Originally Posted by
nortwinds
Thermal Image, Mingalababya, thank you both for making the formal report available.
Rockhound, others, thank you for recognising that there are still unanswered questions.
The co-pilot hours, as being discussed, would have been about 110 hours total in command, assuming his log book was accurate, and about 2500 total. In his native New Zealand at the time he would normally have needed a couple of hundred hours in command to get a first commercial position, and about 2000 hours multi-engine command time to even apply for a co-pilot position on a B737.
Yes I well know about direct cadet entry schemes, but they are for carefully selected airline or military pilots with huge numbers applying for each coveted position - and only the best are chosen. The Silkair MI 185 co-pilot came from a system where you could walk in off the street, provided you have enough money and are healthy enough to pass the medicals, and fund your own training before competing for the entry level commercial positions doing instructing, joy rides etc, before working up to light twins and the 2000 command hours to compete for the airlines.
So the co-pilot was unemployable in his native New Zealand - even after getting his 2500 total - yet was employed virtually off the street with 110 hours on a B737.
So the first big question is why was the experienced Captain immediately blamed for the disaster - reverting right back to old concepts of "pilot error" and yet no similar questions were ever asked of the co-pilot?
Perhaps, with the passage of time, it is now possible to sensitively tease out the real causes, and learn from them.
Nortwinds. Do you have any idea of what you are talking about ?. The F/O did not join MI as a cadet. He was quite experienced with approx 2 years of B737 experience gained with GA.
The Captain had a few skeletons in the cupboard from both his Military Flying and MI career.
Shortly after the investigation began there was a rumour the F/O's DNA was found on the A/C crash axe. Due to the uncertaintity of how this could have occured it was not admissible as evidence.
Another problem the Indonesian's had was accepting the possibility the Captain took his own life without regard to the Crews and passengers own lives (Similar to Egypt Air). The foundation for this was Muslim beliefs.
RIP Duncan