1979 Garuda Indonesian Airways Fokker F28 crash
Fokker F28 Mk-1000 · Controlled flight into terrain
From Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin II Airport (PLM) to Soewondo Air Force Base (MES)
Event
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- Event fatalities
- 61 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- 61
- Survivors
- 0
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- Unknown
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- Airline
Fokker F28 Mk-1000
- Aircraft type
- Fokker F28
- Category
- Airplane · from aircraft type
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- PK-GVE
- Operator
- Garuda Indonesian Airways
- Onboard fatalities
- 61
- Route
- From Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin II Airport (PLM)To Soewondo Air Force Base (MES)
Approximate · Coordinates from the Wikipedia article; not checked against an investigation report.
From the Wikipedia article
On 11 July 1979, a Garuda Indonesian Airways Fokker F28 airliner on a domestic flight in Indonesia from Talang Betutu Airport, Palembang, to Polonia International Airport (now Soewondo Air Force Base), Medan, struck Mount Sibayak at 5560 ft on approach to landing, with no survivors.
Accident
The aircraft, operating with an unknown flight number, had departed Palembang 80 minutes earlier and had been cleared for an approach to runway 05 at Medan Airport. The aircraft was asked to report passing the nondirectional beacon (NDB) "ON" at 2500 ft. The pilot then reported he was maintaining a height of 9300 ft as the NDB was unreliable. The approach controller then asked them to maintain that height until after they had passed the NDB. The pilot then reported they were at 6000 ft. The aircraft struck the 7200 ft volcano Mount Sibayak at 5560 ft.
Investigation and cause
Investigation
By afternoon the following day, Roesmin Noerjadin said that although a member of the search and rescue team had said that they had found the aircraft's cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder, it hadn't been confirmed by their experts. On 14 July, he stated that bad weather and low clouds were probably the cause of the crash.
Text from the Wikipedia article “1979 Garuda Indonesian Airways Fokker F28 crash” (revision 1355378641, retrieved 2026-09-18) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out. Read the article
Sources
Wikipedia article: 1979 Garuda Indonesian Airways Fokker F28 crash
- Revision
- 1355378641 · 2026-05-21 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q4578702
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
Where each value comes from
- Record
- Wikipedia article "1979 Garuda Indonesian Airways Fokker F28 crash" (page 15542987, revision 1355378641)
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- Wikipedia article coordinates
- Aircraft, operator and route
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
- Operation
- operator named as an airline in the infobox
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (1)
- Wikipedia · Facts from the Wikipedia article's infobox and coordinates, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.