Flight (Transportation) in Indonesia

With the latest rash of transportation failures in Indonesia (passenger plane crashes, ferry with 600 passengers capsizing, trains de-railing)… I am less-than-inspired to put my life in the hands of any of the budget airlines in operation in Indonesia.

I remember thinking that when we were on our first site visit to Papua and we boarded a dash 9… I saw several missing bolts, as well as track-lighting held down by duct-tape… it made me wonder what else they were using the magic silver stuff for… Although I’ve always been a big proponent of duct tape as useful for almost anything… in my opinion, that DOES NOT include mechanical repairs or bungee jumping! The picture above was Martin, BEFORE boarding, that particular flight (note the smile... it was not there upon landing!)

It’s no wonder, really, that Indonesia is plagued by air-carrier issues… when the airlines choose confidence-inspiring slogans like: Lion Air – We Fly Because We CAN; Adam Air – We’ll fly if we want to; and my favourite, Wings Air – Fly is Cheap….



…groan…

On top of this, it’s a well-known fact that the communications network in Indonesia has several gaps in the system during which planes disappear from radar and flight crew have no contact with ground (almost like the Bermuda triangle of Asia, but worse because a) it’s a kaleidoscope of geometric shapes, and b) it’s EXPLAINABLE!)

The Adam Air flight that mysteriously disappeared on January 1st hasn’t even been FOUND yet… And because the plane was destined for Manado, every day on the front page of the paper there is a new series of speculations as to what may have happened… the latest, today – a bomb! This is followed by a list of the shards of the plane that have been found, as well as personal items that have been recovered. No bodies yet, though.