1971 Indian Ocean Vickers Viscount crash

1971 Indian Ocean Vickers Viscount crash
Accident summary
A Vickers Viscount, similar to the aircraft involved in the accident
Date	10 November 1971
Site	Off Padang, Sumatra, Indonesia
Passengers	62
Crew	7
Fatalities	69 (all)
Survivors	0
Aircraft type	Vickers Viscount
Operator	Merpati Nusantara Airlines
Registration	PK-MVS
Flight origin	Kemayoran Airport, Jakarta, Indonesia
Destination	Tabing Airport, Padang, Indonesia

On 10 November 1971, a Merpati Nusantara Airlines Vickers Viscount, registration PK-MVS, crashed in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Padang, 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.

At the time, the accident was the worst in the history of Indonesia; it is today the ninth worst aviation accident in Indonesian history. It remains the third worst Vickers Viscount accident.^[1]

Accident

The aircraft was flying between Kemayoran Airport in Jakarta, Indonesia, and Tabing Airport, the former airport of Padang, Indonesia.^[1] Five minutes before it was scheduled to arrive at Padang, air traffic controllers lost radio contact with the flight.^[2] Controllers at Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin II Airport, Palembang, Sumatra, reported the aircraft issued a distress signal from the aircraft. The flight crew reportedly said they could not land at Padang because of poor weather and bad visibility.^[3] The aircraft subsequently crashed into the Indian Ocean,^[4] killing all 62 passengers and seven crew aboard the aircraft.^[1]

Passengers and crew

All the passengers aboard the aircraft were Indonesian nationals, except for a German doctor and his wife, and a British helicopter pilot who was employed in Indonesia. Eight children were also aboard the flight.^[2]

Nationality^[2]	Fatalities		Total^[2]
Nationality^[2]	Passengers^[2]	Crew^[2]	Total^[2]
Indonesia	59	7	66
Germany	2	0	2
Great Britain	1	0	1
Total	62	7	69

Aftermath

Three days after the accident pieces of the wreckage were found floating 75 miles off Sumatra, Indonesia. Fisherman found seats of the aircraft between the Beringin and Katang-Katang islands. An Indonesian Navy boat also recovered clothes and uninflated life rafts.^[2]

References

1 2 3 "Accident description". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 1 January 2011.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Plane Wreckage Found in Ocean". Newspaper Archive. 13 November 1971. Retrieved 1 January 2011.
↑ Associated Press (11 November 1971). "Airliner Lost With 69 Aboard". The Press-Courier. Retrieved 1 January 2011.
↑ "Turbo-prop feared lost, 69 on board". The Windsor Star. 11 November 1971. Retrieved 1 January 2011.

External links

← 1970
Aviation accidents and incidents in 1971 (1971)
1972 →

Jan 22 Surgut Aeroflot Antonov An-12 crash
Jan 30 Indian Airlines hijacking
Jan 31 Surgut Aeroflot Antonov An-12 crash
May 23 Aviogenex Flight 130
May 28 Colorado Aviation Aero Commander 680
Jun 6 Hughes Airwest Flight 706
Jun 7 Allegheny Airlines Flight 485
Jul 3 Toa Domestic Airlines Flight 63
Jul 30 All Nippon Airways Flight 58
Jul 30 Pan Am Flight 845
Sep 4 Alaska Airlines Flight 1866
Sep 6 Paninternational Flight 112
Oct 2 British European Airways Flight 706
Nov 9 Livorno RAF Hercules crash
Nov 10 Indian Ocean Vickers Viscount crash
Nov 24 D. B. Cooper hijacking
Dec 24 LANSA Flight 508

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