Garuda Indonesian Airways DC-10-30 Runway Departure at Zurich (PK-GIB)

Incident Overview and Aircraft Details On 17 February 1978, a Garuda Indonesian Airways DC-10-30, registration PK-GIB, was operating scheduled flight GA 894 from Zurich to Amsterdam. The aircraft was crewed by a pilot-in-command born in 1930, a flying pilot born in 1926, and a flight engineer born in 1927. The aircraft was airworthy, with a take-off weight of 165.3 tonnes against a maximum of 251.7 tonnes. No persons were injured. ## Runway Conditions and Weather Runway 16 had been treated multiple times that morning. The latest official report before the incident described the surface as covered with ice and snow up to 3 mm, with medium braking action. However, an inspection immediately after the event found the first approximately 300 metres of the runway to be icy, with poor braking action. At the time of the incident, the temperature was -2°C, the dew point -3°C, and visibility was 2,300 m. ## Sequence of Events The crew received taxi clearance at 0855 GMT and line-up clearance at 0909 GMT, followed by take-off clearance at 0910 GMT. A rolling take-off was initiated. During acceleration, the aircraft deviated to the right of the centreline. The crew aborted the take-off, and the aircraft came to rest approximately 320 metres beyond the runway threshold and 25 metres outside the right edge. ## Findings and Contributing Factors The investigation identified several factors. The runway surface deteriorated rapidly due to light freezing drizzle, a condition that was not visible from the cockpit and not detected in time by runway monitoring. The aircraft was lined up with a 4-degree deviation from the runway axis. Additionally, the autothrottle system failed to advance the number 3 engine thrust lever for approximately 7 seconds, resulting in an abnormal N1 difference of up to 49% between engines before the lever finally moved. The cockpit voice recorder was erased after the incident because it remained powered on.