What happened
A charter flight operating on behalf of Garuda Indonesian Airways was performing a pilgrimage mission from Surabaya to Jeddah, with a scheduled stop in Colombo. The aircraft, a Martinair DC-8 registered as PH-MBH, was transporting 182 Indonesian passengers and a crew of nine. During the night approach to Bandaranaike Airport under marginal weather conditions, the flight crew received clearance to descend through 5,000 feet and was subsequently cleared to 2,000 feet for an approach to runway 04.
While operating in poor visibility, the aircraft impacted the slope of Mt Anjimalai, located approximately 85 km southeast of the airport near Maskeliya. The impact resulted in the total destruction of the aircraft and 191 fatalities, leaving no survivors among the passengers or crew.
Findings
The investigation concluded that the accident was caused by the aircraft striking rising terrain because the crew descended below a safe altitude after misidentifying their position relative to the airport. Several contributing factors were identified regarding the flight crew and onboard equipment:
- The captain lacked recent experience on this specific route, and no adequate route check had been performed prior to the flight.
- The co-pilot possessed limited experience with this aircraft type and none with PH-MBH specifically.
- The Doppler and weather radar systems were non-standard for the Martinair fleet, which led to the crew misinterpreting distance-to-go data and radar range markings.
- There was an over-reliance on the Doppler system for navigation.
- Operational failures were noted regarding the maintenance of technical records and the failure to ensure proper route qualifications for the crew.
- The crew was unaware of the correct reporting points within the Colombo Flight Information Region.
There was no evidence of mechanical failure or fire prior to the collision.