Sukhoi Superjet Turns Back with Known NoseGear Door Problem

The National Commission on Safety Transportation announced that the Russian Sukhoi Superjet 100 that crashed into a mountain in Indonesia seven months did so as a result of pilot error. All 45 Aboard were fatalities.

Indonesian authorities claimed that the plane functioned adequately and there were no malfunctions of safety gear.

The fact that the pilot digressed from the route, and that the (foreign) pilots were not well aware of the mountainous terrain may be behind part of the decision. As a demonstration flight, the pilots were probably encouraged to make dramatic maneuvers at a terrible price.

Thirty-eight seconds prior to the impact, cockpit instruments issued a warning saying “pull up, terrain ahead”. Later the warning “avoid terrain” was issued six times, but the instruments were turned off because the crew assumed there was a problem with the database.

Officials said that “The crew was not aware of the mountainous area surrounding the flight path,”

The Jakarta radar service was incapable of informing flight crews of minimum safe altitudes.

The Russian pilots, while experts, were not intimate with the Indonesian topography.
Six minutes after takeoff, the pilot and co-pilot requested Jakarta ATC for permission to drop from 3,000 meters to 1,800 meters on the scheduled half-hour flight. Six minutes later, the plane struck Mount Salak.

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