Singapore-Changi

The aircraft left Surabaya-Juanda Airport at 0535LT and climbed to its assigned altitude of FL320 that he reached 19 minutes later. The crew contacted ATC to obtain the authorization to climb to FL380 and to divert to 310° due to bad weather conditions. At 0617, the radio contact was lost with the crew and a minute later, the transponder stopped when the aircraft disappeared from the radar screen. At this time, the aircraft was flying at the altitude of 36,300 feet and its speed was decreasing to 353 knots. It is believed the aircraft crashed some 80 nautical miles southeast off the Pulau Belitung Island, some 200 km from the Singapore Control Area. The Indonesian Company confirmed there were 156 Indonesian Citizens on board, three South Korean, one Malaysian, one Singapore and one French (the copilot) as well. At the time of the accident, the weather conditions were marginal with storm activity, rain falls and turbulence in the area between Pulau Belitung and Kalimantan. First debris were spotted by the Indonesian Navy some 48 hours later, about 150 NM east-south-east off the Pulau Belitung Island. About forty dead bodies were found up to December 30. The tail was recovered on January 10, 2015 and the black boxes were localized a day later. On January 12 and 13 respectively, the DFDR and the CVR were out of water and sent to Jakarta for analysis and investigations.

After takeoff from Phnom Penh-Pochentong Airport, while climbing, the crew reported technical problems and elected to return. After being cleared, the captain reduced his altitude but realizing he could not make it, he attempted an emergency landing in a rice paddy field located about 25 km west of Phnom Penh. The aircraft crash landed and came to rest, broken in several pieces. All five crew members were rescued, one of them was injured.

The crew started their duty for the flight from Yokota, near Tokyo, Japan to Singapore at 1000 hours local time (0900 hours Singapore time) on 13 December 2002. The aircraft departed Yokota at 1125 hours local time (1025 hours Singapore time). The FO was the handling pilot for the flight. The expected flight time was about 7 hours. The departure and en route segments of the flight proceeded normally. The crew was aware of Changi Airport’s ATIS ‘Y’ weather information provided at about 1640 hours through Changi Airport’s there were thunderstorm activity, low level windshear and heavy rain in Singapore. The aircraft was given clearance to land on Runway 20R. The FO briefed the other crew members on landing on 20R. At about 7 miles from the airport, Changi Tower advised the aircraft that the wind was from 350 degrees at 5 knots, that the runway surface was wet, that the visibility from the Tower was about 1,000 metres and that landing traffic had reported the braking action at the end of Runway 20R to be from medium to poor. The approach and landing was carried out in heavy rain. The approach was stabilized and normal. Approach speed was about 148 knots. Flaps 35 were used. At about 300 feet above ground, the PIC reported having the approach lights and runway lights in sight while the FO still could not see the lights as the rain removal for the windshield on the FO’s side was not effective. According to the FO, he felt the PIC was putting his hands on the controls of the aircraft. The PIC noticed that the aircraft had drifted slightly left of the runway centreline and told the FO to make the correction back to the centerline. Although the FO made the correction, he was still unable to see the approach lights clearly at about 200 feet. The FO indicated he felt the PIC was in control of the aircraft and making corrections and so he let go of the controls. The CVR recording suggested that the PIC was aware the aircraft was floating down the runway and that the PIC informed the crew that “We are floating way down the runway.” The PIC subsequently moved the control column forward to make a positive landing. The aircraft landed at 1743 hours. The aircraft was observed by an air traffic controller to have touched down on the runway at a point roughly abeam the Control Tower and just before the turn-off for Taxiway W6, which was about 1,500 metres from the end of the runway. Two Airport Emergency Service officers of the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore also observed that while most aircraft landing on Runway 20R would touch down at a point between the turn-offs for Taxiways W3 and W4, the Arrow Air aircraft floated way beyond the normal touchdown zone. The aircraft’s speed at the time of touchdown was estimated from flight data recorder data to be about 135 knots. Upon touchdown, the PIC deployed spoilers and thrust reversers. The thrust reversers for Engines Nos. 1, 2 and 3 deployed almost immediately while that of Engine No. 4 was reportedly slow in deployment. The PIC and FO also pushed hard on the brake pedals, but they felt that there was no braking response. The aircraft did not stop before reaching the end of the runway. It veered slightly to the right as it exited the runway. The speed of the aircraft when it left the runway was about 60 knots. The aircraft rolled in mud during the overrun. The nose landing gear broke off half way during the overrun and the aircraft came to rest in a grass and soggy area at about 300 metres from the end of the runway. There was no fire. After the aircraft had come to a complete stop, the PIC stowed the thrust reversers. The crew completed the evacuation checklist and exited the aircraft from Door L1 with the assistance of the Airport Emergency Service personnel who had already arrived by then.

On 28 February 2002, Arrow Air flight APWP6L touched down on Runway 02L at Singapore Changi Airport at 0029 hours. The weather and visibility conditions were good (visibility in excess of 10 km). Arrow Air flight APWP6L was assigned to park at Bay 117, a remote aircraft parking bay. After APWP6L had landed, the runway controller at Changi Tower instructed the aircraft to taxi towards Bay 117. The aircraft exited the runway via rapid exit Taxiway W4. The ground movement planner at Changi Tower selected the taxiway centre line lights to guide the aircraft from Taxiway W4 onto Taxiway NC1, Taxiway WA and to Bay C7 (Bay 117 is the second parking bay after Bay C7). Due to airside construction works, there was no taxiway centre line lighting guidance on the short segment of taxi route from Taxiway WA from abeam Bay C7 to the adjacent parking Bays 117 and 118. There was a NOTAM in force that stipulated that during hours of darkness, aircraft could only be towed in to Bays 117 and 118. On reaching Bay C7, the flight crew of APWP6L did not stop but continued taxiing past Bay C7 onto a diverted portion of Taxiway WA. The taxiway centre line lights for this diverted portion of Taxiway WA were not switched on by ATC as it was not the intended route for the aircraft. At about 0037 hours, flight APWP6L called Changi Tower to indicate its position near Bay 106. Realising that flight APWP6L had missed its allocated parking position, the ground movement planner at Changi Tower routed the aircraft back to Bay 117 via Taxiways WA, SC, WP, V8 and Taxiway WA. Flight APWP6L followed the return route until it was abeam Bay 117 on the straight section of the diverted portion of Taxiway WA, just before Taxiway VY. At that location, the pilot saw the ground marshaller at Bay 117 on the aircraft’s right side. Instead of continuing to follow the assigned taxi route, the aircraft turned right. In doing so, it left the WA taxiway centre line and went onto a grass area between Taxiway WA and the parking apron. The nose gear of the aircraft went across an open drain of about 1.4 m wide and 0.8 m deep within the grass area. The aircraft came to a halt when its main landing gears went into the drain at about 0044 hours. All three crew members escaped uninjured while the aircraft was damaged beyond repair.

On 19 December 1997, a SilkAir Boeing B737-300 aircraft, registration 9V-TRF, was on a scheduled commercial international passenger flight under Instrument Flight Rules (IFR), routing Singapore – Jakarta – Singapore. The flight from Singapore to Jakarta operated normally. After completing a normal turnaround in Jakarta the aircraft departed Soekarno-Hatta International Airport for the return leg. At 08:37:13 (15:37:13 local time) the flight (MI185) took off from Runway 25R with the Captain as the handling pilot. The flight received clearance to climb to 35,000 feet (Flight Level 350) and to head directly to Palembang. At 08:47:23 the aircraft passed FL245. Ten seconds later, the crew requested permission to proceed directly to PARDI2. The air traffic controller instructed MI 185 to standby, to continue flying directly to Palembang and to report when reaching FL350. At 08:53:17, MI185 reported reaching FL350. Subsequently, the controller cleared MI185 to proceed directly to PARDI and to report when abeam Palembang. At 09:05:15.6, the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) ceased recording. According to the Jakarta ATC transcript, at 09:10:18 the controller informed MI 185 that it was abeam Palembang. The controller instructed the aircraft to maintain FL350 and to contact Singapore Control when at PARDI. The crew acknowledged this call at 09:10:26. There were no further voice transmissions from MI 185. The last readable data from the flight data recorder (FDR) was at 09:11:27.4. Jakarta ATC radar recording showed that MI185 was still at FL350 at 09:12:09. The next radar return, eight seconds later, indicated that MI185 was 400 feet below FL350 and a rapid descent followed. The last recorded radar data at 09:12:41 showed the aircraft at FL195. The empennage of the aircraft subsequently broke up in flight and the aircraft crashed into the Musi river delta, about 50 km (30 nm) north-northeast of Palembang at about 09:13. The accident occurred in daylight and in good weather conditions. All 104 occupants were killed. The accident was not survivable.

The aircraft was completing a cargo flight from Singapore-Changi Airport, carrying a load of textiles, computer softwares and mail as well as four crew members. Following a direct route to Kayell for an NDB approach to runway 33, the crew was cleared to 'descend two four zero zero' (2,400 feet), which was interpreted by the crew as 'to 400'. The crew continued the descent, passed below the minimum descent altitude of 2,400 feet when the aircraft struck trees and crashed on the slope of a wooded terrain located near the village of Puchong, about 14 km from the airport. The aircraft was totally destroyed and all four crew members were killed.

En route from Singapore to Subic Bay, the crew encountered technical problems with the navigation system. Eventually, the captain decided to ditch the aircraft in the South China Sea off the Spratly Island. The crew found refuge in a dinghy and was rescued few hours later by the crew of a Vietnamese ship. The aircraft sank and was lost.

Following an uneventful flight from Singapore-Changi Airport, the crew started the approach to Kuala Lumpung-Subang Airport by night and poor weather conditions with heavy rain falls. During an ILS approach to runway 15 with an RVR of 450 meters, the pilot-in-command was unable to establish a visual contact with the runway and eventually decided to make a go-around. Four other attempts to land failed and during the sixth approach procedure, the crew descended below the MDA until the aircraft contacted trees and crashed in a dense wooded area located 1,200 meters short of runway, bursting into flames. All 247 occupants were quickly evacuated, 20 of them were injured. The undercarriage and both engines were torn off while the aircraft was partially destroyed by a post crash fire.

While cruising at an altitude of 9,000 feet over the Indian Ocean on a flight from Gan AFB (Maldivian Islands) to Singapore-Changi Airport, the crew informed ATC that the propeller on the engine number four oversped and that he was unable to feather it. Few minutes later, the engine number four caught fire and eventually detached. The captain reduced his altitude in an attempt to make an emergency landing when control was lost. During an uncontrolled descent, the aircraft broke in three and crashed into the sea. The crew of the frigate HMS Ajax arrived on the scene six hours later and its crew was able to evacuate three survivors while eight other occupants were killed.
Those killed were:
F/Lt K. Blake, pilot,
F/O R. K. Bungay, pilot,
F/Lt K. M. Greatorex, navigator,
P/O D. Love, navigator,
F/Lt I. B. Stanley, air electric operator,
F/S R. N. Adams, air electric operator,
F/S R. G. Rees, air electric operator,
Sgt D. H. Morgan, air signaller.

The crew was completing a local training sortie at Singapore-Changi Airport. While approaching the airfield with one engine voluntarily inoperative, the aircraft lost height. In a too low altitude, the crew did not have sufficient time to lower the landing gear so the captain attempted an emergency belly landing few km short of runway. The aircraft slid for several yards and came to rest, damaged beyond repair. Both crew members were unhurt.