dh dragon
27th Jun 2008, 08:21
BBC news just reporting Indonesian Military aircraft with 18 people on board missing on flight from Jakarta to West Java
India Four Two
27th Jun 2008, 18:16
BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Plane goes missing over Indonesia (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7476714.stm)
The BBC article is a bit misleading, since Jakarta is in West Java. The missing aircraft is a CASA C-212, testing a "digital mapping camera". Eighteen people on board.
Bogor is about 20 nm south of Jakarta and as far as I know, there isn't an airport there. Gunung Salak is a 7250' volcano, about 5 nm south of Bogor, which is only at about 1000' elevation. Not a good place to be if VFR in marginal conditions.
Jakarta Jock
28th Jun 2008, 02:47
Wrecked found and it looks like there are no survivors.
See report from Jakarta poat at Air force confirms location of missing aircraft | The Jakarta Post (http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2008/06/27/air-force-confirms-location-missing-aircraft.html)
PK-KAR
1st Jul 2008, 11:44
Testing "digital camera equipment"... interestingly, I did that a few years ago and did pass the Gunung Salak area, towards Pelabuhan Ratu area (South coast)... terrain through the pass is 3000ft high, and the clouds can go down to 2000 around the area... The morning started with clear weather, ad as the day progressed, the typical weather pattern formed... ie: South of the pass is clear, north of the pass is 2000ft SCT-BKN... but the pass is ground cloud!!! And it can go up to >10,000...
I always instructed my crew to return with >2hrs of fuel as they go through the pass... this is because if they deem it unsafe, they can go back to Jakarta by circling around the mountains through the far west.
Why not just go to FL100? Well, the highest peak there is 9950ft... and U'll be in cloud... and Radnav receptiion and radar is poor <FL100 south of the pass...
It is tempting to return by making a straight line to Halim Airport... but that'll mean a late descent and you might go straight into the mountain if below FL100 (Well, OK, 110 then since that peak is 9950).
I always made an emphasis on how to return to Jakarta on each safety briefing...
>6500 on the return, and program a 3 waypoint dogleg through the pass with maximum clearance each side... Other than that, they take that long detour through the far west.... burning 2hrs of fuel's worth...
Given the location of the wreck, if they did go to Pelabuhan Ratu area and then returned, they must have felt that going through the center pass (east of Gunung Salak) was risky, and went from the western side of Gunung Salak... instead of going through the far west but that's a nasty area... Dunno what happened then... perhaps descended a bit early...
I dunno... but this crash is a big loss for DISPOTRUDAU (Air Force Survey Agency)... I knew some very good guys there... A quick look at the manifest, I may have known one of the guys there, but I need to recheck my records to confirm...
PK-KAR