Adam Air Plane Suspected to Have Exploded in Mid Air
Thursday, 04 January, 2007 | 16:54 WIB

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta: Several flight experts are speculating that the crash of Adam Air's Boeing 737-400 was not due to bad weather as previously supposed.

It is suspected that the plane on the Surabaya-Manado route exploded when it was in mid air.

Dudi Sudibyo, a flight expert who is also the Angkasa magazine's editor-in-chief, rejected the possibility of weather factors being the cause of the crash.

According to the global flight website that he owns, the weather was not as bad as predicted by the Meteorology and Geophysics (BMG).

“It's true it was raining, but it was only drizzle. Visibility was also still 5.7 kilometer and wind speed was eight kilometers per hour,” Dudi said yesterday (3/1).

This data was for the conditions at heights below 10,000 feet (around three kilometer).

Nonetheless, the Adam Air plane was known to be at a height of 32,000 feet.

“At such a height, it would also have been bright and sunny,” said Dudi.

With none of the plane's fuselage or debris being found at Polewali Mandar highlands or Tana Toraja up until yesterday, flight expert from Technology Institute of Bandung (ITB) Dr. Hisar M. Pasaribu said he suspected that the plane exploded in mid air.

Such an explosion, said Hisar, could have triggered the emergency locator beacon aircraft (ELBA) signal captured by the Singapore radar.

A mid air explosion would also make it very difficult for the Search and Rescue team to locate the difficult to find the plane's fuselage.

Hisar is suspicious that the explosion was caused by the plane's diving from a height of 32,000 feet to 8,000 feet.

“If the speed was higher, the plane would not be able to hold together, and could have exploded up there,” he said.

However, like Dudi, Hisar was not prepared to confirm his suspicions.

They both suggested waiting for the black box record and the official investigation by the National Committee for Transportation Safety.

What is clear is that Adam Air made certain that the plane was in the best condition and the airline also disputed running out of fuel or being overloaded.

“The plane was filled with 11 tons of fuel and this was regarded as sufficient for the calculated distance,” said Robby Walter, Adam Air's Executive Director of Safety, during a press conference yesterday.

WURAGIL | REH ATEMALEM | AHMAD FIKRI | AGUSLIA HIDAYAH | HARUN MAHBUB