Martinair Flight 138

Martinair Flight 138 was a charter flight of Martinair from Surabaya to Jeddah with a stopover in Colombo. On 4 December 1974, the Douglas DC-8 operating the flight crashed into a mountain shortly before landing, killing all 191 people aboard – 182 passengers, all of whom were Indonesian Hajj pilgrims, and nine crew members. The crash remains the deadliest in Sri Lankan aviation history and the third-deadliest involving a DC-8, after Arrow Air Flight 1285R and Nigeria Airways Flight 2120. At the time of the crash, it was the second-deadliest aviation accident in history, after the crash of Turkish Airlines Flight 981 which occurred earlier that same year.

Flight 138 departed Surabaya for Jeddah via Colombo at approximately 12.03 UTC. At around 16.30 UTC air traffic control in Colombo cleared the flight. At 16.38 UTC another air traffic controller is said to have intervened, cleared the flight down to 5,000 ft and reported clearing to 8,000 ft. Colombo approach then cleared the flight down to 2,000 ft at 16.44 and told the flight to expect a runway 04 approach. The crew aboard Flight 138 were then asked to report when the airport was in sight. The crew then continued their descent until the aircraft crashed into Saptha Kanya mountain range at an altitude of approximately 4,355 ft and at around 40 nmi east of Colombo.

Events leading to the accident

The aircraft took off from Juanda International Airport in Surabaya at approximately 12:03 UTC (19:03 local) for a flight to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, with a stopover at Bandaranaike International Airport in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The aircraft contacted Katunayaka approach control at around 16:16 UTC (21:30 local) indicating that they were 130 mi away and so approach reported the weather conditions and requested the aircraft to change over to Colombo area control for a descent clearance.

The aircraft then descended from 35,000 ft and was handed back over to approach control. Approach control then cleared the aircraft down to 2,000 ft and the flight crew was required to report back if they sighted the airfield or if their position was overhead the 'Katunayake Non-Directional Beacon'. This message was acknowledged by the crew but there was no further communication with the aircraft. Eyewitnesses stated that the plane was flying at a level below normal and there was no evidence of a fire on board and all the engines sounded normal with no malfunctions evident. The sound of the aircraft exploding on impact was heard clearly by residents close to the site of the crash.

It was later discovered that the aircraft had crashed into the fifth mountain.

Repeated attempts to make contact with the aircraft from approach control met with no success and in consultation with Colombo area control the distress phase was initiated. Search and rescue operations began subsequently. The country of registry of the aircraft (The Netherlands) and the country of manufacture (USA) were informed. Indonesia was also informed of the accident as many of the passengers were nationals of that country.