Thai Airways International Flight 261

Thai Airways International Flight 261 was a scheduled passenger flight from Bangkok, Thailand to Surat Thani, Thailand. On 11 December 1998, the flight was being flown by an Airbus Airbus A310-204, registration HS-TIA.

Thai Flight 261, carrying 146 people, took off from Don Mueang International Airport at 17:54 local time on a one-hour flight to Surat Thani. When the aircraft began to descend to Surat Thani Airport, the weather was bad with heavy rain and poor visibility, and the pilot executed a missed approach two times.^[1] On a third attempt to land, the aircraft stalled and crashed 0.7 km south of the airport at 19:08, killing 101 people (including both pilots) and injuring 45 people.^[1] Ninety passengers and 11 crew members died.^[2] The probable cause of the crash was determined to be "spatial disorientation when the nose pitched up sharply during a night time approach in stormy weather".

The accident remains (Mar 2015) the second-deadliest in Thailand, behind Lauda Air Flight 004.

Aircraft

HS-TIA was an Airbus A310-204, c/n 415, previously registered as F-WWBI for flight testing with Airbus. Given the name Phitsanulok, HS-TIA was first flown on 3 March 1986 and delivered to Thai Airways at Don Mueang on 29 April 1986.

In popular culture

• Modernine TV discussed Thai Airways International Flight 261 on TimeLine, 30 May 2016, in "Flight 261 Disaster".^[3]

References

External links

• Cockpit Voice Recorder transcript and accident summary

Coordinates: 9°07′39″N 99°8′26″E / 9.12750°N 99.14056°E / 9.12750; 99.14056