Tragedy of Flight GA200; Evidence Points to Pilots

TWO RAAF personnel on the Garuda flight have told how they knew it was doomed even as it made its final approach to Yogyakarta airport.

Flight Sergeant Michael Hatton and Leading Aircraftman Kyle Quinlan said the aircraft's descent was too steep and too fast for a safe landing.

''Having been travelling in a few aircraft and stuff, you sort of get to know the feel of it and the rate at what you descend and it was just a very fast descent and a very hard landing,'' Leading Aircraftman Quinlan said yesterday.

''We hit the tarmac, sort of bounced and then bounced further and it sort of started from there. That's when we braced ourselves and waited for the impact. It was quite a large, big bang at the end. From looking at the aircraft, I think that's from hitting the embankment and then going into the field.''

Both men were interviewed by Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer, and told of their fears and miracle escape from seats 10C and 10D, the first row of the aircraft left unscathed after the nose was crushed against an embankment.

Mr Downer yesterday effectively ruled out terrorism as a cause, saying: ''Well, they (Indonesian authorities) don't think - and I don't think either - that there was any sabotage or it was an act of terrorism.

''I can't be 100 per cent sure but it seems to have been pilot error, not sabotage.''

In further evidence pointing to pilot error, an Italian survivor said the plane appeared to be going too fast on final approach.

''The plane landed at a crazy speed. It was going into a dive and I was certain we would crash on the ground,'' Alessandro Bertellotti, a journalist with Italian broadcaster Rai, told the ANSA news agency.

''I was sitting behind the wing. . . . I saw that the pilot was trying to stop it, but it was too fast. It literarily bounced on the strip.''

Aircraft expert Geoffrey Thomas said such reports fit the reputation of Indonesian pilots ''coming in hot''.

''I'd want to hear the black box recording before passing judgment, but one thing that caught my attention was that the RAAF officers said they were coming in way too fast,'' he said.

''Another factor is that many of the runways in Indonesia are too short - I believe this one is only 2.2km long.'' Garuda spokesman in Australia, Kerry Timms, says the 737 was 14 years old and had been serviced earlier this month.

Other survivors indicated the plane may have been struggling before the crash but Mr Downer rejected mechanical failure as a likely cause.

''There's no indication that there was anything wrong with the plane. There was no report from the pilot to the air traffic controller that there was anything wrong with the plane - it was just the angle of attack for the landing and the speed of the plane,'' he said.

NEWS.com.au/adelaidenow

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