Verdict on Gardua Captain due today

[Owen H]

Stephen - There is a lot more to it than just "chosing your actions", and involve airline practice, training etc.

Would you punish as harshly a driver who ran a red light and crashed, if his driving training school and the police told him it was ok to do so? How is that driver supposed to give such creedance to the red light if he is allowed to run them frequently?

A person chooses their actions because of many factors, not least of which are training and acceptance. If the regulator and airline did not actively discourage such practice (and in fact may have even encouraged it through some of their policies), is it reasonable to place the blame just on the choices he made, when he may not have been geared/trained to making other ones?

The primary concern when imposing sentences on people is making the community safer. Jailing a captain does not make Indonesia, nor the travelling public, safer. Have a look at the countries that actively pursue criminal sanctions on their flight crew, and compare that to a list of the safest aviation countries. You'll find they are not the same.

I am not saying that the pilot should be without sanction, and it would be entirely reasonable for him to have his licence suspended. If the airline were investigated and found to have the best training system in the world, and encouraged safe practice at all time, then I would be prepared to wear his actions as criminal. However simply putting the captain up on charges in front of the court system does not help the overall goal - safety, and in fact may hinder it.