Superjet crash probe focuses on crew
Posted: 25 Jun 2012 04:03 AM PDT

Indonesia's safety authorities have published initial safety recommendations (see embedded document below) for what would seem like an extraordinarily unlikely event -- at least for the foreseeable future: another demonstration flight by a Superjet SSJ100 within the mountainous country's airspace.

After all, it's been less than two months since a Superjet carrying 45 passengers, including the Superjet's chief test pilot, crashed only meters below the lip of a vertical ridge of Mount Salak on a demonstration jolly out of Jakarta.

There remain many unanswered questions as the investigation continues, but so far nobody is pointing fingers at the SSJ100 itself. As our Singapore-based colleague Mavis Toh writes today, the initial safety recommendations published by Indonesia's National Transportation Safety Committee focus entirely on crew and administrative issues.

Meanwhile, Sukhoi chief executive Mikhail Pogosyan has told the Russian press that "the aircraft had no technical problems". United Aircraft Corporation's public relations department is being a bit more subtle: "For the time being, it is absolutely clear that there were no technical failures. However, the official preliminary results of the investigation have not been published yet. There are many details that should be linked. Therefore, it is somewhat premature at the moment to give forecasts about the final results."

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