On 2 October 2015, an Aviastar charter flight en route from Andi Jemma Airport, Masamba to Sultan Hasanuddin Airport Makassar crashed near Palopo 11 minutes after takeoff. The aircraft involved was a de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter, registered as PK-BRM. There were 7 passangers and 3 crews aboard. All people aboard died. For a few days, the lost communication of Aviastar was a mystery. The plane and the bodies were found on Monday, 5 October 2015.

                                         The de Havilland DHC-6 Twin Otter, similar to
                                         the aircraft involved to Flight 7503.

   Flight 7503 took off from Masamba at 14.25 WITA. It was expected to land at Makassar Sultan Hasanuddin Airport one hour later at 15.25, but eleven minutes after takeoff, flight 7503 losts contact with the control tower. The aircraft was at 8.000 feet. The weather was reported good and the communication between the pilots and the control tower will be good. After the report that Aviastar Flight 7503 was reported lost, the National Search and Rescue Agency (BASARNAS) quickly set up a crisis center in Makassar, South Sulawesi. They also sent 100 search and rescue team to the area. Citizens that lived in Palopo admit that they saw a plane flying very low. Myriads of people said that they saw a plane crash but each of them gave a different area. A young student claimed that the plane was flying very low, has a smoke on the wing and impacted the sea in Luwu shoreline. The people involved was captain Iri Afriadi and officer Yudhistira Febby.

                                         The aircraft was found 3 days after it crashed.

Written by: Kevin E.Gunawan