Indonesian carrier Expressair is continuing to add Dornier 328 turboprops despite the fact that it has damaged two aircraft of this type in recent months.
Expressair is now only operating one Dornier 328 because its other aircraft is damaged in West Papua but there is another Dornier 328 in the hangar at ANI in Jakarta, another coming next week and three more coming after that, ANI VP technical Sigurdur Birkis tells ATI.
ANI is an Indonesian maintenance, repair and overhaul firm that maintains and leases the Dornier 328s to Expressair.
Birkis says the airline's second Dornier 328, local registration PK-TXN and manufacturer's serial number 3030, has lost its right propeller.
"The engine also has to be sent" for repair and the gear-box is probably damaged, he says.
He adds, "there was a lot of stress on the engine when the propeller broke up" and there was also "minor damage to the wing-tip."
Birkis was referring to an incident on 14 June.
At around 09:20 that day the Dornier 328, with 29 passengers and four crew, was damaged after it landed at Tanahmerah airport following a flight from Jayapura, also in West Papua, say local news reports in Indonesia.
Video footage shows that soon after the Dornier 328 touched the runway, a dog ran in front of the aircraft.
The aircraft then veered to the right and it eventually ended up on the right side of the runway where its right propeller hit a tree and each blade came off and shot into the air.
The 14 June incident comes after another incident on 6 November in which an Expressair Dornier 328, PK-TXL, crash landed at Fak Fak airport in West Papua.
Video footage of that event shows, it touched down short of the runway and the aircraft's landing gear hit the raised lip of the runway.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
