An Indonesian Fokker F27-600 turboprop (PK-YPM) on wet-lease to Sempati Air Transport has crashed in Java. A daylight emergency landing was being attempted about 10min after take-off from Bandung Airport, after a reported engine problem.
According to Sempati, the 27-year-old aircraft crashed on 17 July 200m (655ft) short of the runway at Sulaiman airbase, 15km (8nm) south of Bandung Airport.
A total of 23 passengers and all five crew aboard was killed, while the remaining 22 passengers and another four people on the ground were injured and hospitalised.
Survivors have reported problems with the F27's left-hand Rolls-Royce Dart turboprop engine shortly after take-off. The aircraft, en route to Jakarta, was diverted to the nearby Sulaiman airbase and crashed close to a housing estate.
The aircraft is owned by local air-charter operator PT Trigana Air Service. Sempati had wet-leased the aircraft and three cockpit crew to replace an F27 which was undergoing maintenance.
The crash comes three months after an Indonesian Merpati Nusantara Airlines British Aerospace ATP crashed, killing 15 passengers and crew. Indonesia's Directorate General of Air Communications has yet to make public its report into that accident, which occurred on 17 April. Investigations into the incident are understood to focus on a power-loss and a failure in the propeller-feathering procedure.
Source: Flight International
