Aircraft Accident Investigation Report

Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (MH17)

Aircraft type: Boeing 777-200ER
Operator: Malaysia Airlines
IATA flight No. MH17
ICAO flight No. MAS17
Call sign: MALAYSIAN 17
Registration: 9M-MRD
Flight origin: Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, the Netherlands
Destination: Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Malaysia
Shootdown
Date: 17 July 2014
Summary: Shot down by a missile transported from Russia on the
day of the crash
Site: Near Hrabove, Donetsk Oblast,Ukraine,48°8’17"N38°38’20"E

The investigation was conducted by the Dutch Safety Board(DSB)

and the Dutch-led joint investigation team(JIT). They
concluded that the airliner was shot down by a Buk surface-to-
air missile launched by 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade of
the Russian Ground Forces which is controlling a territory
near the crash over the Ukrainian Air Force.

1. FACTUAL INFORMATION
1.1 History of the flight. Malaysia Airlines Flight 17
departed from Amsterdam Airport at 12:13
CEST(Central European Summer Time) (10:13
UTC)(Coordinated Universal Time)and took off at
12:31 local time (10:31 UTC). It was expected to
arrive at Kuala Lumpur International Airport at
06:10 MYT (Malaysian Time), Friday, 18 July (22:10
UTC, 17 July).
The flight plan was to fly over Ukraine at flight level
330 then changed to FL 350 around Ukrainian city of
Dnipropetrovsk. Dnipropetrovsk Air Control asked MH17
if they could climb to FL 350 to make a little
separation with the Singapore Airlines Flight 351, also
 at FL 330 with the same location. The crew of MH17
asked to remain at FL 330 and the air control approved
this request. The crew asked again for a deviation of
20 nautical miles to the North due to the bad weather.
The flight remained at FL 330 and at 16:19 local time
(13:19 UTC)Dnipro air control noticed that the flight
was routing wrong way and instructed to return to the
track. Dnipro control contacted Russian ATC and
requested to transfer the flight to the Russian
Airspace. The Russian ATC approved. The Dnipro control
attempted to contact the flight for transferring the
ATC to the Russian ATC, but the aircraft did not
respond. They called the Russian ATC and they confirmed
that the aircraft was disappeared from their radar.
1.2 Injuries to person
Injuries Crew Passengers
Fatal 15 283
Serious 0 0
Minor/None 0 0

People on board by nationality

Nation Number
Australia 27
Belgium 4
Canada 1
Germany 4
Indonesia 12
Malaysia 43
Netherlands 193
New Zealand 1
Philippines 3
United Kingdom 10
Total 298

1.3 Damage to aircraft. The aircraft was totally

damaged and scattered into pieces.
1.4 Personnel Information. The flight had two captains, Wan
Amran Wan Hussin and Eugene Choo Jin Leong both Malaysian,
and two copilots, Ahmad Hakimi Hanapi and Muhd Firdaus
Abdul Rahim and other 13 crews on board.
1.5 Aircraft Information. MH17, which was also marketed as
KLM Flight 4103(KL4103) through a codeshare agreement.
It was operated with a Boeing 777-2H6ER,serial number
28411, registration 9M-MRD. The 84th Boeing 777 produced,
it first flew on 17 July 1997, exactly 17 years before the
incident, and was delivered new to Malaysia Airlines on 29
July 1997.Powered by two Rolls-Royce Trent 892 engines and
carrying 280 seats (33 business and 247 economy), the
aircraft had recorded more than 76,300 hours in 11,430
cycles before the crash. The aircraft was in an airworthy
condition at departure.
 1.6 Test and Research. During the investigation, they
found a debris of a missile on one of the flight
crew’s body.
1.7 Additional Information. The place of the plane
crash was near on the said critical area. Critical
area is on the boundary of Ukraine and Russia which
is considered as a war zone of two country. A
series of changing fires, air battle and missile
launching were happening on that day.
1.8 Useful or effective investigation techniques. The
investigation team used a technique to locate where
the missile came from. They collected the parts
from the cockpit’s area and then installed at their
proper location. The skin was full of explosion
marks and they used a thick stick to represent as
rays of explosion.

2. ANALYSIS and CONCLUSIONS Near the crash site was a

critical area at the boundary of Ukrainian airspace where
it was considered as a warzone of Ukraine and Russia.
Airliners and air controllers are aware to the critical
zone. They were not passing on that area. But
unfortunately, MH17 got shot down from one of the missile
from the Russian Ground Forces. The crash site and the
place where the missile was launched were just 16
kilometres away from each other. The investigation found
out, it was a Buk M-1, a missile that Russian Ground
Forces launching at that time.
3. SAFETY RECOMMENDATIONS Because of the tragedy happened,
all the routes would be closed in Eastern Ukrainian
airspace. This lead to the airliners to avoid that
critical area because of the possible another shoot down
of an aircraft. And both the Ukraine and Russia must be
responsible of not to involve the civilian airliners of
their war.

Prepared by:
Dutch Safety Board Head Investigator,
Pabs V. Fernandez

Submitted to:
International Civil Aviation Organization Board of
Director, Engr. Michelle B. Mendoza