Merpati Nusantara Airlines Flight 8968

Merpati Nusantara Airlines Flight 8968

A Merpati Nusantara Airlines Xian MA60, similar to the aircraft involved in the accident
Accident summary
Date	7 May 2011
Summary	Failure to use checklists, pilot error, inexperienced pilots
Site	Off the coast of West Papua, Indonesia on visual approach to Kaimana Airport 3°37′52″S 133°41′51″E / 3.63111°S 133.69750°E / -3.63111; 133.69750Coordinates: 3°37′52″S 133°41′51″E / 3.63111°S 133.69750°E / -3.63111; 133.69750
Passengers	19
Crew	6
Fatalities	25 (all)
Survivors	0
Aircraft type	Xian MA60
Operator	Merpati Nusantara Airlines
Registration	PK-MZK
Flight origin	Sorong Airport, West Papua, Indonesia
Destination	Kaimana Airport, West Papua, Indonesia

Merpati Nusantara Airlines Flight 8968 was a passenger flight which crashed off the coast of West Papua, Indonesia, on 7 May 2011. The aircraft involved, a Chinese-built Xian MA60, was operating Merpati Nusantara Airlines' scheduled domestic service from Domine Eduard Osok Airport to Utarom Airport, both in West Papua. It crashed into the sea in heavy rain, while on approach to Kaimana, about 500 metres (1,600 ft) before the runway.

All 25 people on board the aircraft perished. The crash was the deadliest crash in 2011 in Indonesia and the first crash of a Xi'an MA60 involving fatalities. The wreckage was found to be submerged and broke into few pieces. The accident site was about 800 meters south west of the beginning of runway 01 or 550 meters from the coastline. Most of the wreckages were submerged in the shallow sea between 7 down to 15 meter deep.

The final report, published by Indonesian investigator NTSC, concluded that the crash was caused due to pilot error. The evidence indicates that during the final segment of the flight, both crew member were looking outside the aircraft to sight the runway. During this period the flight path of the aircraft varied between 376 and 585 feet and the bank angle increased from 11 to 38 degree to the left. The rate of descent then increased significantly up to about 3000 feet per minute and finally the aircraft impacted into the sea.

The aircraft involved, an Xian MA-60 registered PK-MZK, had entered service in October 2010, and had flown for a total of 615 hours at the time of the incident. The accident flight was part of series of flights scheduled for crew and aircraft which started from Jayapura to Nabire (Flight 8234), Nabire to Kaimana and Sorong (Flight 8967), Sorong to Kaimana and Nabire (Flight 8968), and finally from Nabire to Biak (Flight 8019).

The time of departure for the accident flight was from Sorong to Kaimana at 12:45 P.M and estimated arrival at 13:54 P.M with the Second in Command (SIC) as Pilot Flying (PF) and the Pilot in Command (PIC) as Pilot Monitoring (PM). The aircraft dispatch release from Sorong indicated that the flight was planned under the Instrument Flight Rules (IFR). The destination, Kaimana, had no published instrument approach procedure. Terminal area operations, including approach and landing, were required to be conducted under the Visual Flight Rules (VFR).