Criminalization of Pilots Again on Trial

The recent arrest of a Garuda Indonesia Airways captain on manslaughter charges has reignited industry protest against accident criminalization involving pilots and air traffic controllers. Indonesian authorities charged Capt. Marwoto Komar with criminal acts, saying the Boeing 737-400 pilot ignored repeated...

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The recent arrest of a Garuda Indonesia Airways captain on manslaughter charges has reignited industry protest against accident criminalization involving pilots and air traffic controllers.

Indonesian authorities charged Capt. Marwoto Komar with criminal acts, saying the Boeing 737-400 pilot ignored repeated cockpit alarms and warning that the landing of his Boeing 737 was too fast. Twenty-one of 140 people on board were killed when Garuda Flight 200 skidded off the runway in Yogyakarta, Java, on March 7, 2007, and burst into flames in a rice paddy. He faces a prison sentence that could exceed five years.

The criminal proceeding follows the arrest of the two pilots of a business jet that collided with a GOL Airways 737-800 over the Amazon on Sept. 26, 2006. The GOL jetliner crashed killing all 154 people aboard. The Legacy 600 was able to land.

The International Federation of Air Line Pilots Associations (IFALPA) says the circumstances of the Indonesian accident as set forth in a final accident report "leaves many serious questions concerning the crew actions prior to the accident."

IFALPA says "central to these concerns are the underlying reasons for the reported behavior of Capt. Komar...The Federation believes that the explanations proferred by the report do not square with the collective experience of our members." IFALPA maintains that the report is incomplete and that additional investigation of the crew actions is required.

The pilots union says criminalization of flight deck personnel does little to improve air safety. "Clearly, a criminal prosecution at this time may well foreclose further investigation for safety purposes," it added. Furthermore, IFALPA says such arrests are opposed to ICAO principles, which hold that there should be no criminal liability without intent to do harm.

Separately, Australia and Indonesia have signed an agreement to work together to improve air safety in Indonesia. Australia has earmarked $24 million to train in Australia 40 Indonesian air safety inspectors to international standards. The pact, which also covers accident investigation training, was prompted by the Garuda crash, which killed five Australians.

"The incident brought home in a very practical and tragic way that Australian citizens also have a direct interest in safety of transport in Indonesia," said Australian Transport Minister Anthony Albanese.

Meanwhile, the Flight Safety Foundation (FSF) and the European Regions Airline Association (ERAA) will hold a panel discussion at the European Aviation Safety Seminar (EASS), March 10-12, 2008, in Bucharest, Romania. The topic is: criminal prosecutions in the wake of aircraft accidents.

"We are very concerned about increasing attempts by prosecutors to turn accidents into crime scenes and to prosecute aviation professionals based on tragic mistakes, often using information and data that are provided voluntarily to improve aviation safety," said FSF President and CEO William R. Voss. "The safety of the traveling public depends on encouraging a climate of openness and cooperation following accidents. Overzealous prosecutions threaten to dry up vital sources of information and jeopardize safety."

The EASS panel will be moderated by FSF General Counsel Kenneth Quinn, a partner at the Washington, D.C., law firm of Pillsbury Winthrop and former chief counsel for the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration.

Quinn has represented several aviation companies involved in grand jury investigations after accidents and served as counsel to SabreTech, which faced Federal criminal hazardous material charges and State of Florida murder and manslaughter charges in the wake of the ValuJet Flight 592 crash in May 1996.

Members of the panel will include Sean Gates of Gates and Partners in the United Kingdom, who has been deeply involved in cases stemming from the midair collision of the GOL Airlines Boeing 737 and Embraer Legacy in Brazil in September 2006, and the Helios Airways 737 crash near Athens in August 2005. Both cases involve attempted criminal prosecutions. Another panelist will be Roderick Van Dam, director of legal services for Eurocontrol and a leading proponent of the "just culture" concept.