Garuda Indonesian Airways Flight 150

Garuda Indonesian Airways Fokker F28-1000 PK-GVS, sister ship of the accident aircraft
Accident
Date	24 September 1975
Summary	Crashed on approach in poor weather
Site	near Palembang, South Sumatra
Total fatalities	26 (25 on board, 1 on ground)
Total injuries	36
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Fokker F-28 Fellowship
Operator	Garuda Indonesian Airways
Registration	PK-GVC
Flight origin	Kemayoran Airport, Jakarta
Destination	Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin II Airport, Palembang
Occupants	61
Passengers	57
Crew	4
Fatalities	25
Injuries	36
Survivors	36
Ground casualties
Ground fatalities	1

Garuda Indonesian Airways Flight 150 was a scheduled Indonesian domestic passenger flight from Kemayoran Airport, Jakarta to Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin II Airport, Palembang. On 24 September 1975, Flight 150 crashed on approach due to poor weather and fog just 2.5 miles (2.2 nmi; 4.0 km) from the town of Palembang. The accident killed 25 out of the 61 passengers and crew on board, and one person on the ground.

Aircraft

The Fokker F-28 Fellowship registration PK-GVC was built in 1971 and had done over 1000 hours of flying time before the fatal accident.

Accident

Garuda Indonesian Airways Flight 150 took off from Kemayoran Airport on a short-haul flight to Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin II Airport with 61 passengers and crew on board. Less than 1 hour after take off, Flight 150 was cleared by the air traffic controllers at Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin II Airport to start their approach to land on runway 28 (now as runway 29). The flaps and landing gear were down as flight 150 was nearing the airport when fog started shadowing the town and the airport. Flight 150 entered the fog two minutes later. The tail end of the aircraft hit trees and crashed breaking it up into 2 parts. There was no fire when flight 150 crashed. The crash killed 25 people on board and 1 person on the ground. 36 passengers survived the crash and were taken to a local hospital.

Cause

An investigation into the crash found that the visual flight in weather conditions below minimums. Flight 150 was in a downwind leg as the aircraft was on approach to the airport in fog. It is unknown why the air traffic controller did not tell the pilots of Flight 150 to execute a missed approach or why the pilots themselves did not execute a missed approach.