page_title: Garuda Indonesia Flight 152
section_title: Accident
hierarchical_section_title: Garuda Indonesia Flight 152 / Accident
caption_attribution_description: English: The flight path of Flight 152 with excerpts of the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) transcript. The full CVR transcript can be found in appendix B of the report.
context_page_description: Garuda Indonesia Flight 152 was a scheduled domestic Indonesian passenger flight from Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Jakarta to Polonia International Airport in Medan, North Sumatra, operated by Garuda Indonesia using an Airbus A300B4 registered PK-GAI.
  On 26 September 1997, Flight 152, on final approach into Polonia International Airport, crashed into mountainous woodlands 30 miles from Medan during low visibility caused by the 1997 Southeast Asian haze. All 222 passengers and 12 crew were killed. The crash site was in a ravine near the village of Buah Nabar in the Sibolangit district south of Medan. With 234 fatalities, it is the deadliest airline disaster in Indonesia's history. It is also the fourth-deadliest aviation disaster involving an Airbus A300, after China Airlines Flight 140, American Airlines Flight 587, and Iran Air Flight 655.
context_section_description: At approximately 1:00pm, air traffic controllers in Medan cleared Flight 152 for an ILS approach into Runway 05 from its current 316 degree heading. The crew, led by Captain Hance Rachmo Wiyogo, 41, a pilot with over 20 years of flying experience at Garuda Indonesia and more than 12,000 flying hours, and First Officer Tata Zuwaldi, also 41, a former flight engineer who recently upgraded to pilot, was instructed to turn left heading 240 degrees to intercept the ILS localizer. 120 seconds prior to impact, the crew was asked to turn left further, to 215 degrees, and descend to 2000 feet. At 1:30pm, Medan directed the flight to turn right heading 046 degrees to line up for arrival into Runway 05, and asked the crew to report the direction in which the plane was travelling. Air traffic controllers then became confused as to which plane they were talking to, as another flight with the same number (Merpati Nusantara Airlines Flight 152) was also in the area at the time.
  Earlier in the day, another Flight 152, Merpati Nusantara Airlines Flight 152, was handled by the same air traffic controller. This led to the controller mistakenly saying "Merpati one five two turn left heading 240 to intercept runway zero five from the right side"; as the wrong call sign was used, the Garuda pilots had no need to absorb these instructions. The controller, on not receiving a response, queried the pilots to get their attention, this time using the correct call sign,  "Indonesia 152". The controller then repeated most of his instructions, specifically failing to repeat that the flight would be making its approach on the south side of the runway, or right side. The pilots believed they were flying the approach on the north side of the airport, which reflected the information on the approach chart the pilots were using. Thus, when the pilots were instructed to turn right to a heading of 046 maintaining 2,000 ft to capture the localizer for the ILS to Runway 05, out of habit – or possibly due to the detailed approach chart – the captain initiated a left turn to a heading of 046. The First Officer was distracted during the turn and did not notice for a while that the aircraft was turning left. When he did notice, he told the captain he was turning the wrong way, and the captain questioned the controller over which way they needed to turn, to which the controller confirmed they were to turn right. A confusing conversation took place over which way to turn, with the controller not having a clear picture of what the flight was doing, due to being unaware that he had left out some critical instructions after his "Merpati 152" mistake and due to the Medan radar system having a refresh time of 12 seconds.
  Without a constant up-to-date view over the flight's heading, the controller thought the plane was continuing left, when it was actually turning right and over high terrain. During this time the flight descended through 2,000 ft due to the captain inputting the wrong altitude of 1,500 ft. The pilots did not notice this due to the poor visibility from the 1997 Southeast Asian haze. Five seconds prior to initial impact with the treetops, the First Officer made a comment about the airplane's altitude. The FDR recorded increases in pitch and engine power, likely commanded by the crew in an effort to correct their altitude. Shortly before the recording ended, the cockpit voice recorder registered the sound of the plane striking trees, followed by shouting from the pilots. The aircraft crashed into high terrain 45 km from the Runway 05 threshold, 18 km to the south of the center line. The aircraft hit the ground at 1:34 p.m., right wing low, turning towards the airport in the process at a heading of 311 degrees and an altitude of 1,510 ft MSL. All 234 people on board died.
caption: The flight path of Flight 152 with excerpts of the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) transcript
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