Qualla: 2012 Mount Salak Sukhoi Superjet Crash

2012 Mount Salak Sukhoi Superjet Crash: Introduction

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The terrain warning system was working perfectly. It told the pilots, clearly and repeatedly, that they were flying toward a mountain. They switched it off. On May 9, 2012, a Sukhoi Superjet 100 -- Russia's first post-Soviet production airliner, the pride of an industry trying to reclaim its place in global aviation -- slammed into the side of Mount Salak in West Java at 6,270 feet. All 45 people aboard were killed: crew, Sukhoi sales staff, Indonesian airline executives, journalists, and an American aviation consultant. The aircraft had been airborne for barely half an hour.

2012 Mount Salak Sukhoi Superjet Crash: The Welcome Asia Tour

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The Superjet 100 was supposed to be Russia's comeback. Manufactured by Sukhoi Civil Aircraft, it was the first new production airliner to emerge from the Russian aviation industry since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. The 'Welcome Asia!' demonstration tour was designed ...

2012 Mount Salak Sukhoi Superjet Crash: The Mountain That Claims Aircraft

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Mount Salak rises to 2,211 meters south of Bogor in West Java, its slopes cloaked in dense tropical forest and frequently shrouded in cloud. Between 2002 and 2012, seven aviation accidents occurred in the mountain's vicinity. An Indonesian Air Force aircraft crashed there in 2008...

2012 Mount Salak Sukhoi Superjet Crash: Voices in the Cockpit

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The captain was Alexander Yablontsev, 57 years old, a former Russian combat pilot, test pilot, and cosmonaut who had worked on the Buran space program and flown the Superjet 100's maiden voyage in 2008. His first officer was Alexander Kotchetkov, 44, and the flight navigator was ...

2012 Mount Salak Sukhoi Superjet Crash: Forty-Five Lives

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Among the dead were 14 representatives from the Indonesian airline Sky Aviation, which had been considering a fleet order. Captain Aan Husdiana, director of operations for Kartika Airlines, was aboard. Five journalists had joined the flight: Dody Aviantara and Didik Nur Yusuf fro...

2012 Mount Salak Sukhoi Superjet Crash: What Remained

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

In the aftermath, Sky Aviation delayed delivery of 12 Superjet 100s. Kartika Airlines signaled that its order for 30 aircraft would likely slip. But within days, Sky Aviation reversed course, stating the planes were still needed to connect Indonesia's sprawling archipelago. Mexic...