| Five charges laid against Garuda pilot |
Indonesian pilots are angry about manslaughter charges being laid against a captain involved in a plane crash that killed 21 people, including 5 Australians.
Pilots have launched a protest in support of their colleague - who ignored 15 warnings as he descended too rapidly at Yogyakarta airport on March 7 last year.
The Garuda Indonesia Boeing 737, carrying 140 passengers and crew, slammed hard onto the runway, and careened into rice paddies as flames engulfed the fuselage.
5 Australians travelling to cover a visit by Australia's then-Foreign Minister Alexander Downer, were among those who died.
Captain Marwoto Komar is believed to be the first pilot to face criminal charges over a crash in Indonesia - a country with a dismal aviation safety record.
Komar - who remains in detention at Yogyakarta Police Headquarters - will be officially charged with 5 offences, including negligence causing injury and death, when he faces court, possibly within weeks.
If convicted, he faces up to 7 years in jail.
The 45-year-old's arrest has sent shock waves through Indonesia's aviation industry, and 70 pilots protested Komar's treatment during a meeting with transport officials at the nation's parliament on Tuesday.
The Indonesian Pilots' Federation has called for the establishment of a civil aviation court to settle the case, and say Komar should not be facing criminal proceedings.
Federation president Manotar Napitupulu said parliamentarians had promised to consider revising Indonesian laws to allow for an aviation court.
"This arrest makes all pilots uneasy," he said, adding the federation had received support from across the world, including from pilots in Australia.
A final report into the Garuda crash by Indonesia's National Transport Safety Committee (KNKT) last year said the pilot was so "fixated" with landing that he ignored 15 alarms and the pleas of his copilot warning he was coming in too fast.
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