SilkAir Flight 185

SilkAir Flight 185 was a scheduled international passenger flight operated by a Boeing 737-300 from Soekarno–Hatta International Airport in Jakarta, Indonesia to Changi Airport in Singapore that crashed into the Musi River near Palembang, Sumatra, on 19 December 1997, killing all 97 passengers and 7 crew members on board.

The investigation into the cause of the crash was led by investigators from the National Transportation Safety Committee (NTSC), who were joined by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). The NTSB, which participated in the investigation due to Boeing's manufacture of the aircraft in the US, investigated the crash under lead investigator Greg Feith.

The cause of the crash remains disputed and contentious. In its final report, the NTSC stated that there was "no concrete evidence" to support the pilot suicide hypothesis, while the manufacturer had already determined the suspected Parker-Hannifin hydraulic power control unit (PCU) to be defect-free. Ultimately, the NTSC concluded that the evidence was insufficient to determine a cause. Conversely, the NTSB submitted a letter concluding that the crash was the result of deliberate flight-control inputs, which were "most likely by the captain."

Flight

Carrying 97 passengers and a crew of seven, the Boeing 737 departed Jakarta's Soekarno–Hatta International Airport's runway 25R at 15:37 local time (08:37 UTC) for an 80-minute flight to Singapore's Changi Airport. At the controls were Captain Tsu Way Ming (41) of Singapore, a former A-4 Skyhawk pilot, and First Officer Duncan Ward (23) of New Zealand. Generally fair weather was expected for the route, except for some thunderstorms near Singkep Island, 120 km south of Singapore.

The aircraft was cleared to climb to flight level 350, about 35000 ft, and to head directly to Palembang. At 15:47:06, while climbing through 24500 ft, the crew requested clearance to proceed directly to waypoint PARDI. At 15:53, the crew reported reaching the cruise altitude of FL350 and was cleared to proceed directly to PARDI, and to report abeam Palembang. The cockpit voice recorder (CVR) ceased recording at 16:05. At 16:10, air traffic controllers informed the flight that it was abeam Palembang, and instructed the aircraft to maintain FL350 and to contact Singapore Control upon reaching PARDI. First Officer Ward acknowledged this call. At 16:11, nearly 6 minutes after the CVR ceased recording, the flight data recorder (FDR) also stopped recording.

Flight 185 remained level at FL350 until it started a rapid and nearly vertical dive around 16:12. While descending through 12000 ft, parts of the aircraft, including a great extent of the tail section, started to separate from the aircraft's fuselage due to high forces arising from the nearly supersonic dive. About 1 minute later, the aircraft hit the Musi River, near Palembang, Sumatra, killing all 104 people on board. The time it took the aircraft to dive from cruise altitude into the river was less than one minute. The plane was travelling faster than the speed of sound for a few seconds before impact. Parts of the wreckage were embedded 15 ft into the riverbed.

The aircraft broke into pieces before impact, with the debris spread over a wide area, though most of the wreckage was concentrated in a single 60 by 80 m area at the river bottom. No complete body, body part, or limb was found, as the entire aircraft and occupants disintegrated upon impact. Only six positive identifications were later obtained from the few recovered human remains.