Garuda Indonesia Airways flight 152 experienced a catastrophic loss of life after impacting terrain near Medan, Indonesia, resulting in the destruction of the aircraft. The flight, an Airbus A300B4-220, was cleared for an ILS approach to Medan’s runway 05 and was flying on a 316-degree heading on Airway 585/W12. Upon descending to 3000 feet, the crew was instructed to turn left, heading 240 degrees for vectoring to intercept the runway 05 ILS. However, the crew failed to respond to this instruction, leading to a confusing communication between the flight crew and the controller. The controller addressed the call to ‘Merpati 152’, which the flight crew repeated, using the correct call sign. The flight crew then replied, ‘GIA 152 heading 235. Confirm we cleared from a mountainous area?’ At 13:28, the controller confirmed the flight was turning towards a mountainous area and instructed the flight to continue on a 215-degree heading. At 13:30, ATC directed the flight to turn right heading 046 and report when established on the localizer. Despite being correctly instructed to turn left, the flight crew?s confusion led to a deviation from the planned turn. The controller, potentially recognizing the error, stated, ‘152 OK, you continue turning left now.’ This continued left turn, despite the crew?s expectation of a right turn, caused the aircraft to impact a wooded area, break up, and burst into flames. The wreckage spread over a 150×75 square meter area near Pancur Batu, Indonesia, resulting in significant smoke and smog. The probable cause was a combination of radar vectoring errors, which resulted in the aircraft descending below its assigned altitude and impacting treetops. This reduced the aircraft?s vertical awareness, leading to a catastrophic descent and subsequent fire.Garuda Indonesia Airways flight 152 experienced a catastrophic loss of life after impacting terrain near Medan, Indonesia, resulting in the destruction of the aircraft. The flight, an Airbus A300B4-220, was cleared for an ILS approach to Medan’s runway 05 and was flying on a 316-degree heading on Airway 585/W12. Upon descending to 3000 feet, the crew was instructed to turn left, heading 240 degrees for vectoring to intercept the runway 05 ILS. However, the crew failed to respond to this instruction, leading to a confusing communication between the flight crew and the controller. The controller addressed the call to ‘Merpati 152’, which the flight crew repeated, using the correct call sign. The flight crew then replied, ‘GIA 152 heading 235. Confirm we cleared from a mountainous area?’ At 13:28, the controller confirmed the flight was turning towards a mountainous area and instructed the flight to continue on a 215-degree heading. At 13:30, ATC directed the flight to turn right heading 046 and report when established on the localizer. Despite being correctly instructed to turn left, the flight crew?s confusion led to a deviation from the planned turn. The controller, potentially recognizing the error, stated, ‘152 OK, you continue turning left now.’ This continued left turn, despite the crew?s expectation of a right turn, caused the aircraft to impact a wooded area, break up, and burst into flames. The wreckage spread over a 150×75 square meter area near Pancur Batu, Indonesia, resulting in significant smoke and smog. The probable cause was a combination of radar vectoring errors, which resulted in the aircraft descending below its assigned altitude and impacting treetops. This reduced the aircraft?s vertical awareness, leading to a catastrophic descent and subsequent fire.