A Twin Otter plane (Source: Internet) Search is still underway on October 3 for Indonesia’s missing Aviastar passenger plane which reportedly lost contact on the previous night near Palopo in South Sulawesi province.
The DHC-6-300 Twin Otter plane carrying seven passengers, including three children, and three crew members, lost contact about 7 minutes after it took off from Andi Djemma airport in the province’s Masamba city.
Four helicopters were deployed for the search.
The country’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation on October 3 put a temporary ban on the operation of all DHC-6-300 Twin Otter planes in one week for safety check.
Any technical violations, even small ones, detected will be penalized, said Civil Aviation Director General Suprasetyo.
According to Aviation-safety.net, Aviastar has had four fatal incidents, including that of a British Aerospace 146-300 aircraft in the eastern province of Papua in 2009, killing all six crew on board.-VNA
