Garuda Crash Pilot Jailed for Two Years

YOGYAKARTA ~ A court sentenced on Monday the pilot of a Garuda Indonesia jet that crash-landed at an airport in 2007, killing 21 people, to two years in prison for criminal negligence.

“The defendant, Marwoto Komar, is legally and convincingly guilty of criminal negligence resulting in the jet’s crash and the deaths of other people,” chief judge Sri Andini told the Sleman District Court.

The court decided to hand down the heavy sentence, an unusual legal move by international standards, because of the number of deaths and the fact that Komar “never expressed remorse during the trial,” Andini said.

The sentence was lighter than the four years requested by prosecutors for Komar’s actions as he attempted to land the Boeing 737 at high speed at Yogyakarta airport on March 7.

The plane burst into flames after skidding into rice fields of the airport runway. Five Australians were among the dead.

Komar, who wore his pilot’s uniform in court despite being fired from the national flag carrier over the crash, told the court he would appeal the verdict.

The pilot maintained at his trial faulty wing flaps were to blame for the jet’s excessive airspeed as it came in to land.

However, a report by an Indonesian safety committee found that Komar had ignored 15 automatic warnings telling him he was coming in too fast.