The joys of Garuda....
Reading Jakartass’ post the other day about flying in Indonesia reminded me of our flights when we lived in Indonesia….my mother experienced one incredible flight….
At the time we were living in just outside Tanjungkarang-Telekbetung(now known as Lampung)…our local airport was called Branti…...now Branti (at that time) had one major physical limitation……the runway was too short – even for the little Fokker F-28s that Garuda was flying………and at one end of the little runway was a cliff which dropped into a valley…..and yes, planes did drop off the end at a rate of about 1 a year whilst we were living there….the pilots used to point out the remains of the last aircraft when taking off from Branti….seriously!!!
Anyway….on this particular flight…my mother was scheduled to catch the 6am flight from Jakarta to Branti (the flights left on the hour, every hour during daylight….technical limitations ensured that all flight movements in and out of Branti had to be visual!) . So her flight was called and in true Garuda style there was no seating allocation so the general idea was to just leg it out onto the tarmac and push and shove your way up the stairs into the aircraft….my mother can push and shove with the best of them so she was soon seated.
The plane takes off…..reaches Branti and flies down the length of the runway (without touching down)…all perfectly clear no visual restrictions…climbs again, banks and repeats the procedure…..after this the pilot announces that “they are unable to land at Branti so will be returning to Jakarta”…..the plane returns to Jakarta and after touch down…..the cabin crew makes the following announcement “Ladies and Gentleman, welcome to Jakarta International airport, if you have any onward connections please proceed to the Garuda transfer desk …and thank you for flying Garuda we look forward to seeing you in the near future”…..wonderful company brainwashing…they haven’t actually been anywhere, all the passengers are in the wrong place….but we will make the standard announcement…
So all the passengers are then deplaned…back into the departure lounge….as my mother settles down to wait until the next flight to nowhere another expat comes up to her and says…”Didn’t I see you get on the plane about 2 hours ago”…..my mother explains….then her new friend’s flight to Denpasar is called…..he leaves…..my mother’s flight is called again…..by this time three flights full of passengers have accumulated so the mad rush to the plane is even more frantic and chaotic…..they take off, same thing….twice down the length of the runway and back to Jakarta……
My mother settles down to wait again….then the guy who had left for Denpasar comes wandering back into the departure lounge….he had experienced exactly the same thing…
They sat and chatted….then my mother’s flight is called again….by this time it is about 4:30pm….there are now about 10 planes full of passengers now ready for the scrum out to the plane….my mother yet again secures a seat (years of experience) and this time the plane makes it onto the tarmac…so a flight that normally takes about 45 minutes….ended up taking her the better part of 12 hours!
We often wonder if the guy from Denpasar actually made it back home…!
Oh the joys of Garuda!! We had many ‘great’ experiences with them….but this was the most entertaining….
At the time we were living in just outside Tanjungkarang-Telekbetung(now known as Lampung)…our local airport was called Branti…...now Branti (at that time) had one major physical limitation……the runway was too short – even for the little Fokker F-28s that Garuda was flying………and at one end of the little runway was a cliff which dropped into a valley…..and yes, planes did drop off the end at a rate of about 1 a year whilst we were living there….the pilots used to point out the remains of the last aircraft when taking off from Branti….seriously!!!
Anyway….on this particular flight…my mother was scheduled to catch the 6am flight from Jakarta to Branti (the flights left on the hour, every hour during daylight….technical limitations ensured that all flight movements in and out of Branti had to be visual!) . So her flight was called and in true Garuda style there was no seating allocation so the general idea was to just leg it out onto the tarmac and push and shove your way up the stairs into the aircraft….my mother can push and shove with the best of them so she was soon seated.
The plane takes off…..reaches Branti and flies down the length of the runway (without touching down)…all perfectly clear no visual restrictions…climbs again, banks and repeats the procedure…..after this the pilot announces that “they are unable to land at Branti so will be returning to Jakarta”…..the plane returns to Jakarta and after touch down…..the cabin crew makes the following announcement “Ladies and Gentleman, welcome to Jakarta International airport, if you have any onward connections please proceed to the Garuda transfer desk …and thank you for flying Garuda we look forward to seeing you in the near future”…..wonderful company brainwashing…they haven’t actually been anywhere, all the passengers are in the wrong place….but we will make the standard announcement…
So all the passengers are then deplaned…back into the departure lounge….as my mother settles down to wait until the next flight to nowhere another expat comes up to her and says…”Didn’t I see you get on the plane about 2 hours ago”…..my mother explains….then her new friend’s flight to Denpasar is called…..he leaves…..my mother’s flight is called again…..by this time three flights full of passengers have accumulated so the mad rush to the plane is even more frantic and chaotic…..they take off, same thing….twice down the length of the runway and back to Jakarta……
My mother settles down to wait again….then the guy who had left for Denpasar comes wandering back into the departure lounge….he had experienced exactly the same thing…
They sat and chatted….then my mother’s flight is called again….by this time it is about 4:30pm….there are now about 10 planes full of passengers now ready for the scrum out to the plane….my mother yet again secures a seat (years of experience) and this time the plane makes it onto the tarmac…so a flight that normally takes about 45 minutes….ended up taking her the better part of 12 hours!
We often wonder if the guy from Denpasar actually made it back home…!
Oh the joys of Garuda!! We had many ‘great’ experiences with them….but this was the most entertaining….
posted by Madame Chiang at 10:13 am
3 Comments:
Great post!
After reading, it seems that what "Branti" airport needs is a ILS Cat 3C (ILS stands for Instrument Landing System) system touchdown.
In case of emergencies, US Air Force has portable ILS systems that can be deployed within one hour (when the need arises).
Strange that Indonesia is ignoring/avoiding such basic flight-safety equipment. Therefore the delay, I guess (especially as it has a steep valley at the end of the active runway). At 4,986 feet (long) runway and runway elevation at 282 feet, Branti sure looks like dangerous landing (airport code - TKG). A 727 can barely land on it, and depends on who is flying!
Is Indonesia so poor it cannot afford some decent radio beacons? That's what ILS is basically all about (O,M,I, VSI, HSI, etc.).
In any case, I am impressed that you pointed out that "Branti" uses visual flight rules (VFR) instead of instrument flight rules (IFR). That goes to show that you have been flying around a lot, even if as a passenger.
I would be the last person to land on that field in a big kite! And yes, as the joke goes: How do you know someone is a pilot? He will tell you!
Cheers!
Ron
am kind of hoping that Branti has been upgraded since our days there...this was all in the early 80s...
yes, have done a fair amount of flying and know a few people who are pilots...both of the larger variety and the smaller kind!...and you are right...they will tell you!
I found a great deal of helpful info in this post!
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