The Worst Airline in the World (Adam Air Flight 574) - DISASTER BREAKDOWN

Low Cost Airlines are seemingly everywhere in the modern aviation market. Over the last 30 years these low budget operators have sprang up in all regions of the world. Offering low fares and a basic A to B service. In the 2000s decade, massive low cost expansion in Southeast Asia gave rise to many airlines based out Indonesia. One such operator was Adam Air. For a time in the mid to late 2000s, one could easily argue that Adam Air was not only one of the worst airlines in Indonesia but possibly one of the most unsafe in the entire world.
Three hull losses and multiple other incidents occurred over a two year period between 2006 and 2008. The deadliest of which transpired on New Years Day of 2007. The Disaster of Adam Air Flight 574 certainly highlighted Indonesia’s poor aviation safety record. The story is just as much about the airline marred in controversy, corruption and nepotism as it is about the disaster itself.

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[greenalfoil]

Refusing to fund the recovery while stealing from the company is just next level disgusting.

[ebdhudnav]

The cockpit recording is disturbing. It's even more terrifying when you hear the speed increases and the aircraft starts breaking apart. That's scary

[SK-quwo]

This is by far the most disturbing CVR I've ever heard. Hearing the pilots call out to god in terror and desperation as the plane spiraled towards the ocean is so heartbreaking and terrifying. Those final moments as the plane broke up is particularly hard to listen to.

[novarioadinugroho]

4 days before, in 28 Dec 2006 a ship (Senopati Nusantara) sank in the Java Sea, my sister along with four of her friends and more than 300 other passengers went missing. At that time we had to look for information everywhere about the victims of the ship accident, then suddenly on January 1 we were shocked by another sad news about Adam Air 574.

We were really confused because the media reports suddenly turned to Adam Air 574. Finally we decided to check the northern coastline of the island of Java ourselves.

what a very dark Christmas and New Year.

May all passengers on the Senopati Nusantara ship and Adam Air 574 rest in peace.

[EM.]

ADAM AIR Company’s motto was “Flying is Cheap” to highlight the low-cost of the tickets. Considering their safety records I have changed it in “Flying is Cheap, Death it’s for free”.

[thrillho]

The owners seriously deserved prison time for how badly they ran this airline. I'll bet they never flew Adam Air themselves.

[DannyPlaysStuff]

Yeah, I remember Adam Air.

There's like every time you turn on the TV and there's a case of aviation issue we would always say, "It's probably Adam Air again." It's just THE absolute worst of airline operations.

It made Lion Air's infamously bad service look like AAA first class airliner by comparison....

[catscanhavelittleasalami]

The fact that we can clearly hear the plane breaking off in the recording is haunting. Usually we only hear the warnings or/and pilots and it's already bad enough, but this really gives you an idea as to what these unfortunate people experienced.

[apc]

This one always stuck in my mind, I can’t imagine how disorientated the pilots were and how scared the passengers were. Such a bizarre case from the flight to the investigation.

[skolas-aditya]

I flew once with Adam Air as a kid. I still remember how the seat behind me just... came off? Like the bolts screwing it to the floor had popped off or something.
Their sheer disregard for safety is unbelievable. Good thing we landed safely. We never flew with them again.

[SuperNuclearUnicorn]

As soon as you said one of the owners was a politician I'm like "oh no, I can see where this is going"

[reihanbyzanthira]

Hearing the CVR recording with my own native language is frightening. I can feel what the pilots going through as they realize about the faulty navigation system. For the first part, they were calm about it but they know something is up. And soon as the plane entered the poor weather things started to escalated quickly for them.

My grandma used to flew with Adam Air back to her hometown after visits our family. I always concerned about it because every time there's a news about plane accident, it's almost certain that it is Adam Air.

But they do have a great livery with that bright orange color. One plane, a 737-300 (I think) used to stored in my hometown airport (Bandung, Hussein Sastranegara Airport.) I used to love seeing it from the service road, and that plane actually what got me into aviation world.

Thank you for this great coverage. Back in the 2000s there's a lot of airline incident in Indonesia, so it's quite common to hear a news about plane crash back in those days.

There is one incident that i've been struggling to look for the complete coverage. Which is incident of Garuda Indonesia's DC-10 that failed to take off after an engine failure in Fukuoka, Japan. Maybe you can look it up in the future.

Once again, this video is amazing. Thank you.

[virginiaviola]

While the corruption is appalling, the refusal to recover the bodies is unforgivable. Those poor people and their families.

[andybachmid]

my wife (RIP) was a cabin crew of this airline. that same plane, same route she usually scheduled for her service. i told her to resign since shes on her 2nd month of pregnancy. and thanks god she was imediately resign. 1 week after her resign, this accident occurred. 2 of her cabin crew friend died in this accident.

[andrieskawengian]

My grandma also the one among the victims on this flight. We should have a joyful new year (because I had arrived in Manado before to celebrate Christmas with my big family and waiting for my grandma arrived on January 1st) but it turns out as the most memorable yet hurtfull moment of my life. I know, God really loves her and all of the passengers on this flight.
May their soul rest in peace 🕊

(sorry for my English maybe a little bit messy)

[Powerranger-leup]

AdamAir was known to fire or dock pay from pilots who would refuse to fly unsafe planes and their maintenance didn’t just extend to the equipment. One of their planes had to be pushed back by muscle power after it stopped working. It turned out that a connection hose had hardened and broken before the plane was due to take off. Rather than replace it like the manufacturer recommended, AdamAir cut out the cracked part and reconnected it.

[GudaGudaPaisen]

Broken up before crashing into the sea, air disaster cant get more worst than this.

May the souls be resting in peace.

[Keikoatr]

I had flown this exact plane (PK-KKW) just a few days before it crashed, from from Palembang to Jakarta to visit my aunt there and man they flew directly into the severe storm. Thats basically my worst ever flight altho im not as scared as my mom and sis since i was a kid at that time. After that flight, both my mom and aunt (who always used Adam Air at that time) agrees to never fly Adam Air anymore. And after a few days we made that decision, the plane crashed.

When i saw the news, it was surreal that the plane that i took ended up crashed a few days later, on the similar weather too.

[manzhuurdaanisy]

I flew using this airline from Singapore to Jakarta just a few weeks before the disaster. I remember when we're approaching Bangka Islands the machine got blacked out and we had a free fall for some thousand feet. Luckily the pilots could revive the machine and we continue to flew to Jakarta. I still vividly remember how my parents hugged me and we all were shouting "Allahu Akbar" for a while, it was really scary...

[SleepNeed]

14:42 to 15:37: That CVR was heartbreaking hearing the captain and first officer panic as the plane literally starts being torn apart due to the high speeds, found a source claiming it was going Mach 0.926. Can't imagine the terror the passengers/flight attendants felt in the cabin.