A Sukhoi Sukhoi Superjet 100-95, registration RA-97004 performing a demonstration flight from Jakarta Halim Perdanakusuma Airport to Jakarta Halim Perdanakusuma Airport (Indonesia) with 37 passengers, 6 crew and 2 Sukhoi officials, was enroute near Mount Salak and Bogor about 36nm south of Jakarta about 30 minutes into the flight when the radio contact with the aircraft was lost between 14:21L and 14:33L (07:21Z to 07:33Z). The aircraft did not turn up at Jakarta or any other airport in the area. The aircraft wreckage was found by a helicopter the following morning (May 10th) at about 09:15L (02:15Z) on the slopes of Mount Salak at an elevation of about 5300 feet MSL. On May 11th around 14:00L (07:00Z) rescuers reached the crash site and subsequently recovered all 45 bodies.
Rescue and Recovery teams are currently on their way to the crash site. First attempts to reach the crash site, including attempts to set rescuers down by helicopters, have failed so far (May 10th 17:45L) due to the extremely steep terrain rising at up to 85 degrees. About 450 rescue personnel are currently moving towards the crash site on the ground but did not reach the site before darkness. At this time (May 10th 17:45L/10:45Z) no rescuer has yet reached the site, the status of the occupants on board of the aircraft is still unknown. The rescue operation has been suspended for the night May 10 to 11th.
The coordinator of the rescue operation said, that the aircraft appeared relatively intact from the air however has received substantial damage after leaving a trail away from the crater down the slope, there was no sign of survivors from the air. Rescue teams are currently on the ground about 1km from the crash site, the terrain being difficult to reach the wreckage.
The Air Force said the aircraft impacted the edge of a cliff (top of the cliff at 6250 feet MSL) about 1.7 nm from Cijeruk. Approximate final position of the aircraft is S6.7102 E106.7447 (initially reported as S6.7045 E106.7373 but updated on May 11th taking the crash site from the western to the eastern cliff).
Indonesian Authorities reported the aircraft was enroute at 10,000 feet near Mount Salak when at about 15:30L (08:30Z) the crew requested and was cleared to descend to 6,000 feet. This proved to be the last radio transmission. Radar contact was lost when the aircraft was in a right hand turn descending through 6,200 feet between Mount Salak and Mount Gede at approximate position S6.72 E106.72. The aircraft was flying clockwise around Mount Salak at that time. A search operation has been initiated and is mounting, first search flights on May 9th did not yet found any trace of the aircraft. Search on the ground is under way, a first team has departed for Mount Salak in the evening, a second ground team is expected to depart on May 10th early morning, more than 600 ground personnel have been deployed by sunrise May 10th.
In the evening of May 10th Police reported a total of 1353 rescue personnel are currently working to reach the aircraft and evacuate the occupants of the aircraft, which has to happen on the ground with the use of ladders. Access to the crash site from the air is not possible. Four rescue teams have been formed, each of which needs about 7 hours to climb to the wreckage. The first team of 10 people has already reached the site and was near the wreckage, but has not yet entered the wreckage. A second team of 75 people is due to arrive any time, a third team of 225 people departed during the night to May 11th and a fourth team of 250 people is going to depart at 05:00L May 11th.
In the morning of May 11th a first team reached the top of the cliff and is now descending on ropes towards the crash site.
On May 11th early afternoon Indonesia's President and rescuers announced in a press conference that 12 bodies have been discovered.
The discovered 12 bodies were recovered and flown out on May 11th, the recovery was subsequently suspended for the night at nightfall.
On May 12th Indonesia's Transport Minister said the black boxes have not yet been recovered, the search for them is under way.
On May 12th the chief of the disaster victim identification team reported identification of the bodys recovered so far began, 16 body bags have arrived at the hospital so far, the bodies are not intact. DNA testing will be needed to identify the victims. Russia pledged to send a DNA expert team to Indonesia to assist identification. DNA samples have been taken from the families.
By May 13th 21 body bags had been delivered to the hospital, where identification is going to be performed. 3 of the body bags however contained belongings of occupants of the aircraft, 18 of the bags contained human remains.
By May 15th 27 bodies have been taken to the hospital for identification.
On May 16th the cockpit voice recorder was recovered and taken to Jakarta, where the recorder is being examined and opened. Russia and Indonesia agree that analysis of the data should take place in Indonesia, the necessary tools if necessary will be brought to Indonesia. The search for the flight data recorder is still underway.
On May 24th 2012 Indonesia's Ministry of Transport reported that the bodies of all 45 occupants of the aircraft have been identified, the remains are now being handed over to the relatives. Sukhoi is going to pay out compensation to the victims in accordance with Indonesia's regulations.
On May 24th Russia's Rosaviatsia (Civil Aviation Authority) released a report dated May 22nd stating that a descent from the mountaineous area's minimum safe altitude of 10,000 feet to 6,000 feet had been pre-arranged. The flight was continued at 6,000 feet until the aircraft impacted a slope rising up to 7254 feet MSL. The investigation is ongoing in all directions with a controlled flight into terrain (CFIT) being a likely scenario. Rosaviatsia reported that CFIT accidents typically are the result of one or more of the following factors:
- Execution of flight below safe altitude as result of deliberate action of the crew or loss of situational awareness
- Lack of response by the crew to (GPWS/TAWS) alerts of terrain closure
- Clearance by ATC to descend in mountaineous terrain in absence of accurate position data
- Erroneous altitude indications due to incorrect pressure setting or system malfunction.
Sukhoi reported the aircraft registration RA-97004 (MSN 95004) was piloted by a very experienced crew that also flew the first prototype of the aircraft, the commander had more than 10,000 hours total. The crew did not report any anomaly and did not issue a distress call prior to the aircraft disappearing. The aircraft had already concluded another demonstration flight earlier the day. The accident aircraft had accumulated 800 flight hours in more than 500 cycles, there had been no serious technical problems since its first flight in 2009.
Sukhoi later added, that based on preliminary analysis of the cockpit voice recorder data a paper was signed by both Indonesia's National Transportation Safety Committee and Russia's Interstate Aviation Committee (MAK) investigation the crash. The paper stated that no system malfunctions were detected prior to impact, the aircraft's Terrain Awareness and Warning System (TAWS) was operating and provided the crew with information about hazardeous ground proximity.
Indonesia's Ministry of Transport quoted the Director of Civil Aviation stating that the crew had requested to descend from 10,000 feet to 6,000 feet. Contact with the aircraft was lost between 14:21L and 14:33L (07:21Z to 07:33Z). The aircraft was later located on Mount Salak. The aircraft type has not been grounded, flights can continue with the Superjet 100. The area around Borok was chosen for the demonstration flight because of lack of other flights in the area. Weather data from Indonesia's "Badan Meteorologi, Klimatologi dan Geofisika" (Institute for Meteorology, Climate and Geophysics) do not suggest the weather was below visual meteorologic conditions, however there is possibility of local cloud at Mount Salak that may have restricted the view of the crew. The occurrence is being investigated by Indonesia's National Transportation Safety Committee (NTSC). The Transport Minister called for all sides to wait for the results of the investigation by the NTSC. The Minister also stated that the ministry will not block the purchase of a total of 42 Superjet 100s by two Indonesian Airlines.
On May 28th the Ministry of Transport stated that each of the demo flights was scheduled to take 30 minutes flying from Halim Perdanakusuma Airport to Pelabuhan Ratu and back at 10,000 feet. The Ministry also released a time line of the flight stating, that the aircraft took off Halim Perdanakusuma Airport's runway 06 at 14:21L and climbed to 10,000 feet. The aircraft subsequently established on radial 200 of the HLM VOR (located on Halim Perdanakusuma Airport) and was handed off to Soekarno Hatta Airport's air traffic control at 14:24L. At 14:26L the crew requested and was cleared to descend to 6000 feet, at 14:28L the crew requested a right orbit in the training area Atang Sanjaya (about 3nm north of Bogor). At 14:52L ATC contacted Soekarno Hatta Airport after the aircraft was no longer visible on the radar screen, at 14:55L ATC reported to the ATS coordinator because of the loss of the target. An uncertainty phase followed, at 16:05L ATC contacted Search and Rescue, at 16:55L the alert phase (ALERFA) was invoked and at 18:22L distress phase (DESTRESFA) was invoked after the aircraft's fuel would have run out.
On May 31st Indonesia's NTSC and Russia's MAK presented the just recovered flight data recorder in a press conference.
Indonesia's Air Traffic Control, Jakarta Branch, reported, that communication between ATC and aircraft was done in English, there was no language problem hampering communication. The aircraft had been in the area of Bogor, approximate coordinates S6.55 E106.9, about 13nm north of the peak of Mount Salak and 7nm clear of mountaineous terrain in safe flat area, when the crew requested to descend from 10,000 to 6,000 feet and to perform a right orbit. As there was no reason to decline such a clearance the flight was cleared down and for the right orbit. This was the last transmissioon from the aircraft, the aircraft could not be reached afterwards. It is unclear how the aircraft got into the area of Mount Salak and crashed afterwards, ATC services hope the black boxes will explain how the aircraft got there. All data including flight plan, radar data and ATC recordings as well as transcripts of interviews with the air traffic controller have been handed to Indonesia's NTSC.
Mount Salak is 2,211 meters/7254 feet high, nearby Mount Gede is 2,958 meters/9,705 feet high.
At 14:30L and 15:30L the local weatherstation in Bogor reported visibility at 9000 meters (increasing to 10000 meters in the next reading at 16:30L), temperature at 31 degrees C, dew point at 25 degrees C, humidity 70% and winds arund 5 knots from northeast, no precipitation. In the morning the weatherstation had reported low visibility around about 2000 meters.
The chairman of Indonesia's NTSC (center) and Russian Investigator of MAK (left) present the burnt flight data recorder
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