Status:
Date:	Sunday 4 December 1977
Time:	20:36
Type:	Boeing 737-2H6
Operator:	Malaysian Airlines System - MAS
Registration:	9M-MBD
MSN:	20585/306
First flight:	1972-09-12 (5 years 3 months)
Engines:	2 Pratt & Whitney JT8D-15
Crew:	Fatalities: 7 / Occupants: 7
Passengers:	Fatalities: 93 / Occupants: 93
Total:	Fatalities: 100 / Occupants: 100
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Aircraft fate:	Written off (damaged beyond repair)
Location:	near Tanjong Kupang (   Malaysia)
Phase:	En route (ENR)
Nature:	Domestic Scheduled Passenger
Departure airport:	Penang International Airport (PEN/WMKP), Malaysia
Destination airport:	Kuala Lumpur Subang International Airport (KUL/WMKK), Malaysia
Flightnumber:	MH653

Narrative:
MAS flight 653 departed Penang, Malaysia at 19:21 hours on a domestic flight to Kuala Lumpur. While descending through an altitude of 4000 feet towards Kuala Lumpur, the crew reported that the plane was hijacked. The hijacker demanded to be flown to Singapore.
The aircraft climbed to FL210 and proceeded to Singapore. En route to Singapore, the hijacker reportedly shot both pilots and then himself. The cockpit voice recordings indicate noises suggestive of the cockpit door being broken in, along with a reasonable amount of screaming and cursing. No noises are heard from within the cockpit to indicate any of the three occupants were conscious. The autopilot was then disconnected, possibly due to a pitch input by someone entering the cockpit and trying to control the aircraft. An investigator speculated that someone pulled back on the column, causing a pitch up, followed by an oscillation. This rapidly developed into a high amplitude phugoid oscillation that resulted in a rapid dive. The 737 crashed into a swamp and disintegrated.

Hijack
Loss of control

» Aviation Disasters / D. Gero (144, 145)
» Flight International 10 December 1977 (1708)
» Malaysia Airlines Flight 653. (2006, June 17). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 09:23, June 18, 2006, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Malaysia_Airlines_Flight_653&oldid=59115813.
» The final call / S. Barlay (382-282)