Comes As EU Reviews Blacklist Ban

More problems for Indonesia's trouble-plagued airline industry... as Monday, an Adam Air jet skidded off a runway at Hang Nadim Airport in Batam while attempting to land during a heavy rainstorm.

The Associated Press reports five people suffered head and neck injuries, and the Boeing 737-400 was severely damaged. The aircraft with 170 passengers and six crew onboard was inbound from Jakarta.

Airline spokesman Danke Drajat said the airliner was determined to be in "good condition" following an last inspection in December, and blamed Monday's accident on poor weather. Pantun Banjarnahor, chief of operations at Hang Nadim Airport, stressed conditions at the airport were safe enough for landing.

It was the third accident to strike Adam Air in the last 14 months. As ANN reported, all 102 persons onboard another Adam Air 737-400 are presumed lost when their plane fell from radar screens January 1, 2007 on a flight from Surabaya to Manado. Searchers recovered some debris from the crash in the sea off South Sulawesi, although no bodies have been recovered.

In February 2007, the center fuselage of an Adam Air Boeing 737-300 cracked during a hard landing, leaving the plane's tail drooping towards the runway. The Indonesian government subsequently grounded the carrier's six -300s, and called for immediate safety checks.

A March 2007 landing accident, involving a Garuda Indonesia Airlines 737-400, claimed the lives of 21 people when that airliner overshot the runway and burst into flames.

US officials have since cautioned Americans against traveling on Indonesian carriers... and the European Union added the country's airlines to its aviation "blacklist" of carriers forbidden from flying to and from the EU. That ban is currently up for review.

FMI: www.adamair.co.id