I'm a fan of Air Crash Investigation on the NatGeo channel. Friends would always say why I love to watch such programs which would make me more paranoid about flying. Well, I love the program because first - it really happened in reality, two - it investigates what have caused the crash, three - you get to learn something from such incidents (in case someday you're in it) and four - i just can't switch the channel once it starts!I think I've watched almost all episodes of the crashes. I even watched some cases twice. But today, I watched one that I had never watched before. And it was exciting because it was about Adam Air, an Indonesian airline. Don't take "exciting" the wrong way, plane crash is a terrible thing and it was just thrilling to find out why. I knew about the crash before and I didn't even know what have caused the crash until I watched the program.
Let's rewind two years back.....
2007 was started with a gloomy day in Indonesia. A plane from Adam Air with 102 people on board was reported missing from the radar and it was all over the television. I was quite terrified whenever I heard some news about plane crash. It's just HUGE to me. I kept following the news update. I shed tears and prayed (yes I did pray!) for those victims' families and relatives. Everyone was devastated. There was a false report of finding some victims and wreckage on a mountain in Sulawesi. It made the situation worse. I can't imagine of having false hopes in such a helpless situation. Wreckage and debris were found in the sea and it was confirmed that the plane crashed into the water. The black-box was then located and took more than half a year to retrieve it because the government wouldn't fund it and Indonesia couldn't force Adam Air to do so.
The last thing I remembered was watching the families and relatives crying and spreading flowers on the sea. It kind of broke my heart to see all that.
Then I got lost. TV channels had stopped broadcasting news about the plane crash and everything was back to normal. So was I. I didn't know for sure what caused the crash.
Well thanks to NatGeo now I know why. I don't mean to sound like I hate Indonesia but it was the stupidest crash I had ever known. There were so many dumb and fatal mistakes. There was so much things that could have done to avoid the plane crash. It got me furious for a while. Watch the program and you will judge.
1. The faulty navigation system.
It was reported before that the same plane was having problems with the navigation system and guess what Adam Air had done - they swapped the faulty part one another with another plane. They DID NOT fix it, they just CLEANED it with some kind of lubricant.
It was also reported before that another plane from Adam Air had the same problem with the navigation system. The pilot didn't know where they were flying to. They didn't even know which location they were at.
They kept flying for three hours until they saw an airport. They didn't even know what airport it was because they lost the communication with the air traffic controller. They knew where they were at just after they landed to the airport.
2. Lack of training.
It was reported that when the navigation system failed, the pilot and the co-pilot disengaged the autopilot system YET (believe it or not) NO ONE WAS FLYING THE PLANE! They were too pre-occupied with flipping pages of the manual book trying to fix the system.
When the alarm was on, the pilot turned it OFF.
Until the plane plunged, they realized how bad the situation was. The pilot took control. Guess what - it made the situation went FROM BAD TO WORSE. The pilot made the plane went to the opposite direction and it plummeted to the sea with the speed of sound.
3. Severe weather.
Okay you cannot blame it on Adam Air or the pilot for bad weather but you can blame the pilot for making the decision to go ahead even after being warned for such weather.
Okay maybe the pilot was under pressure by the Adam Air to keep flying no matter what.
4. Regulation for aviation industry.
Blame it on Indonesian government too for letting such faulty plane with faulty management to freely fly in the country. Blame it on Indonesia for not having proper regulation in the aviation industry. Things would have turned out much different if Indonesia had adequate regulations.
5. Information verifications.
Rumor had it that some victims and wreckages of the plane were found in the mountain of Sulawesi. The authority confirmed it without verifying it first. It gave hopes to the families and relatives. Some of them flew right away to the spot of the accident - eager to find out if their loves ones were the lucky ones to be alive. Yet it was ALL WRONG. It made what the families felt even worse. Worsened scars for life.
WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN DONE:
1. If Adam Air underwent the proper maintenance and actually fixed or replaced the faulty part, such accident would have never happened.
2. If the pilot and co-pilot knew how to actually fly the plane without autopilot, they could survive the plane crash and such accident would have never happened.
3. If Adam Air provided adequate training, the pilot and co-pilot would have known what to do in such situations thus such accident would have never happened.
4. If the pilot refused to fly due to the bad weather ahead (as warned), such accident would have never happened.
5. If Adam Air had responsible management (by not giving pressure to pilots to keep flying no matter what), such accident would have never happened.
6. If Indonesia applied proper rules in the aviation industry, Adam Air would be banned from flying thus such accident would have never happened.
All Indonesian airlines were considered unsafe and were banned from flying to several European countries and I think the ban still applies til now.
Cutting cost doesn't mean Adam Air can cut people's lives. I'm not saying that premium ticket with safer plane is always guaranteed. Shit still happens no matter how good the plane is. But at least the risk of crashes is much smaller than the poorly-maintained planes.
I'd rather pay more money than to risk my life being on a dodgy plane. If there's anything you can do to be safer, farther away from the dangers - why not?
