2015 Sumatra Indonesian Air Force C-130 crash

On 30 June 2015, a Lockheed KC-130B Hercules (registration number A-1310) operated by the Indonesian Air Force with 12 crew and 110 passengers on board, crashed near a residential neighbourhood shortly after taking off from Medan, Indonesia, going to Tanjung Pinang. All 122 people on board were killed, along with 17 people on the ground.

At the time of the crash, the aircraft was transporting military personnel and their families, and possibly some civilian passengers.

Shortly after the crash, the Chief of Staff of the Indonesian Air Force grounded their entire C-130 fleet for inspection at Abdul Rachman Saleh Airport, from which the aircraft involved originated.

Accident

The aircraft took off at 12:08 pm (05:08 UTC) from Soewondo Air Force Base, after refuelling and taking on passengers. It crashed near Djamin Ginting Road in Medan about two minutes later. The crash site was approximately 5 km from the base. According to the Chief of Staff of the Indonesian Air Force, air chief marshal Agus Supriana, before crashing, the pilot had requested permission to return to base.

According to eyewitnesses and Indonesian media, after the pilot indicated the aircraft would return to base, it drastically rolled to the right. An eyewitness reported that after the aircraft rolled, it then clipped a radio tower belonging to Joy FM, dived toward the ground, and then exploded. After it dived, multiple explosions were heard from as far as 1 km away. The aircraft became inverted, and the nose clipped the Golden Eleven Hotel. It then struck three other buildings, one of which was a crowded massage parlour, at a nearly perpendicular angle. It finally exploded in what onlookers described as "a hell-like scene", with bodies ejected onto the street.

It was the deadliest C-130 Hercules crash in Indonesian history, surpassing the 1991 Hercules crash in East Jakarta, the third-deadliest air disaster in the province of North Sumatra, after Garuda Indonesia Flight 152 and Mandala Airlines Flight 091, and the second air disaster in Indonesia within six months, after Indonesia AirAsia Flight 8501 in December 2014. The crash site was located only 2 km away from the previous crash site of Mandala Airlines Flight 091, which also crashed minutes after takeoff.

Crash site

The crash occurred in a crowded residential neighbourhood in Medan, Indonesia's third-largest city. The aircraft took off from Soewondo Air Force Base, formerly Polonia airport. Polonia had been the city's main commercial airport until it was replaced by Kualanamu International Airport in 2013, partly due to concerns arising from its proximity to urban areas (2 km from the city centre). Soewondo now serves as the headquarters of the Air Force's Western Surveillance Wing.

Moments after the crash, onlookers began searching through the wreckage for survivors. Thousands of local residents attempted to approach the site. Crowds attempted to bring hoses to the site, while soldiers also aided in the search. At least four people survived the initial impact and were later admitted to the nearest hospital for serious burn injuries. These were later confirmed as "survivors on the ground", not passengers or crew. All 122 people on board the aircraft died in the accident.