Between pilots testing positive for narcotics and planes missing the runway, there’s hardly ever a dull moment in Indonesian aviation. We hate to say it, but 2017 was particularly memorable, giving us plenty of awful cases of what can go wrong on a flight. While some were amusing, others were downright scary.
Disclaimer: We fly most of the airlines mentioned in this list quite often, so just because these things have happened doesn’t mean you should straight-off dismiss Indonesian carriers, but do your own due diligence when making travel plans.
Here’s a roundup of the most cringeworthy aviation incidents we covered in 2017, involving Bali flights:
Two pilots working for Indonesian airline test positive for heroin: National Narcotics Agency
Pilots by day, druggies by night. Who wouldn’t want to get on a plane piloted by these guys?
Although the infamous runway miss actually happened back in 2013, it was just revealed this year that the pilot who undershot the runway had hallucinated the landing strip as being longer. A big deal since when the story first broke four years ago, it had been reported that he came up clean in his drug and alcohol tests following the incident. Soooo sketchy.
Bali’s international airport near Denpasar on April 14, 2013. Photo: Sonny Tumbelaka/AFPBali-bound plane turned back to China mid-flight when crew realizes front door is still open
This one was blamed as a technical error, with the airline claiming that the indicators in the cockpit inaccurately showed that the door was closed all the way. Clearly that plane was in need of some maintenance.
As a flight dropped down two thirds of its elevation in seconds, tearful crew ran down the aisle in a panic, which of course gave the passengers aboard this terrifying flight no reassurance at all. AirAsia later apologized for “any inconvenience caused” by the flight. Because fearing for your life is so darn inconvenient.
In a double incident an Australian freaked out, pounding on the doors of his flight’s cockpit as the plane was taxiing, saying someone was trying to kill him, which resulted in the flight getting cancelled. Good thing he was apparently directly allowed to leave and not held for questioning, because as soon as he got back to the airport, he dangled himself off a 25-meter-high ledge, until an Austrian traveler talked him down.
You snooze, you lose. Not the type of situation that this phrase typically refers to, but it’s actually quite relevant here. It’s no wonder this was one of our most-read stories of 2017.
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