PGP737

Susi Air aircraft crashes in Papua

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Wed, 11/23/2011 11:35 AM
A twin otter aircraft belonging to Susi Air crashed in Nabire, Papua, on Wednesday morning.

According to Sentani Airport Security, the plane was en route from Nabire to Oligay.

At the time of writing, the number of passengers on the ill-fated plane had not been confirmed, Antara state news agency reported.


Susi Air aircraft crashes in Papua | The Jakarta Post


Crashed Susi Air plane carrying 2 foreign pilots

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Wed, 11/23/2011 2:05 PM

A Twin Otter passenger aircraft belonging to Susi Air, which crashed in Nabire, West Papua, on Wednesday morning was a cargo plane whose only passengers were its two foreign pilots.

The plane, piloted by New Zealand pilot Jessi Baker and Spanish co-pilot Albert Galego, was en route from Nabire to the Sugapa airport in the Bintang mountains. The plane crashed while attempting to land.

Susi Air corporate secretary Yogi said Wednesday that the plane had been ready to land, but the runway was not clear yet, so the plane flew back into the sky.

Geographical conditions have been cited as the cause of the accident, although details of what exactly happened remain sketchy.

Susi Air is currently trying to evacuate the plane, which has been located 1 kilometer from the Sugapa Airport, kompas.com reported.

At the time of writing, the condition of the pilot and co-pilot was not known.


Crashed Susi Air plane carrying 2 foreign pilots | The Jakarta Post

caiman27

"A poorly managed runway in the Bintang Mountains in West Papua, took its toll on Wednesday morning as a Twin Otter airplane operated by Susi Air crashed onto a mountain slope after it attempted to avoid a local resident passing the runway.

The accident killed copilot Albert Citores Gallego of Spain. Pilot Jessie Becker, a New Zealand national, survived and was in critical condition at a Timika hospital."

Plane crashes in Papua after avoiding runway jaywalker | The Jakarta Post

Coventrian

It was a Caravan, thoughts with all that were involved.

FR8R H8R

What's really disturbing is that you need to put the month of the crash in the title of the thread because they crash so often.

anito4a

The month in the title is perhaps to differentiate it from the crash in September this year which killed both pilots.

Heathrow Harry

Somewhere in the loft I have an old Missionary Air Fellowship guide to airstrips in Irian Jaya and its a truly frightening list

A typical entry for one strip was on the lines of:-

" Suffers from early mist until around 10:00 and then thunderstorms after 12:00. Approach down a blind canyon and when strip in sight on east wall of the valley steep turn. No aids. No lights. Note strip has 10 degrees slope. Surface can be slippery and often has holes dug in it by wild pigs. beware of pigs (domestic and wild) and human activity on the strip. Departure is downhill and steep turn to port immediately after takeoff....."

It's amazing there aren't many more fatal incidents - the quality of the crews operating in totally backwoods conditions is astonishing - look at this Utube video

rotatejunkie

It was a go-around below minimums boys and girls.

A totally freak accident.
What would you do? :-

Plow through a jaywalker in an oversized food-processor n face the wrath of the village mob, or try a miss n risk your life and your co-pilot's?

captplaystation

Heathrow Harry,

Thanks for that link, incredible. Puts it all into perspective, little or no opportunity for any misjudgment whatsoever, and no chance it seems in case of go-around/long landing , overrun. 100% accuracy required every time .

Edited to say, if you watch the other related videos on youtube it is quite gob-smacking where they are landing these birds . . OMFG !

robofos

nice video- it definitely lets you see how it may be impossible to go around on some of those approaches. My vote for craziest is at 2:40 "hitadipa"

sleeper

I guess the point where you are committed to land.
There are of course no IFR minima

maxthepilot

on approach charts they should write :
Land or Die!

there is no way to make a go around or a U turn without hitting something.

alisoncc

PNG was always a fun place to fly. 'scuse quality of photos, they are quite old. Ist approach to Tapini - solo nav ex for ppl. 2nd The other end of the strip. Go-rounds not on the agenda.

Norman Wells

Does anyone have any information on the 'Show Cause' meeting between Susi Air and the DGCA, last Thursday 9th February, 2012?

FR8R H8R

This is obviously a high threat place to fly. So, why does Susi hire inexperienced young pilots willing to risk their lives building time? Seems like a lose-lose scenario for the company, crews and passengers.

Best of luck to all those flying in Papua.

VarigMD11

Low hour guys??!! Dont know where you get your info from, but most if not all the Papua Captains working for Susi Air in Papua have 2000+ hours and at least 1.5 years in the company before heading out there.

FR8R H8R

I stand corrected.

No RYR for me

Sushi is a western run, two pilots and proper sop airline flying new single engine and twin turboprops. It is the locations they fly to that are challenging. The reason that they are two crew is to make sure you spend 2 years getting to know the area and airports and airstrips as an FO before becoming a captain. So yes the FO's are low houred and inexperienced to begin with but hey have an interesting career and training ahead of them. This is real flying in a real but difficulty environement.

jetdrvr

Never flew Papua but flew PNG. There, the radical is the ordinary and likely the world's most dangerous flying is the routine.

MartinCh

Two crew is required by national regs for 8+ pax aircraft, so not just 'learning the ropes'. Shame such unnecessary accident this time. RIP my friend Tomas (from the first fatal crash)