Adam Air Flight 574 Totally Explained

and | Fatalities = 102 | Origin = Juanda International Airport | Destination = Sam Ratulangi Airport | Aircraft Type= Boeing 737-4Q8 | Operator = Adam Air | Tail Number = PK-KKW | Passengers = 96 | Crew = 6 | Survivors = 0 }} Adam Air Flight 574 (KI-574) was a scheduled domestic passenger flight operated by Adam Air between Surabaya (SUB) and Manado (MDC) in Indonesia The plane, a Boeing 737-4Q8, was ultimately determined to have crashed into the ocean, from which some smaller pieces of wreckage have been recovered. The flight recorders ("black boxes") were retrieved from the ocean on August 28, 2007, while salvage efforts for some larger pieces of wreckage are continuing. All 102 people on board are missing and presumed dead.
A full national investigation was immediately launched into the disaster, uncovering multiple maintenance issues concerning the airline as a whole, including a large number concerning the aircraft. Another possibility proposed by the families of some of the deceased is that the crash was due to a faulty rudder valve, known to have caused previous accidents and incidents on Boeing 737s. Debris location has indicated that the plane likely struck the ocean intact.
The crash is one of several transportation accidents, including the subsequent non-fatal crash of Adam Air Flight 172, which between them have resulted in large-scale transport safety reforms in Indonesia, as well as the United States downgrading their safety rating of Indonesian aviation, and of the entire Indonesian fleet being added to the List of air carriers banned in the EU.

Aircraft

The aircraft, a Boeing 737-4Q8, registration PK-KKW, was manufactured in 1990. Prior to service with Adam Air, the plane had flown for seven other airlines, these being, in chronological order, Dan-Air, British Airways, GB Airways, National Jets Italy, WFBN, Air One and Jat Airways, carrying four different registration numbers, including PK-KKW. The plane had 45,371 flying hours and was last evaluated and declared airworthy by the Indonesian transport ministry on 25 December 2005. It was due to be checked again in late January 2007.

Flight chronology

On January 1 2007, at 12:55 local time (05:55 UTC), the plane departed from Juanda Airport, Surabaya, with 96 passengers (85 adults, 7 children and 4 infants) and six crew on board. The passenger list was composed mainly of Indonesian nationals; the only foreigners were an American family of three. The two-hour flight, scheduled to arrive at Sam Ratulangi Airport, Manado, at 16:00 local time, was as expected until the plane disappeared from air traffic control radar screens at Makassar, South Sulawesi, with the last contact at 14:53 local time (06:53 UTC). The last known beacon position was detected by a Singaporean satellite. Weather in the region was stormy; the Indonesian Bureau of Meteorology and Geophysics noted that the cloud thickness was up to 30,000 feet (9,140 m) in height and wind speed at an average of 30 knots (56 km/h) in the area. Although the Juanda Airport operator, PT Angkasa Pura I, had given warnings to the pilot concerning the weather condition, the plane had departed as scheduled. The plane ran into crosswinds of more than 70 knots (130 km/h) over the Makassar Strait where it changed course eastward toward land and then lost contact. In his last radio transmission, the pilot reported the crosswinds to be coming from the left, but air traffic control claimed that the winds should be coming from the right. It isn't yet known if this is significant to the accident, but it may indicate navigational error, or an emergency turn-around of the aircraft.
Contrary to early reports, no calls for help were sent by the aircraft. It might have been simply because the cockpit crew were too busy trying to cope with an emergency.

Search and rescue efforts

False reports of discovery

Initial reports indicated that the plane had been located in the mountainous region of Sulawesi around 20 kilometres (12 mi) from Polewali town and that there were 12 survivors. This led to the mobilization of an Indonesian Air Force plane carrying hundreds of search and rescue personnel. On January 2, 2007, the Indonesian transport minister confirmed that the plane hadn't yet been found and reports to the contrary were based on false rumors from local villagers passed on to local officers. It later turned out that the 12 reported survivors were actually from the MV Senopati Nusantara, which had sunk two days earlier during the same storm.

Continued efforts

A search and rescue team 3,600 members strong was mobilised. One Boeing 737-200 Surveiller (a military surveillance plane), two infrared-equipped Fokker-50 aircraft from the Republic of Singapore Air Force, a Navy Nomad plane and six helicopters were amongst many vehicles dispatched to aid searching for the missing plane from the air. These searched the sea for five days between January 3 and January 8, without success. Naval ships combed the Makassar Strait while military personnel went through jungles and mountains of Sulawesi. In the face of heavy rain and strong winds in the area, the search efforts, coordinated from Makassar city, were focused in the area between the coastal town of Majene and the mountainous region of Toraja. The two separate locations produced on radar screens were a spot on the sea in Majene and on land in Rantepao, Tana Toraja. Searches were then expanded throughout the Island of Sulawesi; some were triggered by unknown distress signals received by a commercial Lion Air flight and an airport.A police officer at the Barru district police operational centre said that all the districts with stretches of coastline along the Makasser Strait had teams searching for the plane. The head of the National Search and Rescue Agency told the Associated Press that he believed the aircraft was probably lost at sea. However, the rugged terrain coupled with thick and low hanging clouds continued to hamper the search efforts, and three relatives of missing passengers who overflew part of the area on a military reconnaissance plane admitted that the chances of finding the plane were slim. Officials said that it was unlikely any bodies have survived in one piece. On January 14, at Indonesia's request, Singapore sent four towed underwater locator beacon detectors, sometimes called 'Towed Pinger Locators', and six consultants in their use to aid in the search. By January 24, the Indonesian government had spent an average of Rp 1 billion (about U.S.$110,000) a day on the search.
On February 10, search operations were officially halted by the Search and Rescue Agency, according to Transportation Minister Hatta Rajasa, finalizing the legal status of both the plane and its passengers and crew. This announcement allowed the families of the victims to start the insurance claims process.

Discovery of wreckage

Unidentified submerged objects

On Monday, 8 January, three large metal objects, suspected to be wreckage, were detected by the Indonesian ship KRI Fatahillah's sonar. First Admiral Gatot Subyanto of the Indonesian Navy indicated three locations, between 3–6 km (2–4 miles) apart, off Mamuju city on Sulawesi's western coast. Due to limitations of the navy's sonar equipment, it wasn't clear what the metal was, A U.S. Navy ship, USNS Mary Sears, arrived in the area on January 9 with better equipment to help identify the objects, and on the same date a Canadian jet with five separate air crews, working in shifts, was sent to aid with aerial mapping of the suspected location. The Indonesian Marine and Fishery Department has since suggested that the metal objects could instead be instruments deployed to study the underwater sea current. Extra underwater equipment, including a metal detector and an undersea camera, was sent from the U.S., and arrived aboard the USNS Mary Sears on January 17. The |black boxes were subsequently located elsewhere, in the waters in an area known as Majene, and a wide, sweeping search of the area revealed high amounts of scattered debris there, too. This debris was analyzed to confirm it belongs to the 737.

Floating debris

The aircraft's right horizontal stabilizer was found by a fisherman, south of Pare Pare, about 300 metres (984 ft) off the beach on January 11, although it wasn't originally handed in as its discoverer thought it to be a piece of plywood, only later realizing it was a piece of the tail. The fisherman received a reward of 50 million rupiah (equivalent to about $5,500) for his discovery. By January 13, a piece of a wing was also recovered. On January 15, an unidentified fuel spill was spotted by the Singaporean reconnaissance aircraft along the western coast of Sulawesi, but by the time a ship arrived to attempt to determine whether the spill came from the aircraft it had been moved by strong currents. Although it was searched for, it wasn't relocated. Pieces of clothing thought to belong to passengers were also recovered,

Black boxes

On January 21, the flight data recorder (FDR) and cockpit voice recorder (CVR), colloquially called black boxes, were located off the coast of West Sulawesi by the U.S. vessel Mary Sears. These positions indicate the black boxes are located approximately 1.4 km (0.9 mi) apart. The Indonesian vessel Fatahillah travelled to the location, while Mary Sears traveled to Singapore, arriving on January 29 to return the detector equipment used to locate the devices. It didn't travel immediately to Singapore because it was mapping the immediate area. The Mary Sears used its side scan sonar (SSS) unit to map an area of approximately 10.3 km² (3 sq nmi) around the recorders in high resolution, an operation which required 18 passes across the area at approximately 3 kt (5.6 km/h), taking six hours per pass including lining up for the next pass. It discovered a large amount of wreckage in the area, which is now considered to be all that remains of the aircraft. The black boxes had a battery life of just 30 days, and were subsequently unable to emit locator signals.
On February 3, Indonesian Naval vessel KRI Tanjung Dalpele took affected families out to the crash site where a memorial service was held, which included throwing flowers into the sea.

Salvage

On January 26, a dispute arose between Adam Air and the Indonesian government regarding the retrieval of the black boxes. Due to the depth involved, recovery required an underwater remotely operated vehicle, but due to the cost of using this method of recovery — especially since such equipment required shipped in from elsewhere — the government placed the responsibility for the cost of recovering the recorders on Adam Air. Vice President of Indonesia Jusuf Kalla went as far as to question the need to retrieve the black boxes at all, although experts said in response that the accident was of international significance as it could indicate a fault with the aircraft. Indonesia did request technical assistance from the United States, Japan and France. Jim Hall, a former chairman of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, said that it was essential the boxes were recovered quickly, as at that point their 30-day battery life was about to expire, which it subsequently did. He cited problems such as poor visibility and strong currents making it difficult to recover the devices without the signal.
   On January 31 it was reported that the U.S. had to withdraw the vessel Mary Sears from the searches, the U.S. military saying that the vessel had other duties. Further funding and help from the U.S. would have to be approved by the Congress. At the same time external companies were suggested as possible retrievers of the black boxes. Indonesia continued to seek help from other countries, like France and Japan. Setio Rahardjo maintained that Adam Air should be charged with the retrieval costs.
   It was originally confirmed that Indonesia wouldn't pay for the salvage operation, neither could they force Adam Air to. On February 15, it was reported that Adam Air had been in contact with two salvage companies, Smit Internationale and Phoenix International, regarding the salvage operation. It was Phoenix who supplied the Mary Sears with the necessary equipment for the search operation. Adam Air received preliminary invoices and continued negotiations with the two companies. On August 23, the Eas arrived in Sulawesi's Makassar port to begin salvage operations, which will began with several days survey. The vessel was carrying a mini submarine that can dive up to 6,000 metres (20,000 ft), and is equipped with sonar and deep sea cameras.
   A Phoenix International underwater robot scouring the sea off Majene for on Sulawesi finally retrieved the Flight Data Recorder on August 27 and Cockpit Voice Recorder on August 28. The two devices were found at a depth of around 2,000 metres (6,500 ft) and were 1,400 metres apart. They had been moved 10–15 metres from their original locations by powerful underwater currents. The black boxes will be sent to Washington for analysis, which could take months, or even fail due to data destruction caused by the long submersion. The final cost of the salvage operation to retrieve the black boxes was US$3 million, of which two million was contributed by the Indonesian government, with Adam Air paying for the rest. Efforts are now continuing with the hope of recovering various large pieces of wreckage from the seabed.

Investigation

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono ordered a full investigation to discover the cause of the aircraft's disappearance, including the cause of any accident it may have had, before the main debris field had even been found. The investigation will also look at the airworthiness of the plane and standard procedure on airplane operations. A team from the United States with representatives from the National Transportation Safety Board, the Federal Aviation Administration, Boeing and General Electric were sent to Indonesia to assist the Indonesian National Committee for Transportation in the investigation. Patrick Smith, a U.S.-based airline pilot and aviation commentator, has said that "Whatever happened to the plane, it was likely rapid and catastrophic," and said that an on-board explosion or metal fatigue-induced structural failure were the most likely causes of the accident. The Indonesian KNKT, responsible for the investigation, said that even if the flight recorders are not retrieved they still intended to publish a final report complete with a probable cause, saying they'd other "facts and findings" that provide enough information to do so.

The specific aircraft

Investigators discovered that the aircraft was the subject of a large number of complaints by pilots - called write-ups in the aviation industry. The highest number of complaints concerned the captain's side vertical speed indicator, which informs the air crew of the speed at which the airplane is ascending or descending. A total of 48 complaints were made regarding the instrument in the three months prior to the crash. The aircraft's left right inertial reference system, which informs pilots what direction the aircraft is turning in, was complained about a total of thirty times. According to a lawyer for the families, speaking in a press conference along with the secretary for the Adam Air KI-574 Passengers' Families Association, formed in the aftermath of the disaster, 30 of the victim's families intend to sue Boeing over the accident instead of Adam Air. However, this doesn't necessarily mean that all of the others will sue Adam Air, as they may not necessarily exercise their right to sue at all. Representatives of the families have explained that they believe the plane was brought down by a faulty rudder control valve, similarly to the accidents involving SilkAir Flight 185, United Airlines Flight 585 and USAir Flight 427. They have explained that, as a result, they're suing Boeing and Parker Hannifin, the valve's manufacturer, although airlines using the 737 have been warned about problems with the rudder control valves.

Reaction

Political

Vice President Jusuf Kalla described the disappearance as an "international issue." A few days after the disappearance, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono set up the National Team for Transportation Safety and Security, partially as a response to the high number of recent transportational accidents in Indonesia, and partially as a direct response to the event. The team is tasked to evaluate thoroughly the transport safety procedures and review the existing regulations on transportation.

Adam Air

Adam Air has been accused by multiple organisations of poor maintenance and of ordering pilots to fly in all weather and regardless of aircraft conditions. Adam Adhitya Suherman, founder of the family-run airline, has personally denied these accusations, and has said that maintenance costs "up 40 percent of our total operational costs". Despite this denial of any responsibility for the crash, Adam Air has compensated the families of deceased passengers Rp 500 million (equivelent to about US$55,000 or €42,000) per passenger. It also compensated families of the flight crew.

Aftermath

Even though the accident remains under investigation, the Indonesian government announced plans immediately after the accident to ban jets over ten years of age for any commercial purpose. The age limit was previously 35 years or 70,000 landings. Although this is in response to a large number of aircraft accidents, it's mainly in response to this accident and the Flight 172 incident. Indonesia also announced that the Transportation Ministry would be reshuffled in response to this accident, Flight 172 and the loss of the ferries MV Senopati Nusantara and Levina 1. Among those replaced were the directors of air and sea transports and the chairman of the National Committee for Transportation Safety. Indonesia also introduced a new system of ranking airlines according to their safety record, with a level one ranking meaning the airline has no serious issues, a level two ranking meaning the airline must fix problems, and a level three rating forcing the airline to be shut down.
   On March 16, 2007, the Indonesian government announced plans to shut down an unspecified Indonesian air carrier. It was announced on March 22 that Adam Air was one of seven airlines that will have their licenses revoked within three months unless they could improve their safety standards. The other six airlines involved were Batavia Air, Jatayu Airlines, Kartika Airlines, Manunggal Air Services, Transwisata Prima Aviation and Tri-MG Intra Asia Airlines. All fifty-four of Indonesia's airlines, including state-owned Garuda Indonesia, were told they'd need to make some improvements, with none of them receiving a level one ranking.
   It was reported on June 28, 2007, that Adam Air would escape closure and has been upgraded one rank in safety rating, to the middle tier. The airlines that have lost their licenses are Jatayu Gelang Sejahtera, Aviasi Upataraksa, Alfa Trans Dirgantara and Prodexim and the airlines that have been grounded pending improvements and facing potential licence revokation are Germania Trisila Air, Atlas Delta Setia, Survey Udara Penas, Kura-kura Aviation and SMAC.
   On April 16, 2007, the American Federal Aviation Administration responded to the results of the new airline survey by downgrading Indonesia’s air safety oversight category from a 1 to a 2 because of "serious concerns" over safety. This means it views Indonesia's civil aviation authority as failing to oversee air carriers in accordance with minimum international standards. As a direct result, the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta issued a warning to all American citizens flying in or out of Indonesia to avoid using Indonesian airlines, and instead use international carriers with better safety reputations. This was followed on June 28, 2007 by the adition of all Indonesia's airlines, none of which flew to Europe at the time, to the List of air carriers banned in the EU. Budhi Mulyawan Suyitno, Director-general of civil aviation at the Indonesian transport ministry, responded by saying that he felt Indonesia had made the improvements required by the EU.

Flight 172

On February 21 2007, just 51 days after the loss of Flight 574, Flight 172, an Adam Air Boeing 737-300 aircraft (registration PK-KKV) flying from Jakarta to Surabaya had a hard landing at Juanda International Airport. The incident caused the fuselage of the plane to crack and bend in the middle, with the tail of the plane drooping towards the ground. There were no reports of serious injuries from the incident. As a result, six Adam Air 737s were grounded awaiting safety checks. Adam Air described this as "harsh punishment" for an accident it blamed on poor weather conditions, but Vice President Jusuf Kalla had said that all Boeing 737-300s should be checked.

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