Two pilots die in plane crash during Bandung, Indonesia Air Show

Sunday, 30 September 2012 07:00

Accident - Accident and Incident

Two retired Air Force pilots died in a two-seat AS/SA 202 Bravo plane crash during the Bandung Air Show on Saturday.

Two retired Air Force pilots died in a plane crash during the Bandung

Air Show on Saturday.

A pilot and co-pilot have been killed after their single-engine civil light aircraft crashed while on a training flight in Indonesia's western province of West Java.

 

The two-seat AS/SA 202 Bravo aircraft, owned by the Indonesian Aerosport Federation, crashed at about 11:30 a.m. local time (0430 GMT) on Saturday during the Bandung Air Show 2012 at the Husein Sastranegara Airport in the provincial capital Bandung, The Jakarta Globe reported.

 

They are identified as Air Commodore (ret.) Norman T. Lubis and Let. Col. (ret.) Toni Hartono. Both were members of Indonesian Aerosport Federation.

Husein Sastranegara Air Base commander Col. Umar Sugeng said that their AS 202 Bravo aircraft took off at 11:37.

"It crashed a few minutes later, while the plane was roaring past the crowd of the Bandung Air Show. Both pilots [who sat side-by-side so that either could take control of the aircraft] have been confirmed dead at the scene," Umar told journalists.

 

The two-seater plane, flying with the code LM-2003, nosedived into the southern part of the airbase after performing an acrobatic stunt. According to eyewitnesses, they only saw a puff of smoke from the point where they last saw the aircraft.

The training aircraft was flying too low at the time of the crash, witnesses said.

 

It performed maneuvers five times before crashing into an Indonesian Air Force logistics warehouse, which was closed at the time.

"It crashed a few minutes later, while the plane was roaring past the crowd of the Bandung Air Show. Both pilots [who sat side-by-side so that either could take control of the aircraft] have been confirmed dead at the scene," Umar told journalists.

 

The two-seater plane, flying with the code LM-2003, nosedived into the southern part of the airbase after performing an acrobatic stunt. According to eyewitnesses, they only saw a puff of smoke from the point where they last saw the aircraft.

The AS 202 Bravo, an aircraft that usually used for basic pilot training, apparently crashed into the Air Force Officers' Wives Association building located inside the air force research and development agency’s compound. "Fortunately the building was empty at that time," Umar said.

A rescue team that arrived at the crash site a few minutes later, and brought the bodies to Hasan Sadikin Hospital for autopsy

The plane wreckage was moved to the nearby manufacturing site of state aircraft maker, Dirgantara Indonesia.

 

The remains of the victims, identified as pilot Nurman Lubis and co-pilot Tony, were also taken to Bandung's Hasan Sadikin Hospital.

 

The Bandung Air Show 2012 opened on September 27 and is expected to run till October 1. (AFP/Jakarta Post/AC)