Deadly Demonstration | First Crash in the History of Sukhoi Superjet 100 | Salak Mountain Indonesia

9 May, 2012.
Superjet 100 with 97004 board number is doing demonstration flight for prospective clients. By then, it was the third Superjet manufactured by Sukhoi. The captain is a very experienced 57 year old test pilot Alexander Yablontsev. A 44 year old first officer Alexander Kochetkov is next to him. They are accompanied by an Indonesian pilot, representing a prospective buyer. The first flight they made on that day was finished without any complications. They took off from Jakarta airport and successfully returned back shortly after. The task for the second flight was exactly the same: to climb 10 000 feet, then fly for 20 miles and return back. At 2.20pm the aircraft takes off from the Halim Perdanakusuma airport and shortly after, crew gets in touch with traffic control to inform that they reached required altitude of exactly 10 000 feet.

Traffic controller then adds them to the database, but as a military jet fighter SU-30. Once he types the first two letters "SU", the system automatically hints him of SU-30, which doesn't raise any questions, because SU-30s are part of the Indonesian Air Force, and fly in this region very often. He basically thought that the jet fighter is on its way to the nearby piloting zone Bogor.

Traffic controller shifts its attention to other planes in the area, thinking that there is no need to attentively monitor a military board. There are 14 other planes in the area that the traffic controller is responsible for, and the pressure on him is building up to extreme.

20 miles of the flight, the crew prepares for return leg, requesting TC for permission to descend to 6000 feet. Although the permission is granted, minimum allowed altitude in the region is 6900, meaning that formally crew must not make such requests, whilst TC should not give permission for this.

Dispatch allows this, thinking that he's dealing with a military aircraft, that doesn't require constant monitoring. Crew, on the other hand, doesn't have enough space to descend for landing. To go lower, crew requests for permission to go in circles, and make a so called Orbit, that will allow to descend to an approach altitude. The irony of the matter is that in the process of orbiting and 3 min prior to crash, captain decides to demonstrate the TAWS system, whose job is to warn of ground proximity.

At this moment, the nose of the plane is pointing towards the flats, and TAFS states that all is well, whilst Indonesian pilots also confirms that they are above flat lands. After completing a circle, crew is still waiting for permission to return back to the airport.

Radio communication between TC and other planes literally doesn't stop, making it difficult to stick a word in. Indonesian pilot on board starts asking questions about the planes characteristics, and captain answers them, juggling first officer actions and approach preparation, all at the same time. The aircraft finishes the orbit and leaves the permitted flight area, not having time to make the right turn, the way it was originally planned.

It is now the Salak mountain not far ahead, that is to the right of them. Captain makes a turn directly towards it, and TAWS alarm goes into the red alert mode, bypassing the yellow stage. It signals of the terrain ahead, ordering the pilots to pull up, then repeats this call 6 times more, adding the Avoid Terrain message.

The captain, on the other hand, is assured by the local pilot that they are above flat lands, and knows that they were granted to descend. He takes the TAWS messages as erroneous, thinking that wrong location data has been put it, and it is the reason why it jumped right to red alert.

Another alarm states that gears are not in landing position, as the plane knows, that they are quickly approaching land. Unfortunately, captain has already made the decision.
At an altitude of 6000 feet and horizontal flight, the aircraft crashes into the mountain, taking lives of all 45 people who were on board.

Jakarta Post newspaper calls Salak "The Aircraft Graveyard". Just within the last 10 years, 7 other planes crashed into it. As a result of investigation, a mix of factors was defined as cause of the disaster. First of all, crew didn't take into account the mountainous region specifics and ignored alerts.

Secondly, traffic control allowed them to fly into restricted area, and to descend below permitted altitude. At the same time, captain was distracted by the Indonesian pilot. The maps of the region they had, weren't detailed enough, plus the on-ground aircraft proximity alert system was switched off this day.

Music: Whitesand - Dreamland
Music Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXB_OzMglk4

Music: Ross Bugden - Flight Hymn
Music Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCr0bsng60Y

Music: Whitesand - Fireflies
Music Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knnNhkjmEHI

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