Lined up along the runway at state-run Industri Pesawat Terbang Nusantara's manufacturing plant, workers punched the air and shouted "teknologi, teknologi" in cult-like unison as the twin-engined turbo-prop lifted off into clear skies over the hill city of Bandung.
It was Aug. 10, 1995, and we were witnessing the maiden flight of IPTN's fly-by-wire N-250 commuter plane, a proud centerpiece of Research and Technology Minister B.J. Habibie's expensive vision of using technology to drive national development. The flight of the home-grown 50-seater went without a hitch. But a year later, IPTN test pilot Edwin Danoewinata and seven other crewmen were killed when their CN-235 aircraft crashed during an experimental touch-and-go parachute cargo extraction. Two years after that, the N-250 also crashed and burned — not in any accident but a victim of the 1997-1998 financial crisis, which brought down President Suharto and put an end to the work of the brilliant German-educated engineer who became his successor.Cek berita, artikel, dan konten yang lain di Google News