An Indonesian passenger jet was flying at up to 425 kph (265 mph), almost double the normal landing speed, when it crashed and burst into flames one month ago, killing 21 people, a chief investigator said Saturday. A preliminary accident report has not yet determined, however, if pilot error caused the Boeing 737-400 to overshoot the runway at the Yogyakarta airport and skid into a rice field, Marjono Siswosuwarno said, according to AP. «The plane was flying well above the normal landing speed of 140 knots (260 kph, 160 mph) when it crash-landed,» he said. «We are still interrogating the pilots to figure out why this happened ... we haven't determined yet if it was pilot error.» Aviation experts confirmed however that _ if the Garuda Airlines plane was traveling at between 410 kph and 425 kph (255 mph and 264 mph) on approach or landing _ the pilot should have circled around and tried again. «I can't imagine a crew attempting to land at that speed, unless there was some serious emergency,» said Patrick Smith, a U.S.-based airline pilot and aviation commentator, calling it «beyond excessive.» -- SPA
