VOA标准英语2008年-Indonesian Pilot Accused of Crashing Plane by I

The pilot of an Indonesian airliner¹ that crashed in 2007, killing² 21 people, has gone on trial - accused of deliberately³ ignoring warnings, causing the airliner to crash. VOA's Nancy-Amelia Collins in Jakarta has more.

Indonesian pilot Marwoto Komar faces a maximum of life in prison, if found guilty of causing a Garuda Airlines Boeing 737 to crash, when it skidded⁴ off the runway and burst into flames after crash landing at Yogyakarta airport in March, 2007.

Prosecutor⁵ Mudim Aristo told a panel of judges at Thursday's opening of the trial that Komar deliberately ignored warning signals from an onboard warning system and from his co-pilot, bringing the plane in at twice the speed for a normal landing.

Indonesian authorities say the too-rapid descent caused the plane to overshoot the runway and burst into flames, killing 21 of the 140 people on board.

A government investigation⁶ last year by the Indonesian National Transport Safety Commission said the pilot ignored onboard automatic warnings, 15 warnings from the control tower to abort⁷ the landing and pleas from his co-pilot to circle round again, as he descended⁸ too rapidly.

Komar was the chief pilot of the aircraft and faces three counts of negligence⁹ and one count of deliberately destroying or damaging an aircraft, causing death.

Stephanus Gerardus, chairman of the Indonesian Pilot's Association, says Komar's trial will not help improve the country's aviation safety.

"The impact of the court is impact for the safety of flight also, because all pilots, especially in Indonesia, is bothered with this system. Criminalizing is exactly bothering the safety of flight because every pilot, starting from now, will be afraid to make a decision," said Gerardus.

Komar's arrest and subsequent sacking by Garuda has angered pilots, who say only aviation experts and not the country's legal system have the right to say who is responsible for the accident.

The association says, under international aviation regulations, police are not allowed to use information from the planes black box recorder to prosecute¹⁰ the pilot.

Indonesia has one of the world's worse aviation safety records. A string of airline disasters in recent years has caused the European Union to ban all Indonesian airlines from its airspace.

The chairman of the country's pilot association, Gerardus, says Indonesia has a long way to go to improve its airline safety.

"All the aviation industry and all aviation persons agree that we have to improve the safety of flight, so we have to build the new system according to the international standards," he said.

Komar's trial is expected to last several months.

 

 

1 airliner   

n.客机，班机

参考例句：

• The pilot landed the airliner safely.驾驶员使客机安全着陆。
• The passengers were shepherded across the tarmac to the airliner.旅客们被引导走过跑道去上飞机。

2 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

3 deliberately   

adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地

参考例句：

• The girl gave the show away deliberately.女孩故意泄露秘密。
• They deliberately shifted off the argument.他们故意回避这个论点。

4 skidded   

v.（通常指车辆） 侧滑( skid的过去式和过去分词 )；打滑；滑行；（住在）贫民区

参考例句：

• The car skidded and hit a lamp post. 那辆汽车打滑撞上了路灯杆。
• The car skidded and overturned. 汽车打滑翻倒了。

5 prosecutor   

n.起诉人；检察官，公诉人

参考例句：

• The defender argued down the prosecutor at the court.辩护人在法庭上驳倒了起诉人。
• The prosecutor would tear your testimony to pieces.检查官会把你的证言驳得体无完肤。

6 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

7 abort   

v.使流产，堕胎；中止；中止(工作、计划等)

参考例句：

• The captain instructed them to abort the mission.上尉指示他们中止执行任务。
• With this button the user can abort the audio sequence.用户可以用该按钮终止音频序列。

8 descended   

a.为...后裔的，出身于...的

参考例句：

• A mood of melancholy descended on us. 一种悲伤的情绪袭上我们的心头。
• The path descended the hill in a series of zigzags. 小路呈连续的之字形顺着山坡蜿蜒而下。

9 negligence   

n.疏忽，玩忽，粗心大意

参考例句：

• They charged him with negligence of duty.他们指责他玩忽职守。
• The traffic accident was allegedly due to negligence.这次车祸据说是由于疏忽造成的。

10 prosecute   

vt.告发；进行；vi.告发，起诉，作检察官

参考例句：

• I am trying my best to prosecute my duties.我正在尽力履行我的职责。
• Is there enough evidence to prosecute?有没有起诉的足够证据？