1971 Indian Ocean Vickers Viscount crash

1971 Indian Ocean Vickers Viscount crash
A Vickers Viscount, similar to the aircraft involved in the accident
Accident
Date 10 November 1971
Summary Controlled flight into terrain
Site Off Padang, Sumatra, Indonesia
Aircraft
Aircraft type Vickers Viscount 828
Aircraft name Sabang
Operator Merpati Nusantara Airlines
Registration PK-MVS
Flight origin Kemayoran Airport, Jakarta, Indonesia
Destination Tabing Airport, Padang, Indonesia
Passengers 62
Crew 7
Fatalities 69 (all)
Survivors 0

On 10 November 1971, a Merpati Nusantara Airlines Vickers Viscount, registration PK-MVS, crashed in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Padang, Sumatra, Indonesia, after telling air traffic controllers they could not make their destination due to bad weather. All 69 people aboard the aircraft were killed in the crash.

At the time, the accident was the worst in the history of Indonesia; it is today the ninth worst aviation accident in Indonesian history. It remains the third worst Vickers Viscount accident.[1]

Accident

The aircraft was flying between Kemayoran Airport in Jakarta, Indonesia, and Tabing Airport, the former airport of Padang, Indonesia.[1] Five minutes before it was scheduled to arrive at Padang, air traffic controllers lost radio contact with the flight.[2] Controllers at Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin II Airport, Palembang, Sumatra, reported the aircraft issued a distress signal. The flight crew reportedly said they could not land at Padang because of poor weather and bad visibility.[3] The aircraft subsequently crashed into the Indian Ocean,[4] killing all 62 passengers and seven crew aboard the aircraft.[1]

Passengers and crew

All the passengers aboard the aircraft were Indonesian nationals, except for a German doctor and his wife, and a British helicopter pilot who was employed in Indonesia. Eight children were also aboard the flight.[2]

Nationality[2] Fatalities Total[2]
Passengers[2] Crew[2]
 Indonesia 59 7 66
 Germany 2 0 2
 Great Britain 1 0 1
Total 62 7 69

Aftermath

Three days after the accident pieces of the wreckage were found floating 75 miles off Sumatra, Indonesia. Fisherman found seats of the aircraft between the Beringin and Katang-Katang islands. An Indonesian Navy boat also recovered clothes and uninflated life rafts.[2]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Accident description". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 1 January 2011.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Plane Wreckage Found in Ocean". Newspaper Archive. 13 November 1971. Retrieved 1 January 2011.
  3. ↑ Associated Press (11 November 1971). "Airliner Lost With 69 Aboard". The Press-Courier. Retrieved 1 January 2011.
  4. ↑ "Turbo-prop feared lost, 69 on board". The Windsor Star. 11 November 1971. Retrieved 1 January 2011.
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