By Adam Gartrell, AAP South-East Asia Correspondent
JAKARTA: The pilot of a Garuda Indonesia plane that crashed killing 21 people has blamed the disaster on mechanical problems.
He told a court hearing in Jakarta on Tuesday that he did all he could to land the aircraft safely.
The Boeing 737 slammed onto the runway at Yogyakarta airport in Java, careered into a field and exploded in flames on March 7, 2007.
A government probe found pilot Marwoto Komar ignored 15 automated cockpit warnings not to land as he brought the plane in at roughly twice the safe speed.
Komar is facing trial in Yogyakarta, accused of criminal negligence leading to death.
But in Sleman District Court on Tuesday, Komar sought to blame the crash on steering problems.
"At the height of 2500 feet my plane went into a sharp dive, at the speed of 2000 knots per minute," Komar, wearing his pilot's uniform, told the court.
"'There is something wrong', I said to the co-pilot.
"Then I switched off the auto-pilot, the automatic steering, and tried manually to lift the plane's nose.
"But the plane was still diving.
"The plane's steering was jammed, I could not lift or lower the nose."
Komar said he did not ignore warnings from the aircraft or his co-pilot, but had in fact been powerless to heed them, because of the steering jam.
"I have tried to save the plane, and the passengers," he said.
"The rescue attempt that I made, that was my own initiative.
"Why didn't I report (the problems) to air traffic controllers? Because there wasn't enough time, and it was an emergency situation."
Komar conceded it was the first time he had put forward such an explanation for the crash, but said he'd been prevented from telling his story to the press.
"What I convey here is not just a defence - by God's will, I am not lying," he said.
Prosecutors last month abandoned a charge against Komar that he deliberately crashed the plane, conceding they did not have enough evidence to back it up.
A verdict in the case is expected in the coming weeks.
The Australians killed in the crash were diplomat Liz O'Neill, AusAID official Allison Sudradjat, Australian Federal Police officers Brice Steele and Mark Scott and Australian Financial Review journalist Morgan Mellish.
Indonesia, which relies heavily on air links across the archipelago, has one of Asia's worst air safety records.
-AAP
This must be the world's fastest B737.