Bandung, 29 August 2026
A certificate is not a competency.
Anyone who has spent time around Indonesian heavy industry knows the difference. A worker arrives on site with a valid card in his wallet and no real idea what to do when the lights go out and the compartment fills with smoke. The paperwork is in order. The capability is not.
Two days before we signed anything, a director at the Ministry of Manpower made a version of the same point in Jakarta. Muhammad Idham, who heads labour inspection development and OHS testing at Kemnaker, noted that only around 19,000 companies in Indonesia have implemented SMK3, and argued that applying a safety standard cannot stop at the certificate. Methods, equipment, and what actually happens on the hangar floor all have to be reviewed and reviewed again.
That is the gap PTDI asked us to help close.
What was signed
On Saturday 29 August 2026, PT Samson Tiara signed a two-year Memorandum of Understanding with PT Dirgantara Indonesia at PTDI’s facility in Bandung. Our President Director, James Preston Truesdell, signed alongside PTDI’s senior leadership.
The MOU sets out a framework for the two companies to work together on workplace safety training and internationally recognised competency certification for people working in high-risk operational environments. The training in scope includes helicopter underwater escape (HUET), basic sea survival and H2S. It was signed as part of PTDI’s 50th anniversary programme.
Who PTDI is, for those of us who don’t work in aviation
If your working life has been spent offshore, PTDI may not be a name you deal with every day. It should be.
PT Dirgantara Indonesia is the state-owned aerospace manufacturer, based in Bandung, and it turned 50 on 23 August 2026. This year’s anniversary theme is “Golden Legacy, Global Horizon”. The company designs and builds fixed-wing aircraft, assembles helicopters under licence, produces aerostructures for international manufacturers, and runs maintenance, repair and overhaul work. Its partnerships with Airbus and Bell go back decades.
The aircraft they are proudest of right now is the N219, a 19-seat propeller aircraft designed and built entirely in Indonesia with no foreign licence behind it. Director Utama Gita Amperiawan has been direct about why that matters: Indonesia has thousands of islands and a lot of communities that a road will never reach, and a locally built 19-seater is the practical answer to that.
The 29th of August 2026 was a busy day for them. PTDI inaugurated the Dirgantara Indonesia Training Center, with Manpower Minister Yassierli present, and Gita Amperiawan explained the thinking behind it plainly: qualification and certification work that PTDI has been sending overseas will now be done in-house, turning a cost into a possible source of revenue. The centre has been running since a soft launch in January 2024, has delivered 17 training programmes to 140 people, and has 60 of them in South Korea at the moment working with Korean Aerospace Industries. PTDI is targeting around 500 participants through the apprenticeship programme.
Samson Tiara was one of five companies to sign agreements with PTDI that day, alongside PT Falah Inovasi Teknologi, PT Inti Steel Sejahtera, INA Inc. and AMMROC.
So this was not a quiet corporate handshake. PTDI is building out a network of partners at pace, and the workforce competency side of it is clearly a priority for them.
Where our two companies actually meet
People hear “aerospace” and picture clean rooms. Some of it is. Plenty of it isn’t.
Aircraft manufacturing and maintenance involves working at height, confined space entry, hot work, hydrocarbons, hazardous chemicals, industrial fire risk, and rescue scenarios where the casualty is inside a structure that was not designed to be climbed into. Those are the same hazards we have been training people to survive in oil and gas, maritime and construction since 1994.
We also work on the aviation side of the industry, delivering helideck and helicopter firefighting, and we are OPITO accredited for helicopter underwater escape training (HUET). Aviation safety is not new territory for us. The other two courses named in the MOU carry accreditation of the same standing: OPITO for H2S, and TEEX for basic sea survival under our Cooperative Learning Centre agreement. What is new is the chance to work alongside the company that builds the aircraft.
From Mr. Truesdell
“I am delighted to be working with PTDI. I hope this collaboration proves successful for both parties and is beneficial to the nation of Indonesia,” said James Preston Truesdell, President Director of PT Samson Tiara.
He also had something to say about the anniversary. “Happy 50th anniversary, PT Dirgantara Indonesia. I am delighted to see them reach this point and continue to succeed in Indonesia’s aviation industry.”
James has been in this country a long time. “I am originally from Texas, in the United States, but I have lived here for 36 years and I am now an Indonesian citizen,” he told reporters in Bandung.
What happens next
An MOU is a starting point, not an achievement. The value in it shows up the first time a PTDI technician walks out of a course able to do something on Monday that they could not do on Friday.
That is the part we will be judged on, and it is the part we are looking forward to.
About PT Samson Tiara
PT Samson Tiara has provided safety and survival training in Indonesia since 1994. The company is accredited by OPITO, IWCF, IADC, and Kemnaker, and holds a Cooperative Learning Centre agreement with the Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service (TEEX). Courses cover offshore and onshore emergency response, aviation, firefighting, confined space, well control, first aid, and leadership. PT Samson Tiara was named OPITO Training Provider of the Year in 2016.
Head office: CIBIS Eight, Jl. TB Simatupang No. 2, Jakarta 12560.
Training centre: KIEC, Jl. Australia II Kav. O No. 1/2, Cilegon, Banten.
For more information:
Email: marketing@survival-systems.com
Phone: +62 21 780 1388
WhatsApp: +62 811 176 7985
Sources
- PT Dirgantara Indonesia, “Golden Legacy, Global Horizon: PTDI Strengthens Human Resources, Collaboration, and Contribution to the Nation”, 29 August 2026 — https://www.indonesian-aerospace.com/index.php/en/media/press_release/detail/381/golden-legacy-global-horizon-ptdi-strengthens-human-resources-collaboration-and-contribution-to-the
- Berita Japripay, “PT Dirgantara Indonesia dan PT Samson Tiara Lakukan Penandatanganan MoU Kolaborasi Strategis”, 29 August 2026 — https://berita.japrime.id/pt-dirgantara-indonesia-dan-pt-samson-tiara-lakukan-penandatanganan-mou-kolaborasi-strategis
- Media Indonesia, “PT DI dan Kemenaker Siapkan SDM Kedirgantaraan Berstandar Global”, 29 August 2026 (500 participant target) — https://mediaindonesia.com/ekonomi/927393/pt-di-dan-kemenaker-siapkan-sdm-kedirgantaraan-berstandar-global
- Media Indonesia, “Masih Terbatas Perusahaan Terapkan Sistem Manajemen K3”, 28 August 2026 (Kemnaker SMK3 figure and the Muhammad Idham comment) — https://mediaindonesia.com/ekonomi/927399/masih-terbatas-perusahaan-terapkan-sistem-manajemen-k3
- ANTARA, “PTDI optimistis isi pasar kelas pesawat 19 penumpang di usia 50 tahun”, 29 August 2026 — https://www.antaranews.com/berita/5716517/ptdi-optimistis-isi-pasar-kelas-pesawat-19-penumpang-di-usia-50-tahun
- Pasjabar, “PTDI Genap 50 Tahun, Dorong UMKM Naik Kelas dan Perkuat Industri Dirgantara”, 24 August 2026 (anniversary theme) — https://pasjabar.com/2026/08/24/50-tahun-ptdi-dorong-umkm-naik-kelas
Further coverage
- Warta Ekonomi, “Menaker Dorong Training Center PTDI Jadi Role Model SDM Industri Global”, 30 August 2026 — https://wartaekonomi.co.id/read631433/menaker-dorong-training-center-ptdi-jadi-role-model-sdm-industri-global
- Airspace Review, “PTDI Resmikan Training Center Berstandar Global di Puncak HUT ke-50”, 30 August 2026 — https://www.airspace-review.com/2026/08/30/ptdi-resmikan-training-center-berstandar-global-di-puncak-hut-ke-50/
- ABN News, “Golden Legacy, Global Horizon: PTDI Perkuat SDM, Kolaborasi dan Kontribusi bagi Bangsa”, 30 August 2026 — https://abnnews.id/2026/08/30/golden-legacy-global-horizon-ptdi-perkuat-sdm-kolaborasi-dan-kontribusi-bagi-bangsa/
- Suara Merdeka Jakarta, “Golden Legacy, Global Horizon: PTDI Perkuat SDM, Kolaborasi dan Kontribusi bagi Bangsa” — https://jakarta.suaramerdeka.com/nasional/13417570235/golden-legacy-global-horizon-ptdi-perkuat-sdm-kolaborasi-dan-kontribusi-bagi-bangsa
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