Mandala Airlines Crash


Another sad day for Indonesians yesterday with a plane crash killing 143 (?) people.
In the mist of all this sadness a grief comes one those truely remarkable statements from the Indonesian Transport Minister Hatta "There was nothing wrong with the plane, it was certified". Well that must be relief to all the relatives and it certainly takes the hassle out of conducting an investigation and searching for those pesky black boxes.

Mandala was set up in 1969 and is one of several low-cost airlines that fly across the vast Indonesian archipelago. It is 90 per cent owned by a foundation set up by the army strategic reserve Kostrad.