A single seat BAe Hawk Mk 209 from the Indonesian Air Force crashed in a village 5km from the base causing a fire. The pilot survived after ejecting. No ground casualties reported.
Air Force spokesman Air Commodore Fajar Adriyanto confirmed that the British-built aircraft, registered as TT-0209, had departed from Rusmin Nuryadin Air Base in Pekanbaru on Monday before crashing about 5 kilometers away in Kubang Jaya village, Siak Hulu subdistrict.
The pilot, First Lt. Apriyanto, was able to eject himself and survived the accident, Fajar said. He is being examined at Dr. Soekirman Air Force Hospital in Pekanbaru .
“We are still investigating the cause of the accident and the number of casualties,” Fajar said in a text message to The Jakarta Post on Monday.
Separately, Kubang Jaya village head Tarmizi said he was informed of the crash at 7:30 am and that the accident took place behind Siak Hulu 1 state junior high school. “It crashed in the residential area,” he said as quoted by kompas.com.
The accident occurred days after an Air Force Mi-17 helicopter crashed in Kendal, Central Java. Four out of the nine passengers died at the location of the crash, while five others were taken to the hospital for treatment.
The fatalities from the crash increased to five after one of the survivors died on Saturday. First Lieutenant Vira Yudha died after being hospitalized for a week at Dr. Kariadi General Hospital in Semarang, kompas.com reported on Monday.
The remaining survivors, on the other hand, have shown improvements and continue to receive treatment at Dr. Kariadi Hospital and Gatot Subroto Army Hospital in Jakarta.
The Air Force has been planning to replace its Hawk 100/200 jets with newer fighter jets as part of the Indonesian Military’s recent efforts to modernize its weapon system.
The Hawk jets, manufactured by British BAE System, are housed at the Roesmin Nurjadin airbase in Pekanbaru and Supadio airbase in Pontianak, West Kalimantan.
The fighter jets have been in service with the Indonesian Military for 25 years.
