Crash of a Vickers 812 Viscount near Karawang: 37 killed
Date & Time:
Aug 26, 1980 at 0629 LT
Operator:
Registration:
PK-IVS
Survivors:
No
Schedule:
Banjarmasin - Jakarta
MSN:
353
YOM:
1958
Crew on board:
6
Crew fatalities:
Pax on board:
31
Pax fatalities:
Other fatalities:
Total fatalities:
37
Aircraft flight hours:
33000
Aircraft flight cycles:
17947
Circumstances:
While descending to Jakarta-Kemayoran Airport, the crew send a distress call and reported the aircraft was unstable. Shortly later, the airplane banked left then entered a dive and crashed in an open field located in the region of Karawang, about 26 km east of Jakarta. Debris were scattered 2 km wide and all 37 occupants were killed.
Probable cause:
The cause of this accident was the in-flight fracture of a spigot in the elevator tab circuit. This part had exceeded the 12,000 flight hours retirement life by 21,000 hrs resulting in a total life of 33,000 hrs. As this figure is higher than the total airframe hours flown by the aircraft it means that the part that failed must have been transferred from another aircraft at some point which was an opportunity to notice that the fatigue life had already been exceeded.
