We have given them an opportunity to coordinate with their embassy..."
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - A US Air Force plane has landed in the Indonesian province of Aceh because of a mistake in flight planning, the Indonesia`s defense forces commander Admiral TNI Agus Suhartono said.

"It (the landing) happened because of a planning mistake. The plane planned to fly from Colombo to Singapore but due to a mistake in calculating the fuel needed for it it failed to reach Singapore," he said here on Tuesday.

He said the plane had asked for a permit to land in Aceh to refuel and "not because of other reasons."

The Indonesian air force at the Sultan Iskandar Muda Air Force Base had detained the plane temporarily at the base because it did not have a permit to conduct flight in the Indonesian territory.

The base`s commander Col. Supri Abu said in Aceh Besar that the US 328 Dornier military plane was flying from Maldives, Sri Lanka, when it was detected on the radar in Lhokseumawe.

"The US military aircraft that landed at around 2pm was not allowed to continue its flight before it obtained a permit to fly within the Indonesian territory," he said.

He said every plane flying within the country`s territory must have permits from the ministry of foreign affairs and the TNI Headquarters.

The US military plane however did not have the permits meaning "the aircraft with three military members and two civilians on board was not allowed to continue its flight until after the two permits are obtained."

Supri said five passengers of the plane were also not allowed to leave the aircraft before their embassy could produce the permits.

"We have given them an opportunity to coordinate with their embassy to conduct the paper work. If it is finished they will be allowed to continue their flight," he said.

Supri said he had not been forced to deploy combat aircraft to force the plane to land because it had declared it would willingly land at the Sultan Iskandar Muda airport.

He said one of the passengers with a rank of captain had admitted information mistakes with regard to flight from Sri Lanka to Singapore.

(Reporting by Panca Hari Prabowo/H-YH)

Editor: Priyambodo RH
Copyright © ANTARA 2013