SilkAir Flight 185 was a scheduled international passenger flight en route to Singapore Changi Airport from Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Jakarta, Indonesia. Around 45 minutes into the 80-minute flight, it crashed into the Musi River near Palembang, Sumatra. The impact from the supersonic dive killed all 104 souls on board.3
Flight 185 on December 19, 1997, was operated on a Boeing 737-800 (registration 9V-TRF) that had just completed its maiden flight on February 14 that same year. The aircraft was delivered to SilkAir just 10 months before the crash and had recorded 2,238 total airframe hours when the crash happened.
The Singaporean carrier had never experienced a fatal hull loss (and never has, since Flight 185). So, what happened on this fateful day that led to the 737’s fifth-worst accident in history?
The aircraft, carrying 97 passengers and 7 crew members, took off from runway 25R at 15:37 with 41-year-old Captain Tsu Way Ming and First Officer Duncan Ward, a New Zealand national who was 23, on the flight deck.
The flight departed as planned and no adverse weather was expected on the route, except for some thunderstorms 75 miles (120 km) south of Singapore. However, at 16:05, the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) stopped recording and five minutes later, air traffic controllers detected that the aircraft was abeam. At 16:11, the flight data recorder (FDR) stopped recording.
Following the quick succession of events, the 737 went into a rapid, nearly vertical, supersonic dive at around 16:12. Parts of the aircraft disintegrated as it descended 12,000 feet (3,700 meters) – seconds later, the aircraft crashed into the Musi River.
Due to the high impact, debris was scattered over a wide area, with some parts of the wreckage found embedded 15 feet (4.6 meters) into the riverbed. No complete body – not even a complete body part – was found. Out of the 104 casualties, only six positive identifications could be obtained from the few recovered remains.
The victims' nationalities included Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, the United States, France, and nine other countries. Among those killed was Singaporean model and writer Bonny Hicks, who was 29 at the time. Hicks was formerly married to a colleague of Captain Tsu’s and was on board the flight with her long-time partner, whom she had gotten engaged to shortly before the crash.
The accident was investigated independently by the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) – which had jurisdiction based on the aircraft’s country of manufacture – and the Indonesian National Transportation Safety Committee (NTSC). The former concluded that the crash was due to deliberate flight control inputs “most likely by the captain”. The latter, however, found “no concrete evidence” to support the suicide claims.
Instead, the NTSC believed that the hydraulic power control unit (PCU) that controlled the aircraft’s rudder was to blame. Both the NTSB and the manufacturer of the PCU disputed that the component was working properly. Ultimately, the NTSC’s findings deemed the cause of the crash inconclusive.
Initial suspicions were aimed at First Officer Duncan Ward as he was the only person in the cockpit when the CVR stopped recording. Allegations were quickly ruled out when Ward’s friends, family, and colleagues all substantiated that he showed absolutely no signs of depression or suicidal intentions.
Thus, investigators turned to the other man at the flight controls, Captain Tsu Way Ming, a former Republic of Singapore Air Force A-4 Skyhawk pilot and squadron instructor. At 16:00, CVR records indicated that Tsu left the cockpit – and five minutes later, the CVR ceased recording. Tests found that, if the CVR circuit breaker had tripped normally, a click would be heard, but not if it had been detached manually. Since there was no click, and the radio continued to work after the CVR failure, investigators alleged that Tsu was responsible for deliberately pulling out the CVR circuit breaker. It is suspected that he then left the cockpit to disable the FDR.
Additionally, Captain Tsu was found to have had several potential motives in the lead-up to the crash that pointed to his alleged suicide. He had recently lost $1.2 million in share trading and had been suspended from trading just ten days before the accident due to nonpayment. He had also taken out a $600,000 life insurance policy that was meant to take effect the day of the crash (though it was later identified as a routine policy obtained as part of a mortgage requirement).
Although Tsu’s total assets were more significant than his liabilities, his liquid assets were insufficient to cover his immediate debts, and his family’s monthly expenditure could not be covered by his monthly income.
Financial troubles were not the only personal issues faced by Captain Tsu. He had also recently received several work-related disciplinary actions – shockingly, one of which was related to improper manipulation of the CVR circuit breaker. Furthermore, Tsu was known to have conflicts with other co-pilots, including Ward, who questioned his command suitability.
Based on the evidence that pointed to Captain Tsu’s culpability, the NTSB wrote to its Indonesian counterparts:
The examination of all of the factual evidence is consistent with the conclusions that:
1) no airplane-related mechanical malfunctions or failures caused or contributed to the accident, and
2) the accident can be explained by intentional pilot action. Specifically,
a) the accident airplane’s flight profile is consistent with sustained manual nose-down flight control inputs;
b) the evidence suggests that the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) was intentionally disconnected;
c) recovery of the airplane was possible but not attempted; and
d) it is more likely that the nose-down flight control inputs were made by the captain than by the first officer
The chairman of the NTSC, however, disagreed. He overrode the findings of his investigators, declaring that the evidence was inconclusive and thus, the cause of the accident could not be determined.
Geoffrey Thomas, who was writing for The Sydney Morning Herald, insisted:
"A secret report confirmed that the Indonesian authorities would not issue a public verdict because they feared it would make their own people too frightened to fly.”
Yet, the NTSC chairman’s sentiment was shared by a private independent investigation for a civil lawsuit tried in the Los Angeles County Superior Court. It concluded that the crash was indeed due to minute defects within the PCU. The rudder control manufacturer and families of the victims eventually reached an out-of-court settlement.
So, what do you think? Was it a suicidal act of mass murder – or a terribly unfortunate accident?
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By elocal magazine