Direction error caused Indonesian jet-liner crash

An air traffic controller momentarily confused two planes as he gave instructions for a turn, according to a transcript of the plane's final radio conversation obtained yesterday.

The controller was handling two other flights at the same time - one arriving and one departing from the two-runway airport.

AP PHOTO Grieving relatives wait for the start of the mass funeral for unidentified dead from the Garuda Airlines crash in Medan.

A transcript of the confused exchange between Capt. Rachmo Wiyogo and the controller portrays a distracted pilot getting wrong information in the critical moments before he attempted to land.

The conversation ended when Rachmo cried out, "Allahu akbar!" - "God is great!" in Arabic.

As details of the final conversation emerged Monday, weeping relatives threw flowers into a mass grave of 48 bodies mutilated beyond recognition.

The transcript shows Rachmo and the unidentified air traffic controller confusing the words "left" and "right" Friday as the plane approached Medan's Airport through thick haze caused by hundreds of forest fires on the island of Sumatra.

At another point, the air traffic controller emphatically assured Rachmo that the 15-year-old, twin-engine Garuda Airlines Airbus was clear of mountains in the area. Two minutes later, the jetliner slammed into a highland jungle 20 miles south of the airport.

The flight data and cockpit voice recorders - which should indicate what the crew and plane were doing up to a half-hour before the crash - were still missing three days after the disaster.

The last minute and a half of the conversation, conducted in English, showed repeated misunderstanding about which direction the pilot was turning.

Control tower: "Turn right heading 046 report established localizer (this commands the plane to align itself with the localizer, a radio beam indicating the runway's location).

Pilot: "Turning right sir."

Control tower: "152 Confirm you're making turning left now?"

Pilot: "We are turning right now."

Control: "OK you continue turning left now."

Pilot: (pause) "Confirm turning left? We are starting turning right now."

Control: "OK (pause) OK. Continue turn right heading 015."

That command was immediately followed by the pilot's desperate scream. At that moment, according to witnesses, the plane smashed into trees and exploded.

09-30-97