Garuda Indonesia Flight 152

Garuda Indonesia Flight 152

A Garuda Indonesia Airbus A300 similar to the aircraft involved in the accident.
Accident summary
Date	September 26, 1997
Summary	Controlled flight into terrain caused by ATC error
Site	Near Pancur Batu, Deli Serdang, North Sumatra, Indonesia 03°15′53″N 098°40′48″E / 3.26472°N 98.68000°E / 3.26472; 98.68000Coordinates: 03°15′53″N 098°40′48″E / 3.26472°N 98.68000°E / 3.26472; 98.68000
Passengers	222
Crew	12
Fatalities	234 (all)
Survivors	0
Aircraft type	Airbus A300B4-220
Operator	Garuda Indonesia
Registration	PK-GAI
Flight origin	Soekarno-Hatta Int'l Airport, Jakarta, Indonesia
Destination	Polonia International Airport, Medan, North Sumatra, Indonesia

Garuda Indonesia Flight 152 was a scheduled domestic Indonesian passenger flight from Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Jakarta to Polonia International Airport in Medan, North Sumatra, flown using an Airbus A300B4 registered PK-GAI and operated Garuda Indonesia.

On September 26, 1997, Flight 152, piloted by Hance Rahmowiyogo, 42, a pilot with over 20 years of flying experience at Garuda Indonesia and more than 12,000 flying hours, crashed into mountainous woodlands 30 miles (48 km) from Medan during low visibility caused by the 1997 Southeast Asian haze. All 234 passengers and crew were killed in the disaster. The crash site was in a ravine near the village of Buah Nabar in the Sibolangit district south of Medan.

Flight 152 remains the deadliest single-plane crash in Indonesia, and the deadliest aviation accident in 1997.

At approximately 1pm, air traffic controllers in Medan cleared flight 152 for an ILS approach into Runway 5 from its current 316 degree heading, and the crew was instructed to turn left heading 240 degrees to intercept the ILS beacon. 120 seconds prior to impact, the crew was asked to turn left further, to 215 degrees, and descend to 1500 feet, 500 feet below the approved altitude for the procedure. At 1.30pm, ATC directed the flight to turn right heading 045 to line up for arrival into runway 5, and asked the crew to report which direction the plane was travelling. Air traffic controllers then became confused as to which plane they were talking to, as Merpati Flight 152 was also in the area at the time. This confusion led to the controllers' failure to notice that the Garuda plane was flying dangerously low in a hilly area, and the pilots could not see the hills due to the 1997 Southeast Asian Haze.

The crew confirmed they had initiated the right turn towards Runway 5 after they were asked to. Shortly after this, the pilots screamed "Allahu Akbar!" (translation: God is great) as the mountain in front came into view. Seconds later, the plane slammed into the mountainous woodlands about 1,150 feet high, near the village of Pancur Batu, broke apart and burst into flames, killing all 234 passengers and crew on board instantly. According to eyewitnesses, flight 152 hit the mountain on a heading of approximately 220 degrees, with its left wing low, supporting the theory that the pilots had in fact not deviated from their assigned route.