KUALA LUMPUR: Batik Air 28 July 2023 said its aircraft requested for a diversion to Indonesia after a technical glitch during a flight from Australia.
“We wish to advice that flight OD152 which was bound for Kuala Lumpur with 56 passengers on board had departed from Perth on 28 July at 4.34pm (Western Australia time),” the airline said in a statement.
“Whilst en route over Christmas Island, the captain detected a technical glitch and reported to its Operations Control Centre and as a precautionary measure and in line with the Standard Operating Procedures, requested for diversion of the flight to Jakarta, Indonesia.”
The flight, it added, landed safely in Jakarta at 9.09pm (Malaysian time) and all passengers disembarked safely.
My personal experience with Batik Air. 17 June 2023. I boarded Singapore to Medan flight on Batik Air with my 2 sons. The takeoff was like a roller coaster, but that could be caused by turbulence. We landed safely in Medan and were off to Berastagi and Lake Toba.
22 June 2023. We flew from Medan to Kuala Lumpur. It was probably one of the worst flights I’ve ever taken. At the boarding gate, a delay was announced. Then, the gate was changed without any announcement. Passengers were streaming back and forth trying to find out the new boarding gate. The display came on only a minute or so before departure.
When we were having our boarding passes checked, the staff crossed out our seats and assigned us new seats. We realised that we would be sitting apart. When I asked why, the staff curtly told me that there had been a printing mistake on our boarding passes.
On the plane, I asked the Batik Air cabin crew to see if we could change seats with other passengers so we could be together. To be fair, the crew member responding to my request was polite and helpful. The mistake was made at the Batik Air check in counter at the departure hall. No luck. Nobody was travelling alone.
The flight was uneventful. But after it landed and reached the terminal building, we had to remain in our seats for 30 minutes due to some technical issue.
24 June 2023. Last Batik Air flight back to Singapore. Everything was OK except that the landing was scary. It almost felt as if the plane was going to skid off the runway. And it seems like I’m not the only one who’s not going to take another Batik Air flight. Check out the video below:
They were ready to risk their own lives and that of the passengers by going ahead with their smoky engines! Now for the real accidents that happened on Batik Air.
6 Nov 2015 Batik Air flight ID6380 was involved in a serious runway excursion incident after landing at Yogyakarta-Adisutjipto Airport, Indonesia.
The airplane floated for 6 seconds when it was supposed to have touched down. It finally touched down but 730m from the start of runway 09 at a speed of 154 knots. The aircraft overshot the runway and stopped at about 84m beyond the end of runway 09. Passenger evacuation was only initiated 9 minutes after the plane came to a stop. No one was injured in this accident. Check this out if you want the technicalities. Video taken by passenger below:
Below, 4 April 2016. The TransNusa Air Services ATR-42 was being towed to a hangar when Batik Air Flight 7703 was taking off. The left wing of Flight 7703 sliced off the vertical stabiliser and left outer wing of the ATR 42 and severely damaged Flight 7703’s left wing. Flight 7703 then “shook”, veered and its wing caught fire, survivors recalling that some passengers didn’t know that a collision had happened, and only felt a bump similar to that of a car’s tire hitting a hole in the street, while others were crying and “screaming in terror”. The witnesses stated that there was a loud bang when the collision happened, several seconds later, they noticed that Flight 7703’s left wing was on fire.
No casualties on this flight but many were traumatised.
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