Safety? It's the Poor Old Plane's Fault

The Indonesian government is taking a one-eyed stance on its deteriorating aviation safety record by looking to ban airliners in excess of ten years old. Theorising that their up to 20 year old aircraft were the cause of the safety downturn, Transport Minister Hatta Rajasa introduced the prospect of age-limiting the Indonesian airline fleet to ten years. Speaking at Cirebon in West Java on Wednesday, the Minister said that, at the time of leasing, no passenger plane should be no more than ten years old. Hatta explained the current age limit was 35 years or up to 70,000 landings. The 737-300 that disappeared into the ocean off Sulawesi on New Year's day was 17 years old and had had numerous prior owners.

Two closely-spaced ferry disasters and numerous airplane accidents later, the Indonesian government is now on notice to turn the nation's air and sea transport system around. Nobody is addressing the possibility of human error being the cause of accidents however. The history of air accidents in Indonesia is rife with human factors. Last week a 737-300, that had only been in country for three weeks to replace AdamAir's Sulawesi loss, was heavy landed in Surabaya - and broke its back. The response was to ground the 737-300 fleet for airworthiness checks. The deficiencies in navigation equipment and general air- and seaworthiness seems to be an unworthy aspect for debate also. The US Federal Aviation Administration leads the way in explaining that an airplane's age is irrelevant as long as the aircraft is well maintained. Low cost airlines are gathering a reputation for skimping on maintenance however. Scant maintenance plus an aging airframe might add up to an overall valid point for the Transport Minister - although the way he puts it doesn't necessarily tell the whole story. Warming to his subject, the Minister also stated that the age of ferries should be limited to 20 years and for trains 40 years.

Any introduced age limit on Indonesian airliners would require a phasing in over many years. The 220 million people manning Indonesia's island archipelagos have become increasingly reliant upon the nation's burgeoning low cost airline industry. On the bright side of any such limits is the stark fact that the present accident rate would likely take care of any train, boat or plane before its life was up under any such new rules.