Adam Air Flight 574

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Adam Air Flight 574
Adam Air Flight 574.png

Approximate flight route
Accident summary
Accident type Crash due to insufficient pilot training by the airline / technical defect
place Strait of Makassar in front of Majene , Sulawesi ;
Black box located at 3 ° 40 ′ 53.5 ″  S , 118 ° 8 ′ 51.4 ″  E or 3 ° 40 ′ 19.7 ″  S , 118 ° 9 ′ 22.9 ″  E
date January 1, 2007
Fatalities 102
Survivors 0
Aircraft
Aircraft type Boeing 737-400
operator Adam Air
Mark PK-NPP
Departure airport Surabaya (SUB / WARR)
7 ° 22 ′ 47 ″ S, 112 ° 47 ′ 10 ″ E
Destination airport Manado (MDC / WAMM)
1 ° 32 ′ 58 "N, 124 ° 55 ′ 33" E
Passengers 96
crew 6th
Lists of aviation accidents

Adam Air Flight 574 (DHI 574) was a scheduled passenger flight from Surabaya ( SUB ) to Manado ( MDC ) in Indonesia thatdisappearednear Polewali on Sulawesi on January 1, 2007. Early reports that the wreckage of the plane had been found turned out to be rumors. In the course of January, parts of the wreck were recovered from the water and others located on the seabed. On January 21, the two flight recorders were located at a depth of around 2000 m and were also recovered six months later.

Aircraft

The aircraft, a Boeing 737-400 with registration number PK-KKW, made its maiden flight on November 1, 1989 and had been operated by a total of eight airlines over the years. The aircraft had completed 45,371 flight hours and was last checked on December 25, 2005 by the Indonesian Ministry of Transport. The next review would have been due at the end of January 2007. According to the airport in Surabaya, there were no technical problems before the plane took off.

Flight history

On January 1, 2007, at 12:55 p.m. local time (5:55 a.m. UTC ), the plane took off with 96 passengers and six crew members on board from Juanda International Airport in Surabaya. The roughly two-hour flight was scheduled to end at 4:00 p.m. local time (8:00 a.m. UTC, there is a one-hour time difference between Sulawesi and Java ) at Sam Ratulangi Airport in Manado, Sulawesi. The flight was normal until the machine disappeared from the radar screens of air traffic control at Makassar , South Sulawesi .

Last location

Location of Sulawesi (light green) within Indonesia

The time of the last contact was at 14:53 local time (6:53 a.m. UTC). The last known location was by a satellite at 3 ° 14 '2 "  S , 119 ° 9' 17"  O been recorded. The flight altitude of the aircraft was about 35,000 feet (approximately 10,700 meters) according to the radar record.

Weather

The weather in the region was stormy. The Indonesian Bureau of Meteorology and Geophysics found that the cloud cover reached a height of 30,000 feet (about 9,150 meters); the average wind speed in this area was 30 knots (56 kilometers per hour). Although the responsible aviation authority in Indonesia warned the pilots of the weather conditions, the machine took off as planned. Over the Strait of Makassar , the pilots were confronted with winds of up to 130 kilometers per hour and changed course eastwards.

Emergency signals

Contrary to original reports, the machine did not send any emergency signals before it disappeared .

Passengers

With the exception of one American family of three, the passenger list consisted exclusively of Indonesians . There were 86 adults and 11 children.

Search and rescue efforts

Wrong reports about the discovery of the wreck

It was originally reported that the aircraft had been located in the mountainous region of the south of the island of Sulawesi. Hundreds of rescue workers were mobilized as a result of this report. The commander of the air force base Hasanuddin confirmed this report to a local radio station. As a result, the wreck was found about 20 kilometers from the mountain town of Polewali . That report also stated that 12 inmates survived the crash.

The rescue workers were taken to the specified location, but found no traces of an aircraft wreck. On January 2, 2007, Indonesian Transport Minister Hatta Radjasa announced that the plane had not yet been found and that reports to the contrary were based on rumors that villagers had passed on to the authorities.

Speculations and assumptions

It was speculated that the machine had already exploded in midair. This assumption had spread after it became known that two separate ELT signals were being received. An airliner has two emergency beacons. A portable unit is installed in the cockpit and starts transmitting on the emergency frequency 121.5 megahertz as soon as it comes into contact with water. The second, which is attached to the stern and activated by a crash, transmits at 406 megahertz. These sent signals had pointed to two different crash sites. The 121.5 megahertz frequency is very susceptible to interference; Nevertheless, the assumption that the aircraft had already broken up in the air was supported by the later discovery of wreckage that was scattered over a relatively large area. However, the wreckage could have been blown apart on its two kilometer way from the surface of the water to the seabed due to the influence of the ocean current, even if the aircraft should not have shattered until it hit the water. This was the case with TWA 800 .

Further efforts

The search for the missing machine continued at other possible crash sites, using search teams on land, sea and in the air. The strength of the search teams was temporarily increased to up to 3500 men.

The units that were supposed to search for the missing aircraft from the air included a military surveillance aircraft of the type Boeing 737-200 and two type Fokker 50 machines of the Singapore Air Force equipped with infrared detectors , as well as dozens of helicopters. Later, military aircraft equipped with sonar and ships sent to the Makassar Strait also participated in the search . The search was concentrated in the area between the coastal town of Majene and the mountainous region of Toraja , given the heavy rain and strong winds . The authorities said that the aircraft's ELT signaling devices may have been damaged on impact or weakened by interference, making the search more difficult. The director of the National Search and Rescue Agency believed the machine was lost over the sea.

The search was officially discontinued on February 10, 2007 and the crash of the machine and the death of all passengers and crew members on board were finally determined. This is necessary so that the surviving dependents can make their claims to the insurance companies.

Discovery of wreckage

On January 8, 2007, sonar devices located three large metal objects that were suspected of being parts of the wreck. Admiral Gatot Subyanto of the Indonesian Navy announced that the three locations were between three and six kilometers apart near the town of Mamuju on the west coast of Sulawesi. With the sonar devices used, however, it was not possible to determine the metal objects more precisely. A United States Navy ship , the USNS Mary Sears , arrived in the area on January 9, 2007. It is equipped with more powerful devices. A special Canadian aircraft took aerial photographs of the region to aid in the systematic search. The British special ship MN Endeavor also arrived in the area on January 24  to assist in the search. This vessel is typically used by oil drilling companies to map the ocean floor.

Part of the aircraft's tail unit was found on January 10, and part of a wing on January 13. A headrest, ID card, life jackets, seats, a dining tray, part of a tire and a number of other pieces made of aluminum and fiberglass were also fished out of the water. (As of January 29, 2007, a total of 206 fragments had been recovered from the sea, of which at least 194 were determined to be from the missing 737.)

Discovery of the flight recorder

On January 21, 2007, the US ship USNS Mary Sears located the two flight recorders. The flight data recorder was at 3 ° 40 '53.5 "  S , 118 ° 8" 51.4 "  E at a depth of about 2000 meters; the cockpit voice recorder was at a water depth of 1900 meters at 3 ° 40 '19.7 "  S , 118 ° 9' 22.9"  O located. The two positions are about 1400 meters apart. The ship scanned the area three nautical miles around the sites with a sonar device; a high resolution map was created. A large number of debris was located on the sea floor. It is believed that these are fragments of the missing machine. The recovery of the two flight recorders was necessary in order to determine the causes of the crash. However, the Indonesian authorities initially announced that the technology required for recovery from this water depth was not available in Asia. The service life of the batteries used by the flight recorders to send location signals was limited to about 30 days.

Recovery of the flight recorder

As of January 26th, Adam Air and the Indonesian government disagreed over the recovery of the flight recorders. Because of the great depth of the water, the recovery required the use of a remote-controlled underwater vehicle. The Indonesian government blamed Adam Air for the costs - including the transport of such a device to the search area. Vice President Jusuf Kalla questioned the recovery at all; Aviation experts pointed out, however, that the investigation of the accident was important for the safety not only of national but also of global aviation. The chances of success for a rescue have now decreased significantly, as the location signals ceased after the battery life of 30 days had expired. In addition, there were concerns about finding the devices at the identified positions using a remote-controlled diving device, since the expected visibility on the seabed was insufficient and other wreckage might obstruct the view.

On January 31, 2007, the US Navy withdrew the USS Mary Sears from the search to take on other tasks. In early March it was reported that Adam Air was in negotiations with at least one recovery company.

Almost eight months after the crash, on August 27, 2007, both flight recorders were recovered from a depth of almost 2000 meters and brought to the United States for analysis.

Investigations

A team of representatives from the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Boeing and General Electric assisted the Indonesian authorities in the investigation, which should also deal with the serviceability of the machine. On March 25, 2008, the final report of the Indonesian commission of inquiry was announced. Based on the flight recorder evaluations, the latter at least partially assigned the blame for the crash to the pilots. However, on the crashed plane a total of 154 partly recurring defects reports had to in the months before the accident inertial navigation system ( Inertial Reference System or IRS been recorded). The Boeing 737-400 had two of these systems.

A problem with the inertial reference system also occurred on Flight 574, which distracted the pilots for the last thirteen minutes. In search of a solution to the problem, the master instructed the copilot to set the left IRS to a different working mode ( ATT - instead of NAV mode or attitude mode instead of navigation ). The copilot, however, wrongly switched the (defective) right IRS to this mode, whereby several information in his Electronic Attitude Display Indicator (EADI) were deactivated, including the display of the flight attitude . The two screens in the cockpit now showed different displays, which could have contributed to the spatial disorientation of the crew.

By selecting the ATT mode, the autopilot switched itself off due to the system. The crew did not register this, although a warning tone and a visual display indicated the deactivation. The autopilot had previously steered the ailerons steadily to the left in order to keep the aircraft straight despite a constant crosswind. After it was deactivated, the ailerons went into neutral. The machine then began to tilt slowly to the right around its longitudinal axis, unnoticed by the pilots, who were still distracted. When the bank angle reached 35 degrees, an acoustic warning (" bank angle ") sounded , which surprised the crew and to which they did not respond consistently. Instead of counter-steering to the left, the captain instructed his copilot to reset the IRS to NAV mode. The roll angle reached a right-hand tilt of 100 degrees 28 seconds after the acoustic warning. At the same time, the aircraft's nose dropped 60 degrees. The machine went into a steep, initially at times inverse dive. At about 4,000 meters (12,000 feet), the aircraft reached a top speed of 490 knots (910 km / h). The pilots tried to intercept the machine using the elevator , whereby an acceleration of up to 3.5 g acted on the non-aligned aircraft. Due to the high rate of descent and the loads, the Boeing 737 began to break apart in the air. The flight recorder recorded the last data 75 seconds after the start of the dive at an altitude of approximately 3,300 meters (9,920 feet). The individual parts of the machine sank in the sea.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Plane Carrying 102 Missing in Indonesia . ( January 3, 2007 memento on the Internet Archive ) Associated Press , January 1, 2006, accessed May 12, 2015.
  2. ↑ History for B 737-MSN24070 Airfleets.net, accessed January 10, 2006
  3. ^ Missing airliner not located: Indonesian officials. Reuters , January 2, 2007, accessed May 8, 2014 .
  4. ↑ Now, search on for missing plane . ( Memento January 4, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) The Electric New Paper, January 3, 2007, accessed May 12, 2015.
  5. ^ A b Adam Air News Alert . ( Memento of September 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Adam Air , accessed January 10, 2006
  6. ^ Search on for Missing Indonesian Plane . ( Memento of September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Focus News Agency, January 1, 2007
  7. ↑ Missing Indonesian plane sent distress call . In: Edmonton Sun , Jan. 1, 2007
  8. ↑ Page no longer available , search in web archives: Jatuhnya Pesawat Adam Air di Sulawesi Barat Adalah Akibat Cuaca Buruk . Adam Air , accessed January 10, 2006 (Indonesian)@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.flyadamair.com
  9. ↑ President welcomes S'porean and US offer to help find missing Adam Air plane . ( Memento of January 13, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) ANTARA , January 4, 2006
  10. ^ Search goes on for missing Indonesian jet - Asia - Pacific - International Herald Tribune . CNN , Jan 6, 2007
  11. ↑ Missing Indonesian jet did not call for help ( Memento from July 6, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ) Jerusalem Post , January 4, 2007
  12. ↑ Zakki Hakim: Indonesian jet didn't send out distress signal (English) , Globe and Mail . Archived from the original on February 8, 2009. Retrieved August 7, 2012. 
  13. ^ Three US passengers on crashed Indonesian plane. In: ANTARA. January 1, 2007, archived from the original on March 12, 2007 ; accessed on December 29, 2018 (English).
  14. ^ Rescuers deny airliner found . ( June 17, 2008 memento on the Internet Archive ) News.com.au (Daily Telegraph), January 2, 2007, accessed May 12, 2015.
  15. ^ Wreckage of plane found in Indonesian mountains . Reuters , January 2, 2006, accessed May 12, 2015.
  16. ↑ Rescuers have not found Indonesia plane wreck: military . AFP , Jan. 2, 2007
  17. ↑ Confusion mounts over Java plane . BBC News , Jan. 2, 2007
  18. ^ Adam Air Plane Suspected to Have Exploded in Mid Air . ( Memento from December 18, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  19. ↑ Bisa Jadi Pesawat AdamAir Meledak di Udara . Detik.com, January 4, 2006 (Indonesian)
  20. ↑ airliners.de ( Memento from February 15, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  21. ↑ Trans World Airlines Flight 800 ( English , PDF; 7.8 MB) National Transportation Safety Board . SS 94-95. July 17, 1996. Archived from the original on July 22, 2001. Retrieved on October 9, 2012.
  22. ↑ Singapore to help Indonesia locate missing Adam Air jet . Channel News Asia, Jan. 3, 2007
  23. ↑ Kirim 2 Fokker, Singapura Siapkan Infra Red Cari AdamAir . Detik.com, January 3, 2007
  24. ↑ Page no longer available , search in web archives: Two mily planes help search for missing Adam Air . ANTARA , January 3, 2007@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.antara.co.id
  25. ↑ Seorang Warga Mamasa Melihat Pesawat Terbang Rendah . Liputan 6 SCTV, January 4th 2007
  26. ↑ Cari Bangkai AdamAir, TNI AL Kerahkan KRI Bersonar . Denik.com, January 4, 2007 (Indonesian)
  27. ^ Anger as Indonesia resumes search for airliner. Reuters , January 3, 2007, accessed May 8, 2014 .
  28. ↑ Ocean scoured for Indonesia jet . ( January 5, 2007 memento on the Internet Archive ) CNN / Associated Press , January 3, 2007, accessed May 12, 2015.
  29. ↑ Missing airliner's status is final, minister says . ( Memento from September 29, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) In: The Jakarta Post , February 10, 2007 (English)
  30. ↑ Airline hunt spots metal in sea . BBC News , Jan. 8, 2007
  31. ↑ Canada Kirim Sebuah Pesawat Bantu Cari Adam Air . ( Memento of October 4, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) media-indonesia.com, January 9, 2007, accessed on May 12, 2015.
  32. ↑ British ship joins search of Indonesian plane . In: People's Daily Online ; Retrieved March 11, 2007
  33. ↑ Tail of missing Indonesian plane found . In: Sydney Morning Herald , January 11, 2007 (English)
  34. ↑ Technical help awaited as plane search continues . ( Memento of September 26, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) In: Jakarta Post , January 14, 2007
  35. ↑ More Adam Air plane wreckage discovered . ( Memento of June 16, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) In: Daily Telegraph (Australia) , January 11, 2007, accessed May 12, 2015.
  36. ↑ a b USNS Mary Sears, Search Team Return From Successful Mission In Indonesia . ( February 10, 2009 memento on the Internet Archive ) United States Navy , January 29, 2007
  37. ^ SAR Team Stops Search For Adam Air Plane . ( Memento of February 13, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Bernama.com, January 27, 2007.
  38. ↑ Experts say investigation into Indonesian plane crash important to global aviation safety . In: International Herald Tribune , January 29, 2007 (English)
  39. ↑ Missing Adam Air Plane Blackbox Detected . ( Memento of February 13, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Bernama.com, January 24, 2007
  40. ↑ Experts say investigation into Indonesian plane crash important to global aviation safety . In: International Herald Tribune , January 26, 2007.
  41. ^ Adam Air has been negotiating [...] to recover the recorders . Flightglobal.com, March 3, 2007
  42. ↑ Flight recorder recovered from the crashed Adam Air machine . ( Memento from September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) aero.de, August 29, 2007
  43. ↑ Mountains searched for Indonesian aircraft . In: Financial Times , January 3, 2006
  44. ↑ Accident report of the NTSC (PDF; 2.8 MB) NTSC Indonesia