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1971 Merpati Nusantara Airlines Vickers Viscount crash

10 Nov 1971 · Off Padang, West Sumatra, Indonesia

Vickers Viscount 828 · Controlled flight into terrain

From Kemayoran Airport, Jakarta, Indonesia to Tabing Airport, Padang, Indonesia

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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
69 · all aircraft and ground
Ground fatalities
Unknown
Occupants
69
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

Vickers Viscount 828

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-MVS
Onboard fatalities
69
Route
From Kemayoran Airport, Jakarta, IndonesiaTo Tabing Airport, Padang, Indonesia

Not plotted · Not plotted: the Wikipedia article gives no coordinates, and its site names no town or airport that matches exactly.

From the Wikipedia article

On 10 November 1971, a Merpati Nusantara Airlines Vickers Viscount, registration PK-MVS, crashed in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Padang, West Sumatra, Indonesia, after telling air traffic controllers they could not make their destination due to bad weather. All 69 people aboard the aircraft were killed in the crash.

It remains the third worst Vickers Viscount accident.

Accident

The aircraft was flying between Kemayoran Airport in Jakarta, and Tabing Airport, the then airport of Padang. Five minutes before it was scheduled to arrive at Tabing, air traffic controllers lost radio contact with the flight. Controllers at Talang Betutu Airport, Palembang, South Sumatra, reported the aircraft issued a distress signal. The flight crew reportedly said they could not land at Padang because of poor weather and bad visibility. The aircraft subsequently crashed into the Indian Ocean, killing all 62 passengers and seven crew aboard the aircraft.

Text from the Wikipedia article “1971 Merpati Nusantara Airlines Vickers Viscount crash” (revision 1339317338, 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: 1971 Merpati Nusantara Airlines Vickers Viscount crash
Article
1971 Merpati Nusantara Airlines Vickers Viscount crash
Revision
1339317338 · 2026-02-19 · retrieved 2026-09-18
Wikidata
Q4574525
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 "1971 Merpati Nusantara Airlines Vickers Viscount crash" (page 30270101, revision 1339317338)
Date
Wikipedia infobox: date
Place and country
Wikipedia infobox: site
Map position
none
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.