when he flew the
planes on these occasions.
Salahuddin was waiting at the West Jakarta court for the verdict
in a three-billion-rupiah ($329 000) suit Adam Air filed
against him for alleged breach of his four-year contract.
The company is demanding he repay the three billion rupiah it
spent on pilot training. Another pilot is also being sued.
Salahuddin is one of 16 former Adam Air pilots who quit the
airline.