The Lion Air passenger jet at Gorontalo airport on northern Sulawesi island after it crashed into a cow and skidded off the runway as it came into land. The Lion Air passenger jet at Gorontalo airport on northern Sulawesi island after it crashed into a cow and skidded off the runway as it came into land. Photo: AFP
An Indonesian passenger jet crashed into a cow and skidded off the runway as it came into land at an airport in the centre of the archipelago, officials said Wednesday.
No one was killed or seriously injured when the Lion Air plane carrying 110 passengers collided with one of three cows wandering on the runway as it arrived late Tuesday in Gorontalo, on Sulawesi island.
The cow, however, was crushed to death under one of the Boeing 737-900's middle wheels, head of Jalaluddin airport Agus Pramuka said.
The pilot, Iwan Permadi, told state-run Antara news agency he could smell "burning meat" as the jet ran over the animal.
He said he thought there were dogs in front of the plane as it came into land, "but it turned out there were three cows wandering in the middle of the runway".
Pictures showed the dead cow under the aircraft's wheel in a field. The plane, which suffered minor damage, had skidded into the field next to the runway, with its tail still on the runway.
All the passengers managed to disembark safely, transport ministry spokesman Bambang Ervan said.
The plane had started its journey in Jakarta and also had a stopover in Makassar, on Sulawesi, according to local media.
The airport was closed following the incident, disrupting travel plans for people heading home for the Eid al-Fitr holiday in Muslim-majority Indonesia.
One small jet managed to take off Wednesday, but the Lion Air plane was still at the edge of the runway, Pramuka said.
Indonesia, which relies heavily on air transport to connect its more than 17,000 islands, has one of Asia's worst aviation safety records.
In April, a Lion Air passenger jet carrying 108 people crashed into the sea after missing the runway as it came into land on the resort island of Bali. No one died but dozens were injured.
Lion Air, Indonesia's biggest private carrier, has placed orders for more than $US45 billion ($A50 billion) with Airbus and Boeing in the past two years and has the world's biggest order backlog for 559 narrow-body aircraft. It aims to have 1000 planes in 10 years.
AFP/Bloomberg