Garuda Indonesian Airways Flight 892

Garuda Indonesian Airways Flight 892 was a scheduled international passenger flight of Garuda Indonesian Airways (now Garuda Indonesia) from Jakarta to Amsterdam with stopovers in Singapore, Bangkok, Bombay (now Mumbai), Karachi, Cairo, and Rome. On 28 May 1968, the Convair 990A jet airliner operating the flight crashed on climb-out after take-off from Santacruz Airport (now Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport) for the flight's Bombay to Karachi segment. The aircraft crashed at Bilalpada village near Nala Sopara, killing all 29 people on board and one person on the ground. The cause of the accident is unknown, but it is presumed to originate from misfuelling during the stopover in Bombay. It was the first fatal accident and the second hull loss of the Convair 990 aircraft.

Aircraft
The aircraft involved in the accident was a Convair 990A jet airliner powered by four General Electric CJ805-23B turbofan engines with registration PK-GJA. The 1960-built aircraft had serial number 30-10-3 and was the second production of the Convair 990, initially destined for American Airlines. Formerly used as one of the experimental aircraft for Convair 990 type certification, the aircraft was later converted to the Convair 990A variant afterwards. With a configuration to carry up to 99 passengers and named Pajajaran after the capital city of the Sunda Kingdom, Garuda Indonesian Airways took delivery of the aircraft on 24 January 1964 as the last of three on order.

On 17 September 1966, the aircraft was involved in a ground incident at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, where the aircraft overshot the terminal apron and struck a stationary forklift, resulting in minor damage to the nose cone.

Flight history
Garuda Indonesian Airways Flight 892 arrived at Santacruz Airport in Bombay at 01:45 a.m. local time. Having originated from Jakarta the previous evening with preceding stopovers in Singapore and Bangkok, the flight was part of the airline's Jakarta to Amsterdam milk run service with stopovers in Singapore, Bangkok, Bombay, Karachi, Cairo, and Rome.

The stopover in Bombay was to pick up passengers, change the operating crew, and refuel the aircraft before continuing with the flight's next segment to Karachi. Eleven passengers were supposed to board the flight in Bombay, but a last-minute cancellation by five passengers reduced the number to six. Weather conditions at Santacruz Airport reportedly were normal and without strong winds at the time of the flight's departure from Bombay for Karachi with 15 passengers and 14 crew on board.

Accident
The aircraft took off from Santacruz Airport at 02:32 a.m. local time. Seven minutes later, the air traffic control at Santacruz Airport lost contact with the aircraft; no distress calls were received from the aircraft before the contact went lost. The aircraft was then reported to have crashed about five minutes after the contact loss, with the crash site located approximately 1.5 mi east of Nalla Sopara railway station near the village of Bilalpada. The resultant explosion as the aircraft crashed into the ground caused at least one large piece of the aircraft's debris to carve a crater of 20 ft deep at the crash site, while most of the aircraft's debris fell strewn over an area of 3 sqmi wide.

All 29 people on board the aircraft died in the accident. Seventeen people at Bilalpada village reportedly were injured, two of whom were serious. Three villagers had to get hospitalised; one was later pronounced dead. Besides human casualties, the crash destroyed several villagers' huts and a school-owned shed. Moreover, some of the burning debris from the aircraft hit and set a stable ablaze, killing 19 buffaloes.

Passengers
Garuda Indonesian Airways Flight 892 carried 15 passengers on board the flight's Bombay to Karachi segment. Of the departure cities, six passengers boarded the flight in Jakarta, three in Bangkok, and six in Bombay. Of the destination cities, six passengers would disembark the flight in Karachi, two in Cairo, two in Rome, and five in Amsterdam. Six passengers were from Indonesia, four were from Pakistan, two were from Greece, one was from India, one was from Japan, and one was from the Netherlands.

Among the six passengers from Indonesia was an official of the country's, whose husband was G. A. Siwabessy, then-head of the same agency who also serves as the Indonesian Minister of Health. The sole passenger from India was the then-president of the Institution of Engineers (India), who also serves as the vice-president of the International Federation for Pre-stressed Concrete. The sole passenger from Japan reportedly was a section chief at Dai-ichi Life. Additionally, the sole passenger from the Netherlands was a Dutch leader of the Moral Re-Armament.

Crew
A total of 14 crew members, all from Indonesia, were on board the flight. Ten were the operating crew, consisting of four cockpit crew and six cabin crew, while the remaining four were deadheading crew. The cockpit crew members were pilot in command Captain Abdul Rochim, co-pilot Captain Soedharmono, Flight Navigator Asmoro, and Flight Engineer Djumadi. Of the cabin crew members, the chief purser was the youngest sibling of A. Y. Mokoginta, the then-Indonesian Ambassador to the United Arab Republic (now Egypt).

All the operating crew members boarded the flight in Bombay to replace the previous operating crew, who had worked since the flight originated in Jakarta. Another change of the operating crew members for the flight was scheduled in Cairo. Meanwhile, the four deadheading crew members, all of whom departed from Jakarta together with the original operating crew, remained on board the flight.

Aftermath
The day following the accident, Garuda Indonesian Airways grounded the remaining two Convair 990A aircraft in its fleet and suspended the Jakarta to Amsterdam and vice versa milk run service. The latter would later get reinstated, but the operating aircraft for the flight got replaced by the Douglas DC-8 on lease from KLM. The two Convair 990A aircraft were relegated to fly on Indonesian domestic and Asian international routes until the airline eventually phased out the type in 1973.

The Government of Indonesia arranged for the repatriation of all bodies of the Indonesian victims in the accident. Inside each coffin of the Indonesian victims, stones collected from the crash site were also placed. Most of the Indonesian passenger victims were buried in public cemeteries, while the wife of the health minister and the entire crew members were buried in a heroes' cemetery.

In 1969, the Institution of Engineers (India) established an engineering paper memorial prize named after the late president. A year later, an Indonesian orchid breeder registered a new Dendrobium hybridisation named after the late wife of the health minister.

Investigation
In the hours after the accident, several representatives from the Indian Directorate General of Civil Aviation visited the crash site and conducted a preliminary investigation. A joint team from Indonesia, which included representatives from the Indonesian Directorate of Civil Aviation, Garuda Indonesian Airways, and Lufthansa, was despatched to Bombay to join the investigation. Led by Karno Barkah of the Indonesian Directorate of Civil Aviation, the team arrived in Bombay the following morning.

The cause of the accident remains unknown to date, although there was a court of inquiry to determine it. The court of inquiry was chaired by Y. S. Tambe, a retired Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court, and the accident report reportedly was expected by January 1970. The aircraft's flight recorder, the search for which began the day after the arrival of the Indonesian team at the crash site, has also never been found. However, a source citing the investigation noted that the jet airliner presumably had been refuelled with avgas instead of kerosene-based avtur during the stopover in Bombay. The misfuelling allegedly led to all of the aircraft's four engines experiencing a partial or total failure during the climb-out, causing the pilots to lose control of the aircraft. The aircraft then entered a nosedive until it finally crashed in an almost vertical attitude.