MORE ADAM AIR WOES: An Adam Air plane sits at Juanda International Airport in Surabaya, East Java after a hard landing on Wednesday. All 148 passengers were reportedly safe. The airport was temporarily shut after the stricken Boeing 737-300 arriving from Jakarta landed and stopped suddenly in the middle of the runway, with its rear section bent downwards just behind the wing. (JP/ID Nugroho)
Indra Harsaputra and ID Nugroho, The Jakarta Post, Surabaya
The government has grounded all seven Boeing 737-300 passenger jets operated by Adam Air after one of them made a hard landing Wednesday in Surabaya, East Java, forcing the temporary closure of the airport there.
All 148 passengers were safe in the accident Wednesday at Juanda International Airport, which happened during heavy rain, the airline and officials said.
An Adam Air 737-400 disappeared on New Year's Day and is believed to have crashed into the sea, killing all 102 people on board. The airline has had a series of incidents since it was founded in 2003.
Transportation Ministry spokesman Bambang S. Ervan said his office will examine the airworthiness of Adam's Boeing 737-300 aircraft while they are grounded.
The grounding will stay in effect until the investigation into the aircraft concludes, Bambang was quoted by the tempointeraktif news portal as saying.
A team from the ministry and the National Commission for Transportation Safety headed to the Juanda airport to begin investigating the latest Adam Air accident, in which the KI-172 flight severely bent its fuselage.
Natalia Budihardjo, a district manager for PT Adam Skyconnections Airlines, said the aircraft had encountered poor conditions.
"The weather was extremely bad during the landing, with heavy rain and strong wind. The sudden stop of the plane was the best decision by the pilot for the safety of the passengers," she said.
Natalia said the aircraft was airworthy before taking off from Jakarta.
"A few minutes before landing it was reported that the plane received wind pressure from above, or what we call a downdraft," Adam Air safety and security director Hartono told MetroTV.
"The pilot tried to recover (control of the plane) but it was too close to the runway and caused the plane to land a bit harder than usual," he said.
Passenger Rusdi Surya Wijaya, 48, said the plane bent part of its body just behind the wing after the landing.
"The aircraft underwent heavy shaking for one to two minutes when it touched down. There was a loud bang inside. There were no hysterical cries but I saw a women get hit by falling luggage," he said.
Passengers said the emergency doors were opened just after they smelled fuel from inside the aircraft, according to Kompas Cyber Media.
At least four flights were delayed and diverted to Bali's Ngurah Rai airport as a result of the closure, airport officials said.
The Juanda airport was closed for 30 minutes and was operating normally again at 4:00 p.m.
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