Site Sam Ratulangi Airport Crew 8 | Passengers 84 Fatalities 22 | |
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Date 16 February 1967 (1967-02-16) Summary Pilot error, Bad weather | ||
Garuda Indonesia Airways Flight 708 was a scheduled passenger flight on 16 February 1967 which crashed upon landing at Sam Ratulangi Airport, Manado, North Sulawesi, Indonesia. 22 of the 84 passengers on board were killed. All eight crew members survived.
Flight
Flight 708 departed Jakarta for a flight to Manado via Surabaya and Makassar. On the second leg of the flight bad weather at Makassar forced the crew to return to Surabaya. The flight continued the next day to Makassar and on to Manado. The weather at Manado was cloud base at 900 feet and 2 km visibility. An approach to runway 18 was made, but after passing a hill 200 feet above runway elevation and 2720 feet short of the threshold, the pilot realized he was too high and left of the centerline. The nose was lowered and the aircraft banked right to intercept the glide path. The speed decreased below the 125 knots target threshold speed and the aircraft, still banked to the right, landed heavily 156 feet short of the runway threshold. The undercarriage collapsed and the aircraft skidded and caught fire.
The probable cause of the accident was determined to be an awkward landing technique resulting in an excessive rate of sink on touchdown. Among the contributing factors were the uneven pavement of the runway and marginal weather at time of the landing.