Lion Air Flight 538

The aircraft, a McDonnell Douglas MD-82, with line number 1173 and manufacturer's serial number 49189, made its first flight on 13 November 1984, later delivered on 20 December 1984 and operated by Mexican carrier Aeroméxico as XA-AMP and named ”Aguascalientes” before being acquired by Lion Air in 2002 and registered as PK-LMN. Lion Air had sold the aircraft to another airline for delivery in January 2005.[2][3]

Flight 538 took off from Jakarta at around 5:00pm carrying a total of 146 passengers and 7 crew members. Most of the passengers were members of the Nahdlatul Ulama, who were attending a national meeting held after the victorious result of the 2004 Indonesian Presidential Election. The flight was uneventful until its landing.[4]

The flight arrived at the airport during dusk, at around 6:00pm in heavy rain. A thunderstorm was reportedly present during the landing.[4]

Flight 538 was configured appropriately for landing, touched down "smoothly" according to most passengers, and the thrust reversers were deployed. The aircraft, however, failed to slow adequately, overran the runway and slammed into an embankment. The impact caused the floor of the front portion of the plane to collapse, reportedly killing many of the passengers. The aircraft split into two sections, coming to rest in the end of the Runway and fuel began to leak. Passengers had difficulty locating emergency exits in the waning light. Some of the passengers self-evacuated through the opening in the fuselage.[5]

Most of the passengers were Indonesians, while airport officials confirmed that one Singaporean woman was among the injured. The pilots at the control of the flight were Captain Dwi Mawastoro and First Officer Stephen Lesdek. Captain Dwi died in the crash while First Officer Lesdek survived with serious injuries.[7]

The newly elected Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono ordered an immediate investigation onto the cause of the crash of Flight 538 and stated that the investigation should be open to the public to prevent unwanted rumors in the aftermath of the crash. Minister of Transportation Hatta Rajasa stated that the Transportation Department would evaluate the Indonesian airline operations in response to the crash of Flight 538 in addition to two other similar incidents which occurred on the same day.[8]

The black box was subsequently found on December 1, 2004 and was transported to the Adi Sumarmo Emergency Operations Center.[9]

A witness to the crash claimed that lightning struck the plane during its landing phase. According to him, the landing light and the interior lighting were extinguished after the strike.[4]

Lion Air "claimed responsibility" for the crash and stated that they would pay the hospital bills of the survivors.[10] However, they denied that the crash was caused by the airline's misconduct and stated that weather was the main factor. According to them, Flight 538 experienced a tailwind during its landing, which explained why the plane didn't stop. Others claimed that the brakes or the thrust reversers malfunctioned.[11] The pilot did not put the throttle into flight idle, this cause the spoiler to retract, one of the reverse thrust also found to be faulty.

The preliminary report was published in 2005. Investigators stated that the plane's braking system was not at its optimum level. This condition was aggravated by weather conditions during the accident. Investigators also identified a faulty thrust reverser as one of the cause of the crash; they subsequently issued several recommendations to Lion Air.[12]

• American Airlines Flight 1420
• Air India Express Flight 812
• Austral Líneas Aéreas Flight 46
• TAM Airlines Flight 3054

• Accident description at the Aviation Safety Network
• Information (Archive)– National Transportation Safety Board