Has the latest crash in Indonesia changed your travel plans?

[Mal]

All over the media at the moment is information about five Australians being killed in a plane crash in Indonesia. I feel sorry for the victims' families and friends as well as the other passengers (and their families) who suffered through this crash.

The plane type, brand and airline have all been clearly identified and is being widely discussed.

Has this changed your travel plans and/or choice of flights?

 

[JohnK]

Condolences to the victims' families and friends.

I don't know too much about Garuda so cannot comment further. Honestly I don't think this incident will affect my flying patterns but again highlights how lucky we are to have a relatively safe 'national' carrier.

 

[NM]

These types of tragedies rarely have a single cause. Generally there are many factors which come into play. Until we see the official report about the factors that caused this most unfortunate event, I will not be drawing any conclusions and hence not altering my travel plans.

 

[oz_mark]

I am with NM on this one. While some factors have been identified so far, there are still a number of questions unanswered about the detail of the crash. We will just have to wait for the official report.

 

[Soundguy]

I have rarely travelled business class & this accident seems to confirm that it is not necessarily the safest part of the plane. Not sure what is though..... well on second thoughts I guess in the big scheme of things it doesn't make much difference where you sit?

As Ray Comfort says, eat well, keep fit - die anyway.

 

[Kiwi Flyer]

No difference at this stage.

 

[adrian]

About five years ago, I flew on an Indonesian carrier from Bali to the island of Lombok, a very short distance (I can't remeber its name). At the time, I was surprised to see that 3 or 4 carriers flew to somewhere so close. The plane was in a terrible state. Had those propellers instead of jet engines. Seats were broken, wiring was showing in the cabin, overhead lockers flew wide open mid flight. I have never been scared on a flight, until then, and did not use the return ticket. This is the only time I have ever changed a flight for perceived safety reasons. Ironically, I booked a return flight with Garuda, as this seemed the most modern and best maintained carrier at the time. I would definitely not fly one of the non-Garuda Indonesian airlines ever again. And in light of the overall Indonesian safety record, I probably wouldn't fly Garuda again either.

 

[NM]

Be very careful laying blame on the airline involved until the full investigation has been completed. Remember that many airlines have experienced runway overruns due to a whole range of factors. Perhaps the result of this one has been made worse by the design of the airport such that the aircraft suffered major damage and caught fire. Perhaps the result would have been very different if it was a golf course at the end of the runway instead of concrete walls and a deep gully?

And before jumping to the conclusion that flying in Indonesia is dangerous due to poor airport design, have a look at this article referencing a report that more than 300 airports in the USA have inadequate runway run-off areas.

Some other well known runway overruns include:

• Qantas QF1 at Bangkok, September 23rd 1999
• Southwest WN1248 at Chicago Midway, December 8th 2005
• American Airlines AA1420 at Little Rock, June 1st 1999
• Air France AF358 at Toronto, August 2nd 2005
• Emirates A340-300 at Johannesburg, April 2004

 

[drron]

I have rarely travelled business class & this accident seems to confirm that it is not necessarily the safest part of the plane. Not sure what is though..... well on second thoughts I guess in the big scheme of things it doesn't make much difference where you sit?

As Ray Comfort says, eat well, keep fit - die anyway.

Reminds me of an old line-No I dont fly first class as I have never heard of a plane backing into a mountain.
Having many years ago flown on Merpati in Indonesia I decided then never to fly in Indonesia again.As the ferries have no better safety record it is one country I will probably never seen again.
Unfortunately there are those who have no choice and I too feel for their family and friends.

 

[oz_mark]

Be very careful laying blame on the airline involved until the full investigation has been completed. Remember that many airlines have experienced runway overruns due to a whole range of factors. Perhaps the result of this one has been made worse by the design of the airport such that the aircraft suffered major damage and caught fire. Perhaps the result would have been very different if it was a golf course at the end of the runway instead of concrete walls and a deep gully?

Indeed. In this day and age an accident is generally not the result of a single factor. Usually a number of factors co-incide that inividually do not result in an incident. In this case, there are issues around the runway, the general weather and wind gusts in the area, the pilot responses to these (and why they may have made the resposnes they did). All of these need to be considered to understand what happened, and what can be changed to prevent it happening again.

There does seem to be some recognisiton within Indonesia that there are systemic issues within the countries aviation sector, that need to be addressed. As for Garuda itself, I understand it has taken a number of steps to remedy safety within the airline, and it has a better safety record in recent years than previously.

So for now we just need to wait for the investigators to figure out what happened.

 

[Kiwi Flyer]

And before jumping to the conclusion that flying in Indonesia is dangerous due to poor airport design, have a look at this article referencing a report that more than 300 airports in the USA have inadequate runway run-off areas.

Yup, and WLG run-off not too good either. One end there is a steep slope down to busy road and lots of wires (power and trolley bus), the other a short steep drop to the sea (until recently was a ditch with road but has now been covered over).

 

[ksthommo]

Flew Mandala Airlines from Jakarta to Bali on the same day of the Garuda Crash. Our flight was due to depart Jakarta at 1315, took off around 1600 as they were double checking the undercarriage etc due to the Adam Air and Garuda hard landings.