Passengers 18 Survivors 0 Number of deaths 24 Passenger count 18 | Fatalities 24 Date 6 April 2009 Survivor 0 Crew count 6 | |
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Summary Hit hangar on landing due to suspected lightning strike Site Husein Sastranegara International Airport, Bandung, West Java, Indonesia, Aircraft type Fokker F27-400M Troopship Similar Mimika Air Flight 514, Merpati Nusantara Airlines Fl, 2009 Aéro‑Frêt Antonov, 2009 Yakutia Ilyushin Il, 2009 Gabonese Eurocopt | ||
In the 2009 Indonesian Air Force Bandung F27 crash, twenty-four people were killed when a Fokker F27-400M Troopship, owned by Tentara Nasional Indonesia-AU (Indonesian Air Force), crashed into a hangar at Husein Sastranegara International Airport, Bandung, West Java, Indonesia, on 6 April 2009. The aircraft was carrying 18 soldiers (parachuters) and 6 air crews when it crash. Witnesses stated that a lightning struck the aircraft before the crash. This was the third crash involving an aircraft from the Indonesian National Army. On 9 April, a helicopter and a CASA aircraft crashed in Riau.
Contents
Flight
The aircraft took off on 08:40 WIB from Halim Perdanakusuma Airport in Jakarta. The aircraft later landed in Husein Sastranegara International Airport in Bandung on 09:00. Two sessions of parachute jumps from the aircraft were planned. The first session occurred at 09:30 for 17 parachutists, all jumped safely. The remaining 18 parachutists were still in the aircraft for the second session at 12:36. However, the flight crew was aware that the weather in the airport were deteriorating, deciding to return to base. This was confirmed by the tower which cleared the aircraft to return to base.
The aircraft was hit by lightning, nose dived and crashed into the hangar, killing everyone on board. Rescue teams found that all of the victims has suffered extreme injuries, making identification difficult.
Because the incident occurred at lunch time, the hangar was relatively empty and no ground-crew were injured or killed in the accident. However, the F27 impacted several aircraft inside the hangar, including a Deraya Air NC- 212-200 and a Boeing 737 belonged to Batavia Air, seriously damaging both; an Adam Air Boeing 737 and Indonesian Aerospace CN235 didn't suffer any serious damage.
Investigation
Shortly after the crash, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono called the head of the Indonesian National Army Djoko Santoso. He asked for a report to the crash that killed the 24 people on board the aircraft. To the President, Djoko suspected that the possible cause of the crash was due to bad weather, as several witnesses stated that the weather was in adverse condition. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono ordered a thorough investigation to be conducted immediately after the crash. He later sent his deepest condolences to the victims of the crash.