Garuda Indonesia Flight 892

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Garuda Indonesian Airways Flight 892
Convair 990-30A-5 PK-GJA Garuda Indonesian Airways 1968.jpg
Pajajaran, the aircraft involved in the accident.
Accident
Date28 May 1968 (1968-05-28)
SummaryCrashed during climb-out; cause unknown, presumably misfueling
SiteBilalpada village near Nala Sopara, India [1]
Total fatalities30
Aircraft
Aircraft type Convair CV-990-30A-5
Aircraft namePajajaran
Operator Garuda Indonesian Airways
Registration PK-GJA
Flight origin Kemayoran Airport, Jakarta, Indonesia
1st stopover Singapore International Airport, Singapore
2nd stopover Bangkok International Airport, Bangkok, Thailand
3rd stopover Bombay–Santacruz Airport, Bombay, India
4th stopover Karachi International Airport, Karachi, Pakistan
5th stopover Cairo International Airport, Cairo, Egypt
Last stopover Leonardo da Vinci–Fiumicino Airport, Rome, Italy
Destination Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Occupants29
Passengers15
Crew14 (including four deadheading) [2]
Fatalities29
Survivors0
Ground casualties
Ground fatalities1

Garuda Indonesian Airways Flight 892 was a scheduled international passenger flight of Garuda Indonesian Airways (now Garuda Indonesia) from Jakarta, Indonesia, to Amsterdam, the Netherlands, with stopovers in Singapore, Bangkok, Bombay (now Mumbai), Karachi, Cairo, and Rome. On 28 May 1968, while operating the fourth segment of the flight from Bombay to Karachi, the Convair CV-990-30A-5 jet airliner crashed during climb-out from Bombay–Santacruz Airport (now Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport). The aircraft crashed in Bilalpada village near the town of Nala Sopara, killing all 15 passengers and 14 crew onboard, as well as one person on the ground. Although the cause of the accident is not clearly known, the accident was caused presumably by loss of control that resulted from engine failure due to misfueling while the aircraft was making its stopover in Bombay. [3] The accident was the second hull loss of the Convair 990; it is also the first accident involving the type to result in fatalities. [4]

Contents

Aircraft

The aircraft involved in the accident was a Convair CV-990-30A-5 jet airliner powered by four General Electric CJ805-23B turbofan engines with registration PK-GJA. It was the third Convair 990 built, with serial number 30-10-3, and originally was intended for American Airlines. The aircraft was configured to carry up to 99 passengers and was named Pajajaran after the former capital city of the Sunda Kingdom in Indonesia. [5] [6] Formerly used as one of the test aircraft to certify the Convair 990 type, the aircraft got converted to the 990A variant afterward. The airline took delivery of the aircraft on 24 January 1964 as the last of three aircraft on order. [7] The aircraft was under insurance worth US$5,000,000 (equivalent to US$38,961,722in 2021). [8]

Flight and crash

Garuda Indonesian Airways Flight 892 arrived at Bombay–Santacruz Airport at 01:45 a.m. local time (08:15 p.m. UTC 27 May). Having originated in Jakarta with two previous stopovers in Singapore and Bangkok, the flight was part of the airline's Jakarta–Singapore–Bangkok–Bombay–Karachi–Cairo–Rome–Amsterdam milk run. [9] The flight made its third stopover in Bombay to pick up more passengers, change operating crew members, and refuel the aircraft before continuing with the flight's next segment to Karachi. Eleven passengers were supposed to board the flight in Bombay, but five passengers canceled their tickets at the last moment, leaving the remaining six to board the flight, and the flight was released to depart with 15 passengers and 14 crew on board. Weather conditions at Bombay–Santacruz Airport reportedly were normal and without strong winds when the flight left Bombay. [10]

The aircraft took off from Bombay at 02:32 a.m. local time (09:02 p.m. UTC 27 May). Seven minutes later, the air traffic control at Bombay–Santacruz Airport lost contact with the aircraft; there were no distress calls received before the contact with the aircraft went lost. [8] The aircraft then was reported to have crashed at 02:44 a.m. (09:14 p.m. UTC 27 May), with the crash site located approximately 1.5 mi (2.4 km) east of Nalla Sopara railway station near the village of Bilalpada. The resultant explosion as the aircraft crashed into the ground caused at least one large piece of the aircraft debris to create a 20 ft (6.1 m) deep crater at the crash site, while most of the aircraft debris fell strewn over a three sq mi (7.8 km2) wide area. [10]

All 15 passengers and 14 crew onboard the aircraft died in the crash. Seventeen people in Bilalpada village reportedly were injured, of which two were in serious condition. Three villagers had to get hospitalized, and one of them was later pronounced dead. [11] Besides human casualties, the crash destroyed several villagers' huts and a school-owned shed. Moreover, some of the burning debris from the aircraft hit and set a stable ablaze that subsequently killed 19 buffaloes inside it. [10]

Passengers and crew

On the Bombay–Karachi flight segment, Garuda Indonesian Airways Flight 892 carried 15 passengers. In terms of passenger departure cities, six passengers boarded the flight in Jakarta, three in Bangkok, and six in Bombay. In terms of passenger destination cities, six passengers were going to disembark the flight in Karachi, two in Cairo, two in Rome, and five in Amsterdam. Six passengers were from Indonesia, four were from Pakistan, two were from Greece, one was from India, one was from Japan, and one was from the Netherlands. Among the six passengers from Indonesia was an official of the country's National Nuclear Energy Agency  [ id ] whose also the wife of G. A. Siwabessy, the Indonesian Minister of Health at the time. [12] In addition, the only passenger from India and the Netherlands was the president of the Institution of Engineers (India) and a leader of the Moral Re-Armament, respectively. [2] [10]

The flight had 14 crew members on board; all were from Indonesia. Ten were the operating crew on the flight, consisting of four cockpit crew and six cabin crew, while the remaining four were deadheading crew. The cockpit crew members consisted of Captain Abdul Rohim, [6] Captain Soedharmono, Flight navigator Asmoro, and Flight engineer Djumadi. Of the cabin crew members, one of the two pursers was the younger brother of Ahmad Yunus Mokoginta  [ id ], the Indonesian Ambassador to Egypt at the time. All the operating crew members boarded the flight in Bombay as the replacement for the original crew members set that had worked since the flight originated in Jakarta. These newly-boarded crew members were supposed to get replaced by another set of operating crew members in Cairo. Meanwhile, the four deadheading crew members, all originating from Jakarta with the original operating crew members, remained on board the flight. [2]

Investigation

In the hours after the accident, several representatives from the Indian Directorate General of Civil Aviation arrived at the crash site and then conducted a preliminary investigation. [10] A joint team from Indonesia, which consisted of representatives from the Indonesian Directorate of Civil Aviation, Lufthansa, and the airline itself, was dispatched to Bombay to join the investigation. [2] They arrived in Bombay in the morning of the following day. The search for the aircraft's flight recorder began the day after the arrival of the Indonesian team at the crash site. [8]

The cause of the accident is not clearly known, even though there was a court of inquiry into it, headed by Y. S. Tambe, a retired Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court, and the accident report reportedly would be completed by January 1970. [1] However, the error of the ground staff at Bombay–Santacruz Airport, which refueled the jet airliner with avgas instead of kerosene-based avtur, is presumed as the probable cause of the accident. The alleged consequence is that the aircraft experienced a partial or complete failure on all of its four engines during the initial climb-out stage of the flight, causing the pilots to lose control of the aircraft. The aircraft then entered a nosedive until it eventually crashed in an almost vertical attitude. [3] [4] One source mentioned that the jet airliner was reportedly getting close to the speed of sound when it crashed into the ground. The source also cited a statement saying that sabotage may have contributed to the crash. [7]

Aftermath

President Suharto of Indonesia sent an aircraft from the airline to repatriate all deceased Indonesians in the accident. Several stones were taken from the crash site and put inside each coffin of the Indonesian victims. Most of the perished Indonesian passengers were buried in public cemeteries, while the wife of the health minister and the entire crew members were buried in a heroes cemetery. [12]

Following the accident, the airline grounded the remaining two Convair 990A aircraft in its fleet and suspended the Jakarta–Amsterdam and vice versa milk run service. The latter would later get reinstated, but the operating aircraft for the flight got replaced by the Douglas DC-8 on lease from KLM. The two Convair 990A aircraft subsequently were relegated to fly on domestic and Asian routes until the airline eventually phased out the type in 1973. [6]

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 "Garuda crash report by Jan." The Indian Express . Vol. 38, no. 13. Bombay. 28 November 1969. p. 13. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Pesawat GIA Convair 990 Djatuh dekat Bombay" [GIA Convair 990 Aircraft Crashed near Bombay]. Bulletin Djembatan Kawanua (in Indonesian). Vol. 50. Jakarta: Kawanua. 1 June 1968. p. 43 (595). Retrieved 31 October 2021.
  3. 1 2 Hubert, Ronan. "Crash of a Convair CV-990-30A-5 near Bombay: 30 killed". Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Archives. Retrieved 5 July 2021.
  4. 1 2 Ranter, Harro. "ASN Aircraft accident Convair CV-990-30A-5 Coronado PK-GJA Mumbai Airport (BOM)". Aviation Safety Network . Retrieved 5 July 2021.
  5. ↑ Almanak Sumatera (in Indonesian). Komando Antar Daerah Sumatera. 1969. p. 517. Retrieved 31 January 2022.
  6. 1 2 3 Sumbodo, Sudiro (15 April 2018). Stroud, Nick (ed.). "The Convair 990 and Garuda Indonesian Airways". The Aviation Historian. Horsham, United Kingdom (23): 69, 74. ISSN   2051-1930. OCLC   1035942238.
  7. 1 2 Proctor, Jon (1996). Convair 880 & 990. Great Airliners Series (1st ed.). Miami, Florida: World Transport Press. pp. 64, 87, 112. ISBN   0-9626730-4-8.
  8. 1 2 3 "Garuda aircraft grounded". The Indian Express . Vol. 36, no. 169. Jakarta. 29 May 1968. p. 3. Retrieved 5 March 2022.
  9. ↑ "Garuda Indonesian Airways International Timetable". Airline Timetable Images. 1 April 1968. p. 3. Retrieved 31 October 2021.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 "29 killed in a plane crash near Bombay". The Indian Express . Vol. 36, no. 168. Bombay. 28 May 1968. pp. 1, 5. Retrieved 31 October 2021.
  11. ↑ "Air Crash of Indonesian Garuda Airlines Jet Plane". Lok Sabha Debates (Fifth Session) (PDF). Lok Sabha . 4. Vol. 18. New Delhi: Lok Sabha. 26 July 1968. pp. 1808-1809 (73-74). Retrieved 23 February 2022.
  12. 1 2 Isnaeni, Hendri F. (6 April 2019). "Kecelakaan Pesawat Garuda di Mumbai India" [The Crash of Garuda Plane in Mumbai, India]. Historia (in Indonesian). Retrieved 31 October 2021.

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