Incident Overview
Description
Flying Tiger Line flight 066, a Boeing 747-200F named “Thomas Haywood”, impacted a hillside during descent to Kuala Lumpur Subang Airport. All four on board were killed The aircraft was less than half loaded with textiles, computer software and mail when it departed Singapore. Approaching Kuala Lumpur, the crew were cleared to route direct to the Kayell (KL) beacon for a runway 33 approach. While on the NDB approach, the crew were cleared to “…descend two four zero zero…” which was interpreted by the crew as “…to 400…”. The aircraft descended below minimum altitude and crashed into a hillside at 600 feet/180 m msl just before reaching the Kayell NDB, where minimum descent height was 2400 feet. The Boeing hit treetops and started to break up until bursting into flames. CAUSE The most probable cause of the accident was that the crew, while attempting a nonprecision instrument approach, misinterpreted the descent clearance and the aircraft struck a hill at 481 ft above mean sea level.
Primary Cause
Misinterpretation of descent clearance during a nonprecision instrument approach.Misinterpretation of descent clearance during a nonprecision instrument approach.Share on:
