Posted 24 July 2008 @ 09:14
JAKARTA, 24 July 2008 - An Indonesian pilot has gone on trial accused of deliberately causing a deadly airliner crash, the first time a pilot has been charged over an aviation disaster in the country. Marwoto Komar, who faces a life sentence if he is convicted, said nothing as his trial began in the central Javanese city of Yogyakarta on Thursday. Indonesian courts do not require the accused to make a formal plea.
Komar was the chief pilot of a Garuda Airlines Boeing 737 with 140 people on board when it skidded off the runway after landing at Yogyakarta airport and burst into flames on March 7, 2007. He faces three counts of negligence and one of "deliberately" destroying or damaging an aircraft causing death.
Following the reading of the charges against him, the trial was adjourned until August 4, when Komar's defence will have a chance to answer the charges. The Yogyakarta crash killed 21 people and injured 112 people. Sixteen of the dead were Indonesian nationals, while the remaining five were Australians following a government minister who was on an official visit to Indonesia.
A government investigation into the crash concluded that Komar was approaching the runway at almost double the landing speed and ignored automatic warnings and pleas from his co-pilot to circle around again. The investigation also found that Komar, whose license was revoked after the crash, ignored 15 warnings from the control tower to abort the landing.
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