Adam Air Flight #574 Crash Investigation -- #English

Air Crash Investigation: Adam Air
Adam Air flight 574
· Adam Air Flight 574
Dated January 1, 2007 (2007-01)
· Type: Pilot error / inertial navigation system damage
· Site off: Majene Makassar Strait, Sulawesi, Indonesia. Black box at 03 ° 41'02 "E 118 ° 08'53 S" / 3.68389 ° S 118.14806 ° E / -3.68389; 118.14806 and 03 ° 40'22 "S 118 ° 09'16 "E / 3.67278 ° S 118.15444 ° E / -3.67278; 118.15444
· Capacity: 96
· Crew: 6
· Deaths: 102 (all)
· Victims: 0 (none)
· Aircraft type: Boeing 737-4Q8
· Operator: Adam Air
· Number plane: PK-KKW
· Flight Origin: Juanda International Airport
· Airport: Sam Ratulangi Objectives

Adam Air Flight 574 (KI-574) were passengers of domestic flights operated by Adam Air between the cities of Indonesia Surabaya (SUB) and Manado (MDC) lost near Polewali in Sulawesi on January 1, 2007. The plane, a Boeing 737-4Q8 a finally determined to fall into the sea, from a few small pieces of wreckage have been found. Flight recorders ("black box") is lifted from the sea on August 28, 2007, while rescue efforts for some of the larger piece of the wreckage continues dilanjutan. All 102 passengers died. This is the highest mortality rate of any aviation accident involving a Boeing 737-400. A national investigation be launched into the disaster, expressed some concerns about the airline's overall maintenance, including a large number of aircraft. Another possibility raised by the family of a deceased is that the accident was due to a faulty steering valve, which is known to have caused accidents and incidents before the Boeing 737. The location of the debris has indicated that the aircraft was probably hit the ocean intact. The final report, released on March 25, 2008, concluded that the pilot lost control of the aircraft after they become preoccupied with the problem of inertial reference system and accidentally decided autopilot.


Boeing 737-4Q8 aircraft, registered PK-KKW, created in 1990. Prior to service with the Adam Air plane was flying over the seven other airlines: Dan-Air, British Airways, GB Airways, National Jets Italy, WFBN, Air One, and Jat Airways, carrying four different registration numbers, including the PK-KKW. The plane flew 45 371 hours and evaluated and declared airworthy by the Department of Transportation Indonesia on December 25, 2005.

On January 1, 2007, at 12:55 local time (05:55 UTC), the aircraft departed from Juanda Airport, Surabaya, with 96 passengers (85 adults, 7 children and 4 infants) and six crew members. Passenger list consists mainly of citizens of Indonesia, strangers there is only an American family of three. Two-hour flight, scheduled to arrive at Sam Ratulangi Airport, Manado, at 16: 00 local time, the plane disappeared from radar screens of air traffic control in Makassar, South Sulawesi, with the last contact at 14:53 local time (06:53 UTC) . Last known position of the signal detected by a Singapore satellite's altitude is shown as 35,000 feet (10 670 m) on the radar screen.

Weather in the area is quite bad. Indonesia Meteorological and Geophysical Bureau noted that the thickness of the clouds up to 30,000 feet (9140 m) in height and average wind speed of 30 knots (56 km / h). Although Juanda Airport operator, PT Angkasa Pura I, has given warning to the pilot about the weather, the plane still left on schedule. The plane hit the crosswinds of more than 70 knots (130 km / h) over the Makassar Strait, west of Sulawesi, where it turns east toward the ground before losing contact. In the last radio transmission, the pilot reported crosswinds from the left, but the air traffic control that the wind should come from the right. It is not known whether this is significant to the accident, but may indicate a navigational error, or an emergency turn-around the aircraft.

Contrary to initial reports, there is no call for help sent by the aircraft. Initial reports indicate that the plane had been found in the mountains of Sulawesi, about 20 kilometers (12 miles) from Polewali town and that there were 12 victims. But the team found no sign of wreckage at the accident site reported. On January 2, 2007, Minister of Indonesia said that the transportation safety of the aircraft has not been found and reports to the contrary are based on a false rumor of the local villagers passed on to local officials.


On the day Monday, January 8, three large metal object, believed to be the ruins, was detected by sonar vessel KRI Fatahillah's Indonesia. First Admiral Gatot Subyanto Navy Indonesia showed three sites, between 3-6 km (2-4 miles) apart, from the west coast town of Mamuju in Sulawesi. Due to the limitations of naval sonar equipment, it is not clear what it is metal, and Indonesia do not have other equipment itself. U.S. Navy ship, the USNS Mary Sears, arrived in the area on January 9, with better equipment to help identify the object, and on the same jet Canada with five separate air crews, who work in shifts, was sent to assist the mapping of air the location of the suspect. Indonesia and the Marine. Ministry of Fisheries recommends that metallic objects can not be deployed tool to study the underwater ocean currents. Amount of twelve Indonesian Navy ships deployed in the region, including the KRI Invite, KRI KRI Leuser and Nala. Extra underwater equipment, including metal detectors and underwater cameras, shipped from the United States, and arrived on board the USNS Mary Sears on January 17. The black box is then to be somewhere else, in the waters in an area. known as Majene, and search, the broad sweep of the area shows a high amount of debris scattered in there as well. debris was analyzed to confirm it's 737.

The aircraft's right horizontal stabilizer was found by a fisherman, to the south Pare Pare, about 300 meters (984 feet) off the coast on January 11. Initially, the fisherman thought that temuanya it is part of the plywood, but then he realized it was the tail. This is confirmed by the serial number on the stabilizer, 65 25 746 C 76, which matches the component in the 737 missing. Fishermen receive a prize of 50 million rupiah (equivalent to about $ 5,500) for his discovery. Later, other parts of the aircraft, including passenger seats, life jackets, food trays, parts of aircraft tires, eight pieces of aluminum and fiber, ID cards, flares and a backrest also been found in the area. On January 13, a piece of the wing were also found. It is unclear whether the object along the 1.5 meter (4.9 feet) is part of the right wing or left wing.

On January 21, the flight data recorder (FDR) and cockpit voice recorder (CVR), or better known as black boxes, which lies off the coast of West Sulawesi was discovered by the U.S. ship Mary Sears. Flight data recorder is located at 03 ° 41'02 "S 118 ° 08'53" E / 3.68389 ° S 118.14806 ° E / -3.68389; 118.14806 at a depth of 2,000 meters (6600 feet), while the recorder cockpit voice situated in 03 ° 40 '22 "S 118 ° 09'16" E / 3.67278 ° S 118.15444 ° E / -3.67278; 118.15444 at a depth of 1,900 meters (6200 feet). This position suggests that a separate black box about 1.4 km (0.9 miles). Indonesia Fatahillah ship went to the scene, while Mary Sears traveled to Singapore, arriving on January 29 to return the equipment used to locate the detector.


On 26 January, held a meeting and the government of Indonesia Adam Air-making process regarding the black box. Because of the depth involved, their extraction requires a remotely operated vehicle underwater, but because of the cost recovery method, mainly because such equipment is required to be sent from other places, the government put the responsibility for recovering the cost of recording the Adam Air.


On May 28, Adam Air announced that it has signed a contract with Phoenix International, with the original plan for the recovery occurred in June. On August 23, EAS arriving at the port of Makassar, Sulawesi, to begin the retrieval operation, which began with a survey a few days. The ship carrying a mini submarine that can dive to 6,000 meters (20,000 feet), and is equipped with sonar and deep-sea camera.

Black boxes were sent to Washington for analysis, there are fears that the investigation could fail because the data damage caused by long immersion. The final cost of the rescue operation to retrieve the black box is U.S. $ 3 million, two million donated by the government of Indonesia, with Adam Air to pay the rest.

A team from the United States with representatives from the National Transportation Safety Board, Federal Aviation Administration, Boeing and General Electric were sent to Indonesia to assist the Indonesian National Committee for Transportation in the investigation. Patrick Smith, an airline based pilot and aviation commentator. has said that "What happened to the plane, it was likely rapid and catastrophic," he said, and that there was an explosion on-board or metal fatigue caused by structural failure is the most likely cause of the accident.

On March 25, 2008, the investigation determined that pilot error and faulty navigation equipment was the cause of the crash. While at 35,000 feet (10 668 m), the pilot was busy with the problem of two aircraft inertial reference systems (IRS), part of the navigation system. Becomes disconnected the autopilot and the pilot failed to correct a slow right roll even after the bank angle, the alarm sounds. Although the bank angle reaches 100 ° to nearly 60 ° nose down, the pilot did not boost the wings before attempting to regain control of pitch. the aircraft reached 490 knots at the end of the tape, which exceeds the maximum rated speed of the aircraft to dive (400 knots). This aircraft suffered structural failure 20 seconds before the end of the tape.