The flight crew’s lack of familiarity with nearby mountainous terrain, prolonged nonpertinent conversations that distracted them from monitoring the aircraft’s flight path and the pilots’ disregard of several terrain awareness and warning system (TAWS) warnings were factors that contributed to a controlled-flight-into-terrain (CFIT) accident that destroyed a Sukhoi RRJ-95B (Superjet) and killed all 45 occupants the afternoon of May 9, 2012, according to the National Transportation Safety Committee of Indonesia (NTSC).
The NTSC’s final report on the accident also cited the absence of minimum vectoring altitudes and a minimum safe altitude warning (MSAW) system for air traffic controllers handling flights in the area of West Java where the accident occurred. “The objective of the MSAW function is to assist in the prevention of CFIT accidents by generating, in a timely manner, a warning of the possible infringement of a minimum safe altitude,” the report said.
