What happened
On the evening of the accident, a Thai Airways International flight operated an Airbus A3OL from Bangkok-Don Mueang International Airport to Surat Thani. During the approach to runway 22, the crew encountered several environmental and operational challenges. The controller notified the crew that the precision approach path indicators (PAPI) on the right side of the runway were unserviceable and warned of a slippery runway surface due to light rain and low visibility.
The flight crew initiated a sequence of three separate go-around attempts. During the first two attempts, the crew reported seeing the runway at a distance of 3 nautical miles before deciding to abort the landing. During the final attempt, visibility had dropped to 1,000 meters. While maintaining the Minimum Descent Altitude (MDA), the crew was unable to visually identify the runway, leading the captain to disconnect the autopilot and initiate another go-around.
During this final maneuver, the aircraft experienced a significant and uncontrolled increase in pitch attitude. The pitch rose to approximately 40 degrees, and despite manual elevator inputs to reduce the angle to roughly 32 degrees, the pitch subsequently climbed even higher, reaching between 47 and 48 degrees. This extreme pitch caused the airspeed to decay to 100 knots. The aircraft subsequently lost altitude and struck the terrain to the left of the runway. The accident resulted in 101 fatalities and 45 survivors, including 11 crew members.
Findings
Investigation into the accident identified that the pilot's awareness of the aircraft's pitch attitude was compromised by high stress levels and the expectation that the third go-around would mirror the flight profiles of the previous two attempts. This led to the uncontrolled pitch increase that caused the loss of airspeed and subsequent impact with the ground.