What happened
On 13 September 2016, a Boeing 737-300 Freighter, registered PK-YSY, was performing a scheduled cargo mission from Sentani Airport to Wamena Airport in Papua, Indonesia. The flight, operated by PT. Trigana Air Service, departed at 2145 UTC carrying 14,913 kg of cargo and a crew consisting of two pilots and one flight operation officer acting as loadmaster.
During the descent phase, the crew was instructed by Wamena Tower to orbit over point X to maintain separation from a preceding aircraft. While descending through 7,000 feet, the pilot flying struggled to identify specific visual checkpoints, including Mount Pikei and a local church, due to weather conditions. Although the pilot monitoring advised a go-around because the runway was not visible, the pilot flying continued the approach. At approximately 5,600 feet, the runway became visible, and the pilot increased the descent rate.
As the aircraft approached the threshold, the Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System issued a "SINK RATE" alert. The aircraft touched down approximately 125 meters from the start of runway 15, experiencing a vertical acceleration of 3.25 g. The impact caused both main landing gears to collapse, with the left gear detaching from the airframe. The engine and lower fuselage made contact with the runway surface as the aircraft veered right, eventually coming to a stop 1,890 meters from the runway threshold. There were 0 fatalities and 0 injuries among the crew, who evacuated via the forward left cargo door.
Findings
- The aircraft sustained substantial damage during the landing.
- The primary contributing factor was the continued descent despite the loss of visual landmarks and a subsequent sink rate warning.