AVIATION/ NTSC REPORTS ON 2009 AVIASTAR CRASH

The Indonesian National Transportation Safety Committee, NTSC, has released its final report into the crash of an AVIASTAR MANDIRI BAe146 on April 9, 2009, at Wamena, Indonesia, on April 9, 2009. On that date, the BAe146 was on Cargo Flight from Jayapura to Wamena, with 4 flight crew and 2 Flight Attendants onboard. According to witnesses, the aircraft approached Wamena's runway 15 and was low over the runway, when the crew performed a go-around. The aircraft remained at a low height while it turned and attempted to line up for a 2nd approach and landing. However, once again, the crew had to go-around. Shortly thereafter, the BAe146 impacted Pikei Hill on Tengah Mountain, killing all 6 crew members onboard. The NTSC's final report states that the crew did not have accurate awareness of how close to they were to the ground, until impact with the terrain was imminent. The report also faults the crew for not acting on the Ground Proximity Warning aural warnings, and did not perform according to published operating procedures. The report states that taken together, these 2 factors resulted in the aircraft's crash. The NTSC reports at the time of the crash visiblity was good, however the 2 Pilots may not have been wearning their required corrective lenses. The full report, with lengthy details on the aircraft approaches and events leading up to the crash, can be found on the NTSC website.