Mandala air crash in Medan Indonesia
This morning I saw Ika watching the news and she told me a plane had crashed in Medan Sumatra. Indonesia has a national carrier, Garuda Indonesia, which is pretty good, and a number of smaller airlines, which vary in quality. I have flown on Merpati and Mandala. Today's crash involved a Mandala Airlines plane crashed during take off killing 104 people onboard and 39 people on the ground. Miraculously 13 people on board survived, all in the back row of the plane.
I have flown out of Medan and I have also flown Mandala, which are supposed to have good maintenance. At this point there are all kinds of possibilities, pilot error, mechanical failure, terrorism. For people who haven't been to third world countries the way it works it the national carrier, in this case Garuda Indonesia, gets new planes from Airbus and Boeing. Airbus insists on doing all the maintenance on the Garuda Airbus's, as it can't afford bad press. You can count on good planes with the national carrier usually (I've flown Tarom Romania and they stink), but there are exceptions. Many of the routes in Indonesia are not covered by Garuda, so you are left to choose among several smaller airlines such as Merpati, Mandala. Lion etc. These airlines use older planes, which have been bought from other airlines. A lower budget means the quality of everything goes down, same in the US (EasyJet), same here. Generally flying in Indonesia is safe and it is unfortunate when a tragedy like this happens.
On another airline related topic. I have a friend who works at the airport in Surabaya, east Java. Surabaya is the second largest city in Indonesia. She told me during the Hajj, that is the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca, they get a stream of Saudi Airlines jumbo's that land empty, and take the faithful to Mecca. She said the cleaning crew are always complaining about the amount of used condoms scattered around the plane. The cabin crew are getting jiggy on the empty plane out to Indonesia and a few hours later a planeful of pilgrims will be going back!
By Nick | Permalink
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Comments
Yuni,
Which cruise ship are you on? I am planning on a Caribbean cruise out of Houston or Galveston in April 2006. The ship may be “Rhapsody of the Seas”. Is that your ship?
Yuni,
How could I forget you! The other day I went to Stadium and talk with Komang cashier, also saw Yuli.
How is it working on boat? Send us a photo of you working on boat. When you back in Bali? Maybe I taking photo in Kerobokan so you can looking.
I think there’s 1, but she has to keep it under wraps.
Tony, the Macaroni dumb head, asked:
“What’s the whoring scene like in Mecca I wonder?”
My answer:
You gotta be kidding?! It is a holly land!! Never mind whoring acts, they won’t even allow normal sex between husbands and wifes. It’s haram. I just wonder how they procreate. Perhaps, thru artificial insemination.
Any way, how could any man be turned on looking at women covered from head to toe in bed sheets. Heck, most of the time you can’t even tell if she or he is actually inside a sheet.
So my answer to you Tony: No Dummy, they don’t have sex.
Thanks for making me laugh.
If you don’t know about something, please do ask question nicely, otherwise do not say anything.
Do not embarrasse yourself.
My answer: Husband and wife can not have sex intercourse only during the pilgrimage. It takes about 7-10 days if I am not mistaken.
Yes, married couple who live in the Holy city allow to make love just like other couple.
Also if I’m not mistaken during a Hajj pilgrimage the devotee is not allowed to wear any clothes other than the simple cloth that covered the body, use fragrances, cut the hair or shave or cut fingernails, toenails. Of course sex is forbidden even between man and wife.
G’Day Nick,
You are correct 100%. The Haji is total devotion. Disregard other people’s insidious comments as they obviously do not have a brain big enough to absorb the truth or even understand the realities of life within another culture.
You know who I’m talking about.
Barrie,
I assume you were refering to Tony’s brain, not mine. LOL.
Today was not a good day. Job was as usual crap, the mach between Russia and Portugal was live wile I was working and we draw, but I can always rely on Tony to make me laugh! I have my doubts about him being serious, in my opinion the guy is a fraud, he’s just having a kick saying this random idiotic comments that drive us all to immediate response… it’s a bit like me at dinner saying the woman’s place is at the kitchen, when in fact that’s not what I believe, I just say it to get the girls mad, hehehe.
But in case I’m wrong and that’s really what he believes, well, let’s just say what a waste of internet time!
Hi Tom,
Definitely not you mate!. I’m liking your posts.
Make yourself a coffee and relax!
hii Yuni…i still remember you,but maybe you not.i am Amalia,we meet in stadium kafe with my bf ‘peter’….the last thing i hear is that you going to Australia and now…look at you already in USA…wah jadi ngiri gua….bagi bagi kabar dong!
hii Yuni…i still remember you,but maybe you not.i am Amalia,we meet in stadium kafe with my bf ‘peter’….the last thing i hear is that you going to Australia and now…look at you already in USA…wah jadi ngiri gua….bagi bagi kabar dong!
i nick….u remeber me?hope so…i am yuni!!work in stadium cafe.and u know where i am now?i am in usa work in ship cruise..and u know i always open u website and read everything about my city and indonesia.but u know sometime i didnt understand but ….i got alot imformation about my city….