Adam Air Flight 574: lost in flight

On 1^st January 2007, Adam Air Flight 574, a Boeing 737-4Q8, went missing halfway between Surabaya and Manado. The plane was eventually found somewhere in Polewali, Celebes Island, Indonesia. Although the crew had to fight extreme turbulence during the flight, poor maintenance, poor training and reckless management were also highlighted as contributory issues to the accident.

This accident, together with a further incident suffered by Flight 721, led the European Union to include Adam Air in the list of carriers banned from flying into the EU. In time, it also led the Indonesian government to suspend Adam Air's license to operate.

Aviation crash video

Part 1 of 5

On 1st January 2007, Adam Air Flight 574 took off from Surabaya (Indonesia) with 96 passengers and 6 crew onboard. The flight was a domestic one, destination Manado, 17,000 miles away. It was the beginning of the rainy season, and severe storms had been forecasted. Take-off was normal. However, less than 1/2 hour later, at 35,000 feet, ATC noticed that the flight was off-course and heading towards a violent storm. The pilots tried to locate their position and fix the apparent problems with the navigational system. ATC also tried to put the flight on course, but, in so doing, directed the pilots into the thunderstorm. The pilots soon grew concerned with the weather and the navigational system, and were, in practice, disorientated about their location. The captain, having lost trust on the navigational system, tried to isolate it from the autopilot.

(Video embedded from YouTube on 14 November 2011 -see Cineflix, undated1)

Part 2 of 5

As the captain isolated the navigational system, the autopilot disconnected altogether. Soon after, the instrument panel went blank. The combination of disorientation, overwhelming confusion, lack of instrumentation, stress, etc, the aircraft, unbeknownst to both pilots, started to roll dangerously. The pilots only noticed the banking when the appropriate warning came off. The captain called for the navigational system to be re-engaged. At this stage, the aircraft was also entering a steep descent. Soon after, and without warning, the aircraft dissapeared from ATC radar, somewhere midway to its destination.

Footnotes

1. Also known as Lost in space.

2. Also aired as Air crash investigation, or Mayday.

References

1. CINEFLIX (undated). The plane that vanished.¹ New air crash investigations² (Montreal, Canada), undated. Retrieved from YouTube on 14 November 2011.

Want to know more?

Wikipedia - Adam Air Flight 574

This page in Wikipedia offers more detailed information about the occurrence.

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Contributors to this page

Authors / Editors

BlueSpirit
JDPerezgonzalez