Stephen Fitzptrick, Jakarta correspondent | October 25, 2007
MARWOTO Komar, the pilot responsible for the Garuda air disaster in March that killed 21 people, including five Australians, may have been distracted by fights with his wife and too little sleep the night before the crash, fellow pilots have claimed.
The bombshell came as Indonesian police confirmed that an accident report, which identified Captain Komar's poor decision-making as a key cause of the crash, contained enough material to move to the next stage of a criminal prosecution. Garuda pilots association president Stephanus Geraldus said yesterday problems at home helped explain why the respected Captain Komar, 45, attempted the high-speed landing on March 7.
The report described how Captain Komar ignored 15 automated flight-deck warnings and shouts from the co-pilot of his Boeing 737-400 to go around, or resume altitude, as he approached the runway.
Investigators identified an irrational "fixation" to land the aircraft as the key problem.
"If you look at his long flying experience, it's impossible that he would try to land at that speed," Captain Geraldus said.
The union official, a Garuda pilot, said conflict between Captain Komar and his wife, former air hostess Norma Andriani, was "common knowledge".
The claim was backed up by aviation industry analyst Dudi Sudibyo, who expressed disappointment that the report failed to delve into the pilot's mental state.
"I understand he was arguing with his wife until late that night," said Sudibyo, the senior editor at Angkasa (Airspace) magazine who is also a licensed pilot.
Captain Komar and his co-pilot, Gagam Rochmana, reported at 4.30am for the scheduled 6am Jakarta-Yogyakarta flight, the crash report said.
"What I want to know now is: why he didn't report that lack of sleep and ask to be shifted to the next flight, or maybe he felt extremely confident he could fly - overconfident," Sudibyo said.
National police spokesman Sisno Adiwinoto said the pilots had gone to ground since the crash and were likely to face manslaughter charges once expert witnesses were called to complete the criminal case.
The crash report said there was no evidence that the pilots were unfit to fly, but that "they did not provide the investigation with information about (their) activities during the 72 hours prior to commencing duty".
Captain Geraldus told The Australian that depression suffered by Captain Komar immediately after the disaster appeared to have eased recently, although he had been unable to contact his colleague for some time.
Police in Yogyakarta, who have jurisdiction for the criminal prosecution, said yesterday they were awaiting a copy of the crash report so they could proceed.
"We're looking to prosecute under criminal negligence causing death and serious injury," Inspector-General Adiwinoto said.
"We need witnesses who can prove there was negligence, and since this was an aviation matter, that could be someone from the national safety transportation committee, or it could also be a medical doctor because of the deaths and injuries.
"We have been proceeding with this investigation all along, but we needed enough preliminary evidence, which we now do have, with the report that says,yes, there was human negligence."
Inspector-General Adiwinoto said it was possible that Garuda could be prosecuted for failing to properly train pilots.
The report criticised Indonesia's Director-General of Civil Aviation for neglecting to fix Garuda's training failings.
Garuda management came under new fire yesterday with the grounding of six 737-400 for non-compliance with import laws.
