Merpati Nusantara Airlines Flight 5601
1992 aviation accident
Merpati Nusantara Airlines Flight 5601 (MNA5601/MZ5601) was a domestic scheduled passenger flight from Semarang to Bandung, Indonesia. On 18 October 1992, the two-year-old CASA/IPTN CN-235-10 was on approach to Bandung when it crashed into Mount Puntang, near Mount Papandayan, West Java, Indonesia at 1:30 pm in bad weather. The aircraft exploded on impact, killing all twenty-seven passengers and four crew on board.
The crash of flight 5601 was the first known fatal crash involving the CASA/IPTN CN235. To date, it remains as the worst ever civilian aviation disaster involving a CASA/IPTN CN-235. The National Transportation Safety Committee (NTSC) concluded that the cause of the crash was pilot error aggravated by adverse weather conditions.
Aircraft
The aircraft was a CASA/IPTN CN235, an aircraft made by a joint venture of Indonesia's IPTN and Spain's CASA. The aircraft was newly delivered to Merpati Nusantara Airlines, manufactured in 1990 with a manufacturing serial number of N.013. The technical logs indicated that the aircraft was in airworthy condition. The aircraft had been in service for more than 2,000 flight hours and was among the first CN235 aircraft to be operated in Indonesia.
Passengers and crew
The aircraft was carrying thirty-one passengers and crew, consisting of twenty-seven passengers and four crew members, all of whom were Indonesians.
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