Well I still can NOT see what all the fuss is about.
YES it should have been fixed properly in Indonesia, however if the Crew knew about it and were happy to fly it to Singapore as a ferry flight (NO pax) then no big deal, just obviously it should have been reported and fixed when it arrived in Singapore before any revenue flight.
These kind of flights have been operating all over Australia for decades and nobody ever complained, why now, because it was in Indonesia?
Apart from the Electra I mentioned before I have seen dozens of things like this that operated quite safely as ferries.
I have seen several different instances where we have ferried aircraft from BNE to MEL with the gear down for instance, another time a BRAND NEW B727 after one revenue flight in OZ from MEL to BNE had hardly any effective brakes due to messed up rigging, it ferried back to MEL taking extra care while taxiing.
Mind you there was a DC9 one day many years ago that was going through oil in one engine almost as quickly as it could be replenished, none of the LAMEs would release it even for a ferry, the Company had the Queensland Manager release it for a ferry to MEL and a Crew took it, arrived safely in MEL after an unscheduled stop in SYD for oil.
I guess after a Lifetime involved in these and many many other similar things, with no dramas or bad outcomes, a couple of panels is no big deal as long as the Crew were happy and it was only a ferry.
