Batik Air Flight 7703

Batik Air Flight 7703

File:Bandara-halim-perdanakusuma.jpg Halim Perdanakusuma Airport, the location of the accident
Accident summary
Date	4 April 2016 (2016-04-04)
Summary	Ground collision during take-off
Site	Halim Perdanakusuma Airport, Jakarta, Indonesia
Total injuries (non-fatal)	3 (from shock)
Total fatalities	0
Total survivors	60 (all)
First aircraft
180px A Batik Air 737 similar to the accident aircraft.
Type	Boeing 737-8GP(WL)
Operator	Batik Air
Registration	PK-LBS
Flight origin	Halim Perdanakusuma Airport, Jakarta, Indonesia
Destination	Sultan Hasanuddin International Airport, Makassar, Indonesia
Passengers	49
Crew	7
Fatalities	0
Survivors	56 (all)
Second aircraft
180px An ATR 42 similar to the aircraft involved in the accident
Type	ATR 42-600
Operator	TransNusa Air Services
Registration	PK-TNJ
Flight origin	n/a
Destination	n/a
Passengers	0
Crew	4 (including 2 ground crew)
Fatalities	0
Survivors	4 (all)

Batik Air Flight 7703 was a scheduled domestic flight operated by Lion Air's subsidiary Batik Air from Halim Perdanakusuma Airport in Jakarta to Sultan Hasanuddin International Airport, Makassar. On 4 April 2016, while taking off from Halim Perdanakusuma Airport, the Boeing 737-800 operating the flight (registration PK-LBS) collided with a TransNusa Air Services ATR 42-600 (registration PK-TNJ), which was being towed across the runway.

No one was killed or injured in the accident and Angkasa Pura, Indonesia's Airport Management Authority, asked the National Transportation Safety Committee to investigate the accident. Minister of Transportation Ignasius Jonan also asked the Director General of Civil Aviation to call the NTSC to investigate the cause of the accident, later criticising Angkasa Pura for the vacuum of power at Halim Perdanakusuma Airport for the past two weeks.

Background

Halim Perdanakusuma Airport was a commercial and military airport located in East Jakarta. The airport, formerly a military-only airport, became a civilian facility in the 1970s, before converting into a military facility again in 1991 following the completion of Soekarno–Hatta International Airport in nearby Tangerang. In 2014, the airport was once again allowed to serve commercial flights. This was due to the congested Soekarno–Hatta Airport, and this move to change Halim into a joint commercial and military airport would decrease the congestion at Soekarno–Hatta Airport. However, the facilities in the airport were not sufficient for handling commercial airliners. Several politicians criticized the decision to change the operation of Halim Perdanakusuma Airport from military to joint-use. Several of them asked the government to change the airport back to military; they hoped that the airport would change back into a military airport after completion of the expansion plan in Soekarno–Hatta Airport.

Collision

Based on a press conference conducted by the Director General of Civil Aviation, the accident occurred at 19:55 WIB. The TransNusa Air Services ATR-42 was being towed to a hangar when Flight 7703 was taking off. The left wing of Flight 7703 sliced off the vertical stabilizer and left outer wing of the ATR 42 and severely damaged Flight 7703's left wing. Flight 7703 then "shook", veered and its wing caught fire, survivors recalling that some passengers didn't know that a collision had happened, and only felt a bump similar to that of a car's tire hitting a hole in the street, while others were crying and "screaming in terror". The witnesses stated that there was a loud bang when the collision happened, several seconds later, they noticed that Flight 7703's left wing was on fire. Survivors recalled the pilots screaming "Fire! Fire!"

The passengers and crew then evacuated the aircraft, the airport fire brigade was activated and extinguished the flames on the wing, then passengers and crew were transported by bus to the airport's passenger terminal. Batik Air later stated that the survivors would be flown by another aircraft to Makassar.

Aircraft

Both aircraft were relatively new and both aircraft were built in 2014, according to an NTSC official. The ATR 42-600 was delivered to TransNusa Air Services in September 2014 and the Boeing 737-800 was delivered to Batik Air in November 2014.

Investigation

Minister of Transportation Ignasius Jonan tasked the National Transportation Safety Committee with investigating the cause of the accident. Jonan later criticized Angkasa Pura for the vacuum of power in Halim Perdanakusuma Airport's management for the past two weeks.

President Director of TransNusa Air Services Juvenile Jodjana held a press conference and stated that the tow truck crew had followed the established procedure for towing the ATR-42. The aircraft was due to park at an apron in the south portion of the airport. Batik Air's spokesman also stated that Flight 7703's crew had followed procedures and had been cleared for take-off by Air Traffic Control (ATC). Investigators have retrieved both black boxes from both aircraft and will analyse the content in their facility (the black box from the ATR will probably reveal nothing as AC electrical power would not have been available). They have questioned the crew of Flight 7703, and will speak to the air traffic controller that was on duty. NTSC will also interview the ground crew on the tow truck, investigate the taxi procedure, as well as the maintenance of both aircraft.

After analysing the content of the black box, it was revealed that Batik Air had been cleared for take off, while the TransNusa Air Services' ATR 42 was still on the runway. The pilots were aware that a collision was inevitable, and tried to steer the plane to avoid a more severe collision. The NTSC later would transcript the CVR and FDR from both black boxes. Due to a large amount of air incident cases in Indonesia, NTSC stated that it would take up to five months to solve the cause of the collision. The ground handling service in Halim Perdanakusuma Airport were suspended by the government in response to the accident.

Experts believe that the accident may have been caused by weak coordination between ATC, the tow truck crew, and Flight 7703's crew and stated that if Flight 7703 was travelling at high speed, the incident could have been similar to the Tenerife Airport disaster in 1977.

Aftermath

The TransNusa ATR was damaged beyond repair, losing its vertical stabilizer and left outer wing. The Batik Air 737 suffered structural and fire damage to its left wing and is also possibly a hull loss.

Survivors of the crash later received a "compensation" flight from Batik Air. However, as most passengers were "too traumatized" by the crash, most of them cancelled their flights and demanded a refund from the airline. Additionally the 3 ground crew towing the ATR, controller, assistant controller and supervisor, were traumatized by the accident.

As the result of the crash, Halim Perdanakusuma Airport was closed until 22:00 WIB. Several flights that were due to land at Halim were diverted to the nearby Soekarno–Hatta International Airport in Tangerang, Banten, including five Citilink flights. The aircraft was evacuated and the runway was cleared of debris. The airport was reopened at midnight on 5 April and five flights, including one with a 200-strong Indonesian Army mission to Darfur, South Sudan, took off from the airport.

The Director General of Civil Aviation, Surpastyo, stated that passengers that were delayed due to the collision must be given compensation, as he said that all airlines have a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to treat affected passengers favourably. AirlineRatings.com, an airliner review website, dubbed Batik Air as the most unsafe airline of 2016 due to this accident.

See also

• 2009 Makhachkala Il-76 collision, a similar accident in 2009 when an inbound Ilyushin Il-76 collided with an Ilyushin Il-76 waiting to take off.
• Linate Airport disaster
• Tenerife Airport disaster, a similar accident in 1977 which occurred when two Boeing 747 aircraft collided in Tenerife, Spain, resulting in the deadliest air disaster of all time.

Preliminary Report (English) http://kemhubri.dephub.go.id/knkt/ntsc_aviation/baru/pre/Preliminary%20Report%20PK-LBS%20and%20PK-TNJ.pdf