[Greg McDonald]

From NEWS.COM.AU:

THE Indonesian pilot of a plane that crashed killing 21 people, including five Australians, said he did all he could to land the aircraft safely.
The Garuda Indonesia Boeing 737 slammed onto the runway at Yogyakarta airport, careered into a field and exploded in flames on March 7, 2007.

A government probe found pilot Marwoto Komar ignored 15 automated cockpit warnings not to land as he brought the plane in at roughly twice the safe speed.

Mr Komar is now facing trial in Yogyakarta, accused of criminal negligence leading to death. A verdict is expected in the coming weeks.

But in a magazine interview this week, Mr Komar said human error was not to blame for the crash.

"One possibility, is that the stabiliser jammed," he told Tempo magazine.

"The system that functions to stabilise aircraft jammed during the last part of the landing, in the crucial seconds before the landing."

Mr Komar said the aircraft came in towards the runway too steeply, and he tried to correct it.

"I tried to lift the plane up but I couldn't," he said.

"I yelled, 'oh no, nothing is right'."

Mr Komar said he landed the plane as a last resort, and the crash could have been much worse if he had not acted the way he did.

"There is no pilot who wants such an accident," he said.

Prosecutors last month abandoned a charge against Mr Komar that he deliberately crashed the plane, conceding they did not have enough evidence to back it up.

Mr Komar's case was due to return to court tomorrow.

The Australians killed in the crash were diplomat Liz O'Neill, AusAID official Allison Sudradjat, Australian Federal Police officers Brice Steele and Mark Scott, and Australian Financial Review journalist Morgan Mellish.

Indonesia, which relies heavily on air links across the archipelago, has one of Asia's worst air safety records.