The aircraft involved was a seven-year-old Boeing 737-200 with registration HS-TBC and the plant number 22267/685 was built in 1980 and was delivered to Thai Airways in the same year. The aircraft had no previous adverse incident history. At the time of the crash, the aircraft was seven years and one month old and had 16,963 flying hours.
Crash
The meteorological conditions were good as Flight 365 approached Phuket International Airport. As they prepared to land, the flight crew of Flight 365 expressed concern about a DragonairBoeing 737 that was also landing at the airport but behind and below their aircraft. At 15:34 local time, the Dragonair captain told the air traffic controller that he was away from the airport at an altitude of and that the Thai Airways aircraft at a distance of about in front of him. Because the Dragonair's Boeing 737 was closer to the airport and flying at a lower altitude, it was the first to land. The Dragonair aircraft then turned right for the final approach to Runway 27. A few seconds later, the Thai pilots were given permission to drop to and land after. Immediately thereafter, the approach control was again called by the Thai crew, which stated that the position of the Dragonair flight would be incorrect. The Thai pilots also told the air traffic controller that they were at a distance of only from the airport, even though their aircraft was even farther away at that time. The Thai aircraft was then given priority by the air traffic control at 15:36 for landing. The captain of the Dragonair flight now warned of a possible collision because the Thai Boeing 737 would cut its flight path. As a result, the Thai Airways crew reduced the aircraft's speed. A lapse in concentration by the flight crew occurred allowing the speed of Flight 365 to fall below the minimum limit. When the speed had dropped to, the stick shaker activated. The aircraft slowed down for another ten seconds and then at a speed of, stalled. In an attempt to recover from the stall, the captain increased engine power and retracted the landing gear. This failed as the aircraft was now at a low altitude. The plane crashed into the Andaman Sea east of the airport, and sank into a seabed that was deep. Everyone on board the aircraft was killed.
Investigation
The probable cause for the crash of Flight 365 was determined to be "The pilot slowed the aircraft and it stalled while the pilot prepared to be number one on landing as advised by Phuket approach control. It appears that he was worrying and not sure whether he could make number one landing because the pilot of number two aircraft in sequence gave warning that the number one aircraft ahead was above him and could not descend passing through his level. The pilot added power and raised the gear after stick shaker activated but didn't execute a recovery before hitting the sea." In addition to pilot error, the air traffic controller was blamed for failing to keep Flight 365 and the Dragonair 737 adequately separated. The two duty air traffic controllers were assigned to other positions after the accident. Legal action was later taken against them.
