The Jakarta Post, January 17, 2007
'There are sacrifices to make if you want to fly cheap'
The tragedy of Adam Air flight KI-574 has left many people questioning the safety of
air travel in Indonesia. Oetarjo Diran, 73, an aerodynamics expert and the first
chairman of the National Transportation Safety Committee (KNKT), spoke with The
Jakarta Post's Alvin Darlanika Soedarjo recently about safety standards at budget
airlines and the general state of the country's air transportation industry.
Question: What is the impact of low-cost carriers in Indonesia in terms of safety
standards?
Answer: Actually the term and the perception of low-cost carriers are misleading.
They are actually low-fare carriers. The scheme was introduced by Virgin Atlantic.
Richard Branson, the president of Virgin, calls it a "no-frills" carrier. People who use
their service won't expect to get first-class services or beautiful stewardesses. Service
for an airline is a major expense. To be a "no-frills" carrier you have to lower your cost
of flying, such as fuel, parking fees, etc. It's the operational costs that they lower. If
you want to have a drink, you have to buy the beverage.
How can an airline balance safety and profitability?
Airline business have a small profit margin of only about 3 percent. It's a tough
business to be in. However, there are entrepreneurs who see a challenge and want to
be in the industry. If you flew with an airplane 10 years ago you would see all the
passengers wearing shoes while flying. Now you fly and you can see people wearing
sandals. The fact is that many people can afford flying now. Richard Branson has a
philosophy: "We make the non-businesspeople fly". While Lion Air has a motto: "We
Make People Fly".
There are sacrifices to make if you want to fly cheap. You want to fly cheap, then
don't expect much comfort. But people are worried more about safety than comfort.
There is no compromise on safety, which consists of training, recruitment,
technology, maintenance and other things. These what make aircraft services costly.
What needs to be further developed then?
Every company should develop and foster its own safety culture. However, to maintain
a safety culture or climate in a company is expensive. They have to train the people,
who are bound to make errors. To change the behavior of people who are bound to
make mistakes is expensive. In such a costly industry, using unoriginal spare parts
for an aircraft does happen.
The airline industry is the second-most heavily regulated industry in the world after the
nuclear industry. Everything needs to be constantly checked in scrupulous detail.
People tend to rely more on other people rather than themselves. Trust in people is
OK but control is better. It's like regularly checking the oil in your car.
Indonesians tend to be complacent. If something bad happens they will say that it's
fate. Accidents are going to happen and the human factor causes about 70 to 80
percent of aircraft accidents.
When do accidents happen?
The most dangerous part of flying is actually when the aircraft is landing, which is very
difficult to execute. Taking off is safer because the airplane has just been checked.
Accidents during flights are also rare, so it comes as a surprise to me when a
catastrophe in the air happens.
An interesting study would be whether there are more accidents in the Indonesian
aviation industry compared with other countries. Then you can say something about
the state of our airline industry.
How do we perceive transportation safety here?
Safety truly depends on one's individual interpretation. Ship accidents that leave 400
to 500 people missing or dead are usually not a big issue in the country. Now it has
become a big problem because a ferry accident happened at around the same time
as the airplane accident.
Maybe lots of us don't think human lives are important, because people say that
accidents or plane crashes are an act of God.
Here, the priority of the people is getting food to survive. The priority setting in
Indonesia is not conducive to safety. For some, riding on top of a train is OK rather
than coming to the office late and getting fired. They know that it is unsafe, but if they
get fired they won't be able to get money to buy food.
How to improve our low-fare aviation industry?
I'm careful as not to say anything false about the Indonesian aviation industry.
A company should establish its own legal division and public relations unit so as to
avoid any outrage or confusion when something bad happens. The management of
Adam Air made a mistake because they created public confusion regarding their
statement that the aircraft had been found.
In the global world, the legal aspects are becoming more important. People can sue a
company if they feel that they were not given the right treatment.
From my experience as the lead investigator of the SilkAir crash in Palembang, I
learned that a legal affairs section is important.
Americans said that the pilot committed suicide while the Singaporeans said that the
mistake was with the Boeing aircraft.
I could not prove whether the fault was with the pilot or the aircraft because I didn't
have the necessary supporting data. I gave them all the data and let them decide.
We consulted Singaporean psychologists to learn how to cope and calm the families
of the victims and avoid hysteria. In the end, we provided bouquets of flowers to them.
How can we minimize aircraft accidents and fatalities?
Find some funding. If we cannot prevent accidents, then minimize fatalities through
quick, effective and efficient search and rescue and also triage. If no money is
available to prevent accidents, just stay home.
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