Garuda Indonesian Airways Flight 892
 Pajajaran, the aircraft involved in the accident. | |
| Accident | |
|---|---|
| Date | 28 May 1968 |
| Summary | Crashed on climb-out for unknown reasons, presumably misfuelling |
| Site | Bilalpada village near Nala Sopara, India |
| Total fatalities | 30 |
| Aircraft | |
| Aircraft type | Convair CV-990-30A-5 |
| Aircraft name | Pajajaran |
| Operator | Garuda Indonesian Airways |
| Registration | PK-GJA |
| Flight origin | Kemayoran International Airport, Jakarta, Indonesia |
| 1st stopover | Singapore International Airport, Singapore |
| 2nd stopover | Bangkok International Airport, Bangkok, Thailand |
| 3rd stopover | Santacruz Airport, Bombay, India |
| 4th stopover | Karachi International Airport, Karachi, Pakistan |
| 5th stopover | Cairo International Airport, Cairo, United Arab Republic |
| Last stopover | Leonardo da Vinci–Fiumicino Airport, Rome, Italy |
| Destination | Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, Amsterdam, Netherlands |
| Occupants | 29 |
| Passengers | 15 |
| Crew | 14 |
| Fatalities | 29 |
| Survivors | 0 |
| Ground casualties | |
| Ground fatalities | 1 |
Garuda Indonesian Airways Flight 892 was a scheduled international passenger flight of Garuda Indonesian Airways (now Garuda Indonesia) from Jakarta to Amsterdam with stopovers in Singapore, Bangkok, Bombay (now Mumbai), Karachi, Cairo, and Rome. On 28 May 1968, the Convair 990A jet airliner operating the flight crashed on climb-out after take-off from Santacruz Airport (now Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport) for the flight's Bombay to Karachi segment. The aircraft crashed at Bilalpada village near Nala Sopara, killing all 29 people on board and one person on the ground. The cause of the accident is unknown, but it is presumed to originate from misfuelling during the stopover in Bombay. It was the first fatal accident and the second hull loss of the Convair 990.[1]
Aircraft
[edit]
The aircraft involved in the accident was a Convair 990A jet airliner powered by four General Electric CJ805-23B turbofan engines with registration PK-GJA. The 1960-built aircraft had serial number 30-10-3 and was initially destined for American Airlines. Formerly used as a static experimental aircraft for Convair 990 type certification, the aircraft was converted to the Convair 990A variant afterwards.[2] The 99-seater passenger aircraft was named Pajajaran after the capital city of the Sunda Kingdom.[3][4] Garuda Indonesian Airways took delivery of the aircraft on 24 January 1964 as the last of three on order, with an airworthiness certificate valid through 30 January 1969.[5][6]
On 17 September 1966, the aircraft was involved in a ground incident at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, which resulted in a broken nose cone.[7] The aircraft was repaired and returned to service until it last logged on about 8,900 airframe hours.[6] The aircraft was also under Lloyd's of London insurance for US$5,000,000 (equivalent to US$43,808,612 in 2023).[8]
Flight history
[edit]Garuda Indonesian Airways Flight 892 arrived at Santacruz Airport in Bombay at 01:45 a.m. local time.[9] Having originated from Jakarta at 06:00 p.m. local time the previous evening with preceding stopovers in Singapore and Bangkok, the flight was part of the airline's Jakarta to Amsterdam milk run service with stopovers in Singapore, Bangkok, Bombay, Karachi, Cairo, and Rome.[6]
The stopover in Bombay was to offload and pick up passengers, change the operating crew, and refuel the aircraft before proceeding with the flight's next segment to Karachi. Eleven passengers were supposed to board the flight in Bombay, but a last-minute cancellation by five passengers reduced the number to six. The weather at Santacruz Airport was normal at the time of the flight's departure from Bombay, with 15 passengers and 14 crew on board.[9]
Accident
[edit]The aircraft took off from Santacruz Airport at 02:32 a.m. local time. Seven minutes later, the air traffic control at Santacruz Airport lost contact with the aircraft; no distress calls were received from the aircraft before the contact went lost.[10] The aircraft was then reported to have crashed about five minutes after the contact loss, with the approximate crash site location at 1.5 miles (1.3 nmi; 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's debris to carve a crater of 20 feet (6.1 m) deep at the crash site, while most of the aircraft's debris fell strewn over an area of three square miles (7.8 km2) wide.[9]
All 29 people on board the aircraft died in the accident. Seventeen people at Bilalpada village were injured, two of whom were serious. Three villagers had to get hospitalised; one 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 ablaze a stable, killing 19 buffaloes.[9]
Passengers and crew
[edit]Passengers
[edit]Garuda Indonesian Airways Flight 892 carried 15 passengers onboard the flight's Bombay to Karachi segment. Of the departure cities, six passengers boarded the flight in Jakarta, three in Bangkok, and six in Bombay. Of the destination cities, six passengers would 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.[9][12]
Among the six passengers from Indonesia was an official of Indonesia's National Atomic Energy Agency, whose husband was G. A. Siwabessy, the then-Indonesian Minister of Health.[13] An Indonesian Navy officer who also served as an adjutant for R. Soebijakto, First Deputy of Indonesia's Department of Defense and Security, was also on board.[14] The sole passenger from India was the then-president of the Institution of Engineers (India), who also served as the vice-president of the International Federation for Pre-stressed Concrete.[15] The sole passenger from Japan was a section chief at Dai-ichi Life.[16] In addition, the sole passenger from the Netherlands was a Dutch leader of the Moral Re-Armament.[9]
Crew
[edit]A total of 14 crew members, all from Indonesia, were on board the flight. Ten were the operating crew, consisting of four cockpit crew and six cabin crew, while the remaining four were deadheading crew. The cockpit crew members were pilot-in-command (PIC) Captain Abdul Rochim, co-pilot Captain Rudy Suhardono Harsono, Flight Navigator R. Henk Kusumo Asmoro, and Flight Engineer Slamet Djumadi.[17] The PIC joined Garuda Indonesian Airways upon graduating from Air Service Training in 1954 and had clocked 11,392 flight hours. The airline acknowledged that the PIC was transferred from his original flight assignment in order to be in command of Flight 892.[18] Of the cabin crew members, the chief purser was the youngest sibling of A. Y. Mokoginta, the then-Indonesian Ambassador to the United Arab Republic (now Egypt).[12][19]
All ten operating crew members boarded the flight in Bombay to replace the original operating crew, who had worked since the flight originated from Jakarta. Another change of the operating crew members for the flight was to take place in Cairo. Meanwhile, the four deadheading crew members boarded the flight in Jakarta and would remain on board until Karachi.[12][14]
Aftermath
[edit]The day following the accident, Garuda Indonesian Airways grounded the remaining two Convair 990A aircraft in its fleet and suspended the Jakarta to Amsterdam and vice versa milk run service.[10] 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 were relegated to fly on Indonesian domestic and Asian international routes until the airline phased out the type in 1973.[4]
The Government of Indonesia arranged the repatriation of all bodies of the Indonesian victims in the accident. Inside each coffin of the Indonesian victims, stones collected from the crash site were also placed.[13] Most of the occupant victims were buried in public cemeteries, while the wife of the health minister, the Navy officer, and nine of the 14 crew members were buried at Kalibata Heroes' Cemetery.[17]
Garuda Indonesian Airways stated that the compensation for next-of-kin of passenger victims would follow the amount set by the Warsaw Convention, which was US$8,300 (equivalent to US$72,722 in 2023) per passenger, with an additional Rp 50,000 (equivalent to Rp4,492,747 in 2007) insurance for next-of-kin of Indonesian passengers originating from Jakarta.[8] For the next-of-kin of the Indian passenger, a Bombay High Court report noted the airline also paid ₹50,000 (equivalent to ₹438,086 in 2023) under India's 1934 Air Carriage Act.[20]
In 1969, the Institution of Engineers (India) established an engineering paper memorial prize named after the late president.[21] A year later, an Indonesian orchid breeder registered a new Dendrobium hybridisation named after the late wife of the health minister.[13]
Investigation
[edit]In the hours after the accident, representatives from the Indian Directorate General of Civil Aviation visited the crash site and conducted a preliminary investigation.[9] A joint team from Indonesia, which included representatives from the Indonesian Directorate of Civil Aviation and Garuda Indonesian Airways, was also despatched to Bombay to join the investigation.[12] Led by Karno Barkah of the Indonesian Directorate of Civil Aviation, the team arrived in Bombay the following day.[10]
The cause of the accident remains unknown to date, although there was a court of inquiry to determine it. The court of inquiry was chaired by Y. S. Tambe, a retired Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court, with accredited representatives from the governments of India, Indonesia, and the United States, and the accident report reportedly was expected in January 1970.[22] The aircraft's flight recorder, the search for which began after the arrival of the Indonesian team in Bombay and ended less than a month later, has also never been found.[10][23][24]
However, a source citing the investigation noted that the jet airliner was presumed to have been refuelled with avgas instead of kerosene-based avtur during the stopover in Bombay. The misfuelling was alleged to have caused all of the aircraft's four engines to suffer a partial or total failure during the climb-out, causing the pilots to lose control of the aircraft. The aircraft then entered a nosedive until it crashed in an almost vertical attitude.[1][25]
See also
[edit]
References
[edit]- ^ a b Ranter, Harro. "Accident Convair CV-990-30A-5 Coronado PK-GJA". Aviation Safety Network. Archived from the original on 31 July 2021. Retrieved 5 July 2021.
- ^ "990 Withstands Stress Of Lengthy Load Test". Convairiety (Fort Worth Edition). Vol. 14, no. 16. 2 August 1961. p. 3.
- ^ Almanak Sumatera (in Indonesian). Komando Antar Daerah Sumatera. 1969. p. 517. Archived from the original on 29 July 2023. Retrieved 31 January 2022 – via Google Books.
- ^ a b Sumbodo, Sudiro (15 April 2018). Stroud, Nick (ed.). "The Convair 990 and Garuda Indonesian Airways". The Aviation Historian. No. 23. pp. 69, 74. ISSN 2051-1930. OCLC 1035942238.
- ^ Proctor, Jon (1996). Convair 880 & 990. Great Airliners Series (1st ed.). World Transport Press. pp. 64, 87, 112. ISBN 0-9626730-4-8.
- ^ a b c "Pesawat GIA Convair 990 djatuh dekat Bombay". Berita Yudha (in Indonesian). No. 105. 29 May 1968. pp. 1–2 – via National Library of Indonesia.
- ^ Pijper, Jans (17 September 1966). Politierapport nr. 964: Rapport Verkeersongeval PK-GJA en KLM-34 (Report) (in Dutch). N.V. Luchthaven Schiphol, Korps Orde en Veiligheid – via Herman Dekker.
- ^ a b "Djenazah2 Korban Garuda Berangsur2 Dibawa Pulang". Angkatan Bersendjata (in Indonesian). No. 890. 30 May 1968. pp. 1, 3 – via National Library of Indonesia.
- ^ a b c d e f g "29 killed in plane crash near Bombay". The Indian Express. Vol. 36, no. 168. 29 May 1968. pp. 1, 5. Archived from the original on 28 May 2023. Retrieved 31 October 2021 – via Google News Archive.
- ^ a b c d "Garuda aircraft grounded". The Indian Express. Vol. 36, no. 169. 30 May 1968. p. 3. Archived from the original on 6 April 2023. Retrieved 5 March 2022 – via Google News Archive.
- ^ "Air Crash of Indonesian Garuda Airlines Jet Plane". Lok Sabha Debates (Fifth Session) (PDF). 4. Vol. 18. Lok Sabha. 26 July 1968. pp. 1808-1809 (73-74). Archived (PDF) from the original on 6 April 2023. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
- ^ a b c d "Pesawat GIA Convair 990 djatuh dekat Bombay". Bulletin Djembatan Kawanua (in Indonesian). Vol. 50. Kawanua. 1 June 1968. p. 43 (595). Archived from the original on 29 July 2023. Retrieved 31 October 2021 – via Google Books.
- ^ a b c Isnaeni, Hendri F. (6 April 2019). "Kecelakaan Pesawat Garuda di Mumbai India". Historia (in Indonesian). Archived from the original on 4 November 2021. Retrieved 31 October 2021.
- ^ a b "Kisah2 Sedih Garuda Maut". Suara Merdeka (in Indonesian). No. 89. Kompas. 31 May 1968. p. 3.
- ^ "Antia - A Question Answered" (PDF). Welsh Highland Heritage. No. 49. September 2010. p. 3. ISSN 1462-1371. Archived (PDF) from the original on 27 December 2022. Retrieved 23 December 2022.
- ^ "29 Die in Crash Of Garuda Plane". The Japan Times. Kyodo News. 29 May 1968. p. 4.
- ^ a b "Hening-haru & isak-tangis". Berita Yudha (in Indonesian). No. 115. 10 June 1968. pp. 1–2 – via National Library of Indonesia.
- ^ "Pesan Terachir Capt. Penerbang Rochim". Berita Yudha (in Indonesian). No. 111. 5 June 1968. p. 2 – via National Library of Indonesia.
- ^ Mokodenseho, Sabil (2020). Sisi Lain Gerakan Sarekat Islam di Sulawesi Utara Periode 1920-1950 (in Indonesian). Jakad Media Publishing. p. 141. ISBN 978-623-6551-48-6. Archived from the original on 2 October 2023. Retrieved 30 September 2023 – via Google Books.
- ^ Chandurkar, J. (27 July 1982). Smt. Amy F. Antia v. Asst. Controller Of Estate Duty, Bombay (Report). Bombay High Court.
- ^ "IEI Activities: Prizes and Awards - The K F Antia Memorial Prize". Institution of Engineers (India). Archived from the original on 3 June 2023. Retrieved 30 September 2023.
- ^ "Garuda crash report by Jan." The Indian Express. Vol. 38, no. 13. 29 November 1969. p. 13. Archived from the original on 6 April 2023. Retrieved 23 February 2022 – via Google News Archive.
- ^ "Kilasan Kawat Sedunia (Bombay)". Kompas (in Indonesian). 19 June 1968. p. 2 – via National Library of Indonesia.
- ^ Courtney, Geoff (2 July 2018). "Surprise Donation Marks Untimely Death Of Brilliant Railway Engineer". Heritage Railway. Archived from the original on 16 May 2022. Retrieved 30 September 2023.
- ^ Hubert, Ronan. "Crash of a Convair CV-990-30A-5 near Bombay: 30 killed". Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Archives. Archived from the original on 9 July 2021. Retrieved 5 July 2021.