Pan Am Flight 812, a Boeing 707-321B

Boeing 707

The Boeing 707 is a four-engine narrow-body commercial passenger jet airliner developed by Boeing in the early 1950s. Its name is most commonly pronounced as "Seven Oh Seven". The first airline to operate the 707 was Pan American World Airways, inaugurating the type's first commercial flight on...

, was a scheduled international flight from Hong Kong

Hong Kong

Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...

 to Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 with an intermediate stop at Denpasar

Denpasar

Denpasar is the capital city of the province of Bali, Indonesia. It has a rapidly expanding population of 788,445 in 2010, up from 533,252 in the previous decade. It is located at .-History:...

, Bali

Bali

Bali is an Indonesian island located in the westernmost end of the Lesser Sunda Islands, lying between Java to the west and Lombok to the east...

, Indonesia

Indonesia

Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

. On April 22, 1974 it crashed into a rough mountainous terrain while preparing for a runway 09 approach to Denpasar after a 4 hour 20 minutes flight from Hong Kong. Location of the accident is about 42.5 nautical miles (78.7 km) North-West of Ngurah Rai International Airport.

Examination on the disposition of the wreckage and inspection of the site indicated that no structural failure of the aircraft occurred before impact. It was determined that the premature execution of a right-hand turn to join the 263 degrees outbound track, which was based on the indication given by only one of the ADFs

Radio direction finder

A radio direction finder is a device for finding the direction to a radio source. Due to low frequency propagation characteristic to travel very long distances and "over the horizon", it makes a particularly good navigation system for ships, small boats, and aircraft that might be some distance...

while the other one was still in steady condition is the most probable cause of the accident.

The 107 victims on the aircraft came from 11 countries.

Nationality	Passengers	Crew	Total
	17	9	26
	0	1	1
	0	1	1
	29	0	29
	18	0	18
	16	0	16
	4	0	4
	3	0	3
	unk	0	unk
	unk	0	unk
	unk	0	unk
Total	96	11	107

External links

• Report dated 20 March 1975 released by the Ministry of Transport, Communications and Tourism, Indonesia.
• http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=bnIUAAAAIBAJ&sjid=GgIEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6141,1502986&dq=pan+am+crash April 23, 1974, Toledo Blade
• http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=nxAQAAAAIBAJ&sjid=wpADAAAAIBAJ&pg=4115,5251449&dq=pan+am+crash April 24, 1974, The Age
• http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=emULAAAAIBAJ&sjid=b1IDAAAAIBAJ&pg=1483,1697713&dq=pan+am+crash April 23, 1974, The Bryan Times