1980 Bouraq Indonesia Airlines accident

An accident involving Bouraq Indonesia occurred on 26 August 1980 with a Vickers 812 Viscount that had been leased by the Taiwanese Far Eastern Air Transport to the Indonesian Bouraq Indonesia Airlines. In the accident, which occurred on an Indonesian domestic flight from Banjarmasin to Jakarta-Kemayoran Airport, all 37 people on board were killed. The crash was caused by an extreme exceedance of the service limit of a wear part.

Flight history

The aircraft was operating a domestic flight from Banjarmasin to Jakarta. 31 passengers had boarded the flight. The six-member crew consisted of a captain, a first officer, a flight engineer and three flight attendants.

Accident sequence

The aircraft was approaching the Indonesian island of Java and was already on approach to Jakarta when the crew declared an emergency at 06:04 local time. The pilots reported extreme flutter of the aircraft. Air traffic control asked the pilots of a Fokker F28 flying nearby to close up to the Viscount so that the Fokker's pilots could look for any damage to the Vickers. At 06:28 the pilots of the F28 noted that there was a problem with the right elevator and that the aircraft was dropping to the left. After the right elevator of the Viscount broke off, a loss of control occurred. The aircraft struck the ground inverted with the aircraft's nose pointing 25 degrees downward. All 37 people on board were killed.

Cause of the accident

The cause of the accident was determined to be inadequate maintenance. The centring pin of the right Flettner tab on the elevator had fractured. It was considered a wear part and was designed for only 12,000 operating hours, but had never been replaced. With a service life of 33,000 operating hours, the maintenance interval had thus been exceeded by 21,000 operating hours.