One-Two-GO Airlines Flight 269

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**One-Two-GO Airlines Flight 269**
Summary
A similar One-Two-GO MD-82 at Phuket Airport
Date	September 16, 2007
Type	Pilots' failure to go-around, wind shear
Site	Phuket International Airport
Passengers	123
Crew	7
Fatalities	90
Survivors	40
Aircraft type	McDonnell Douglas MD-82
Operator	One-Two-GO Airlines
Tail number	HS-OMG
Flight origin	Don Mueang International Airport
Destination	Phuket International Airport

Location of Phuket

One-Two-GO Airlines Flight 269 was a scheduled flight from Bangkok's Don Mueang International Airport to Phuket International Airport in the Thai resort island of Phuket. On September 16, 2007, amid heavy rains and strong crosswinds at Phuket International Airport and after the pilots failed to recognise the need to execute a go-around, the aircraft came down hard on runway 27 and skidded into a wooded embankment. The aircraft broke into two, caught fire almost immediately, and was completely destroyed, causing 90 deaths.^[1] Phuket International Airport was re-opened in the afternoon of September 17, 2007.^[2]

The crash of Flight 269 is Thailand's deadliest aviation accident since Thai Airways Flight 261 crashed into a rice paddy on approach to Surat Thani Airport in 1998, killing 101 people.

1 Crash
2 Survivors and fatalities
3 Aftermath
4 Investigation
5 See also
6 References
7 External links

[edit] Crash

The 23-year-old^[3] McDonnell Douglas MD-82 (registration HS-OMG) departed from Bangkok's Don Mueang International Airport at 2:30 p.m. local time (0730 UTC), and was scheduled to land in Phuket at 3:50 p.m. local time (0850 UTC). After an apparent attempt by the pilot to execute a go-around moments before touchdown, the aircraft missed the runway, hit an embankment, split into two and exploded into flames.^[4]^[5]^[6]The plane was carrying 123 passengers and 7 crew members.

According to Vutichai Singhamany, a safety director at Thailand's Department of Civil Aviation, the pilot had deployed the landing gear on his approach to Phuket airport runway 27, but had retracted it while trying to pull up for a go-around. Mr Singhamany added that the wheels had not touched the runway and that the accident had happened right after the pilot raised the nose of the aircraft to abort the landing.^[7]It appears that the plane was caught in wind shear, causing it to sink abruptly.^[8]

An aircraft that had landed four minutes before the arrival of the doomed plane had informed the air traffic controllers of wind shear. This information had then been relayed to Captain Arief Mulyadi, the 56-year-old Indonesian pilot of flight 269. The final transmission from Captain Arief to the controller was "landing" after the controller had inquired about the pilot's intentions.^[7] Air traffic controllers had also reportedly given permission to the pilots to abort the landing. Senior officials of the airline informed the son of the pilot that his father had requested for permission to return to the capital Bangkok but was told to land. The pilot's son was quoted by the Indonesian newspaper Tempo as saying:^[9]

"Arief had the time to ask the authorisation to go back to Bangkok and abort landing in Phuket airport because of unfriendly weather."

23-year-old Parinyawich Chusaeng, who survived the crash on flight 269, told AFP:^[6]

"The plane just dropped really fast and then jerked back up. The right wing hit a tree and then the plane hit the ground. The people all around me were burning. Some on the floor and some standing, and they were on fire."

Chaisak Angsuwan, director general of the Air Transport Authority of Thailand said:^[10]

"The visibility was poor as the pilot attempted to land. He decided to make a go-around but the plane lost balance and crashed. It was torn into two parts."

A witness, William Harding, said:^[11]

"The inside (of the plane) was totally on fire and about five minutes of burning, there was a small explosion that blew off top of the plane."

Canadian Survivor, Mildred Anne Furlong, said:^[12]

"We started to go for the landing and [the pilot] just about hit the runway, but couldn't make it, so he lifted back up. We started to circle. I thought he was going to circle back around and try again, and then we took a sharp right and we started going for the ground."
"We bounced once and then went straight into an embankment with trees and bushes."
"It was raining really hard. We saw a couple of people who were on fire. Just a handful of us made it out. I counted 17 or 20 who had made it out on their own.".

[edit] Survivors and fatalities

Aerial view of Phuket International Airport with a One-Two-GO Airlines Boeing 747 parked by the terminal.

Of the 130 people on board, 84 passengers and 5 crew, including both pilots, died.^[2]^[1]. The body of pilot, Arief Mulyadi, has been identified.^[13] As of 9:17 a.m. local time (0217 UTC) on September 18, 2007, 21 out of 57 bodies belonging to foreigners have also been identified. The airline contacted the rest of the victims' families for evidence to aid in identification. Some victims suffered head injuries caused by dislodged airline internals. Others were trapped and burned alive in the cabin. Many survivors sustained burns.^[14]

Various embassies and ministries in Bangkok confirmed the following numbers:^[15]

Australian embassy: 1 Australian killed and 1 survived
(National Nine News reported at 3 P.M. on 18 September that Australian foreign minister Alexander Downer and his department felt confident that no more than 2 Australians died in the crash. So far, one has been found and identified.)
British embassy: 8 Britons killed and at least 2 injured.^[16]
Canada: 1 killed and 1 injured. ^[17]^[18]
French foreign ministry: 3 French nationals killed, 1 injured, and 6 missing
German officials: At least 1 German killed - a 29-year-old man, 4 injured
Ireland foreign ministry: 1 Irish national killed
Israel media: 8 Israelis killed, 2 injured ^[19]
Swedish foreign ministry: 2 Swedes killed - a 19-year-old female and a 20-year-old male, and 2 survived with minor injuries
US embassy: 5 American tourists killed ^[20]

Three local hospitals (Bangkok-Phuket Hospital, Siriroj Hospital, and Vachira Phuket Hospital) treating the injured have released the following survivors according to their nationalities:^[11]

1 Australian, 1 Austrian, 8 British, 1 Canadian, 2 Dutch, 4 German, 3 Iranian, 3 Irish, 2 Israeli, 1 Italian, 2 Swedish, 14 Thai

[edit] Aftermath

As the aircraft was manufactured in the U.S., the two flight recorders were sent to the U.S. for analysis in the same week. Similarly, the United States National Transportation Safety Board has stated its intention to assist the Thai government in the investigation^[11] as the aircraft was previously registered in the U.S. and had previously flown with Trans World Airlines and American Airlines. ^[3]^[21]

Bodies recovered from the crash site were laid out at the auditorium room at the Phuket airport terminal due to the lack of refrigerators at local hospitals.^[14] To speed up recovery efforts, Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said Australia would offer to send a special victim identification team.

The parent company of One-Two-Go Airlines, Orient Thai Airlines, and Thailand's national airline Thai Airways International, organised charter flights for relatives of passengers. Thai Airways International also sent a family assistance team to Phuket to help relatives deal with the horrific crash. Until the airport re-opened to traffic, relatives were flown to nearby Krabi before being sent to Phuket by bus.^[22]

Claims of dangerous and illegal actions leading to the crash, have led families of the victims to press for an independent investigation into the cause of the crash and the airline's chairman Udom Tantiprasongchai.^[23]

According to numerous sources, compensation to the families of the foreign casualties has not been paid.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Investigation

Investigators had initially focused on the pilot, saying that he had insisted on landing the plane despite being warned by air traffic controllers of severe wind shear. As of 9:01 a.m. (0201 UTC) on September 19, 2007, the focus of the investigators has shifted to Phuket International Airport's wind shear detection system. There was already an initial assumption that the wind shear detection system was not fully operational at the time of the accident. They confirmed their predictions after a check that showed the system being unresponsive to the control tower. It appears that the plane was caught in a wind shear, causing it to sink abruptly.^[8]

The wind shear detection system was solar-powered, and therefore 3 out of the 6 wind shear sensors ran out of stored power during the overcast weather. This made it difficult for Captain Mulyadi to judge whether it was safe to land, despite receiving warning about a wind shear from the air traffic controller.^[24] However, according to civil aviation officials, most aircraft are fitted with instruments that function independently from ground ones. Therefore, the pilots should not experience problems with judging the situation.

Although there is yet no conclusive decision on the outcome of the investigation, the Department of Civil Aviation considers bad weather, particularly wind shear, and the pilot's bad decision to land as contributing causes of the accident.^[9] The quality and safety standards of One-Two-Go and parent airline Orient-Thai remain under scrutiny. Airport officials have indicated that the wind at the time of the crash was 17 kilometres per hour (11 miles per hour) with stronger gusts.^{[citation needed]}