British Airways Flight 009
G-BDXH, the aircraft involved in the accident, pictured in January 1982 with a previous livery | |
| Accident | |
|---|---|
| Date | 24 June 1982 |
| Summary | Quadruple engine flameout due to blockage by volcanic ash |
| Site |
|
| Aircraft | |
| Aircraft type | Boeing 747-236B |
| Aircraft name | City of Edinburgh |
| Operator | British Airways |
| IATA flight No. | BA009 |
| ICAO flight No. | BAW009 |
| Call sign | SPEEDBIRD 9 |
| Registration | G-BDXH |
| Flight origin | London-Heathrow Airport, England, United Kingdom |
| 1st stopover | Sahar Airport, Bombay, Maharashtra, India |
| 2nd stopover | Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia |
| 3rd stopover | Perth Airport, Perth, Western Australia, Australia |
| Last stopover | Melbourne Airport, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia |
| Destination | Auckland Airport, Auckland, New Zealand |
| Occupants | 263 |
| Passengers | 248 |
| Crew | 15 |
| Fatalities | 0 |
| Survivors | 263 |
British Airways Flight 009, sometimes referred to by its callsign SPEEDBIRD 9 or as the Jakarta incident, was a scheduled British Airways flight from London Heathrow to Auckland, with stops in Bombay, Kuala Lumpur, Perth and Melbourne.
On 24 June 1982, the route was flown by City of Edinburgh, a Boeing 747-236B registered as G-BDXH. The aircraft flew into a cloud of volcanic ash thrown up by the eruption of Mount Galunggung around 110 miles (180 km) south-east of Jakarta, Indonesia, resulting in the failure of all four engines. Partly because the event occurred at night, obscuring the cloud, and partly because volcanic ashes were not recognized as a risk for jets at that time, the reason for the failure was not immediately apparent to the crew or air traffic control. The aircraft was diverted to Jakarta in the hope that enough engines could be restarted to allow it to land there. It glided out of the ash cloud, and all engines were restarted (although engine number 2 started vibrating and the crew had to shut it down soon after), allowing the aircraft to land safely at Halim Perdanakusuma International Airport in Jakarta.
The crew members of the accident segment had boarded the aircraft in Kuala Lumpur, while many of the passengers had been aboard since the flight began in London.