AIR FORCE NOT TO GROUND PUMA HELICOPTERS

Jakarta, June 13 (ANTARA) - Air Force Chief of Staff Marshal Subandrio said the air force would not ground its Puma helicopters while an investigation was being conducted into a recent crash involving the same type of aircraft.

"No, we will not. We will conduct the investigation and the existing helicopters will continue to operate as usual," he said replying to ANTARA's question here on Saturday.

He said routine checks continued on all the airforce's major weapons system equipment including its Puma helicopters based in Squadron 8 in the Atang Senjaya airbase in Bogor, West Java.

Routine checks are done before and after missions. "So, we keep conducting routine checks to ensure the technical fitness of all the equipment. If they are all grounded, what we will use to carry out our routine missions and operations," he said.

The air force chief earlier said that one of the factors that had caused the crash of HT-3306 Puma helicopter on Friday was damage in the air control system and auto pilot.

"Therefore, the checks will be focussed on the two areas without ignoring others," he said.

He said the investigation into the incident would continue. "So none will be grounded. everything will run in parallel," he said.

The SA-330 Puma helicopter crashed at 2.13pm leaving four of the seven servicemen on board dead while three others were seriously wounded.

***4***