One-Two-GO Airlines Flight 269 (OG269) was a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Bangkok to Phuket, Thailand. On 16 September 2007, about 15:41 ICT, the McDonnell Douglas MD-82 operating the flight crashed into an embankment beside runway 27 at Phuket International Airport (HKT) bursting into flames upon impact during an attempted go-around after an aborted landing, killing 90 of the 130 persons on board (this includes one person who died of burn injuries several days after the crash). It is the third deadliest aviation incident to occur in Thailand.
The crash report was published by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Committee (AAIC) of the Ministry of Transport. A separate two-year report done by the United States National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) was incorporated into the AAIC report. Both reports found that the captain and first officer had worked hours in excess of the legal flight limits; that the first officer attempted to transfer control to the captain during the go-around; that neither pilot initiated a go-around and that the training and safety programs at the airline were deficient.
Between 2009 and 2010 One-Two-Go Airlines was prohibited from operating in European Union nations due to safety concerns. At the time of the accident, the airline was owned by Orient Thai Airlines and in July 2010, it fully re-branded as Orient Thai Airlines.
Flight
On the day of the crash, the McDonnell Douglas MD-82 departed Bangkok's Don Mueang International Airport, Thailand at 14:31 en route to Phuket International Airport as flight number OG269. The flight crew consisted of Captain Arief Mulyadi (57), an Indonesian national and the Chief Pilot of One-Two-Go Airlines, and a former Indonesian Air Force pilot, and First Officer Montri Kamolrattanachai (30), a Thai national who had recently completed his flight training with One-Two-GO's ab initio program. Arief had 16,752 flight hours, including 4,330 hours on the MD-82, while Montri had 1,465 hours, 1,240 of them on the MD-82. The aircraft was carrying 123 passengers and seven crew members. OG269 was the fourth of six flights between Bangkok and Phuket that Arief and Montri were scheduled to fly that day.
On approach to Phuket, Captain Arief made several radio communications errors including read-back/hear-back communications and misstating their flight number. First Officer Montri was the flying pilot.
Another aircraft landed immediately prior to Flight 269 and experienced wind shear. That aircraft's captain contacted the tower and reported wind shear on final and cumulonimbus over the airport, a report audible to all incoming aircraft. Air Traffic Control requested Flight 269 acknowledge the weather information provided and re-state intentions. Captain Arief acknowledged the transmission and stated his intention to land.
Crash
OG269 conducted an ILS approach just north of the centerline on runway 27. As the landing proceeded, ATC reported increasing winds at 240 degrees from , then to . Captain Arief acknowledged the reports. ATC requested intentions again. Captain Arief said, "Landing".
As the aircraft descended to above threshold level (ATL), its airspeed dropped. Captain Arief repeatedly called for more power as First Officer Montri attempted the landing. The aircraft continued to descend and fell below ATL, causing the auto-throttle to reduce engine thrust to idle. One second later, First Officer Montri called "Go Around". This was acknowledged by the captain. The first officer then attempted to transfer control of the aircraft to Captain Arief. There was no verbal acknowledgement of this from Captain Arief.
The pilots retracted the landing gear and set flaps for go-around. The aircraft pitch changed from 2 degrees to 12 degrees as the aircraft climbed, its engines still at idle. Airspeed fell and the aircraft climbed to a maximum altitude of ATL before beginning to descend. For 13 seconds the engines remained at idle. The aircraft pitch angle decreased to near zero and then the throttle was manually increased two seconds before impact with an embankment along the runway at 15:40. The aircraft was destroyed on impact along with a post-crash fire.
Recovery
Rescue efforts were hampered by a four-foot (1.3 m) ditch beside and parallel to runway 27 running the length of the runway. Rescue vehicles were unable to cross this ditch, though they could have entered at either end of the runway, which none did. One survivor complained that only a single ambulance arrived.
Additional fire and rescue from the town of Phuket arrived 30 minutes later. Additionally, the airport failed to include "crash on airport" procedures in its air service manual as required by ICAO.