Indonesia Lion Air flight JT610 with 189 on board crashes into sea

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KARAWANG, Indonesia (AP) -- A Lion Air plane carrying 189 people crashed into the sea just minutes after taking off from Indonesia's capital on Monday in a blow to the country's aviation safety record after the lifting of bans on its airlines by the European Union and U.S.

Mon. Oct. 29, 2018 - Indonesia Lion Air flight with 189 on board crashes into sea
Indonesia Lion Air flight with 189 on board crashes into sea

Indonesia's disaster agency posted photos online of a crushed smartphone, books, bags and parts of the aircraft fuselage that had been collected by search and rescue vessels.

President Joko Widodo ordered the transport safety commission to investigate and urged Indonesians to "keep on praying" as rescuers search for victims. A transport official said the flight requested to return shortly after takeoff from Jakarta. Weather conditions were normal but the brand new aircraft had experienced a technical issue on its previous flight.

Lion Air said the jet, on a 1 hour and 10 minute flight to Pangkal Pinang on an island chain off Sumatra, was carrying 181 passengers, including one child and two babies, and eight crew members.

Distraught friends and relatives prayed and hugged each other as they waited at Pangkal Pinang's airport and at a crisis center set up at Jakarta's airport. Indonesian TV broadcast pictures of a fuel slick and debris field in the ocean.

The National Search and Rescue Agency's deputy chief, Nugroho Budi Wiryanto, said about 300 people including soldiers, police and local fishermen were involved in the search and that so far it has recovered no bodies — only ID cards, personal belongings and aircraft debris.

"We are waiting for the miracle from God," said Wiryanto, when asked if there were any hope of survivors.

At the agency's headquarters in Jakarta, family members waited desperately for news.

Feni, who uses a single name, said her soon to be married sister was on the flight, planning to meet relatives in Pangkal Pinang.

"We are here to find any information about my younger sister, her fiance, her in-law to be and a friend of them," said Feni.

"We don't have any information," she said, as her father wiped tears from reddened eyes. "No one provided us with any information that we need. We're confused. We hope that our family is still alive."

Indonesian Finance Minister Sri Mulyani also arrived at the agency and met with its chief, seeking information about 20 ministry staff who were on the flight after attending a ministry event in Jakarta.

The search and rescue agency said the flight ended in waters off West Java that are 30 to 35 meters (98 to 115 feet) deep.

The agency's chief, Muhammad Syaugi, told a news conference that divers are trying to locate the wreckage.

Weather conditions for the flight were safe, according to the Indonesian meteorology agency. It said the type of clouds associated with turbulence was not present and winds were weak.

The Boeing 737 Max 8 was delivered to Lion Air in mid-August and put in use within days, according to aviation website Flightradar24. Malindo Air, a Malaysian subsidiary of Jakarta-based Lion Air, was the first airline to being using the 737 Max 8 last year. The Max 8 replaced the similar 800 in the Chicago-based plane maker's product line.

Lion Air president-director Edward Sirait said the plane had a "technical problem" on its previous flight from Bali to Jakarta but it had been fully remedied. He didn't know specifics of the problem when asked in a TV interview. The pilot of Flight 610 had more than 6,000 flying hours while the co-pilot had more than 5,000 hours, according to the airline.

"Indeed there were reports about a technical problem, and the technical problem has been resolved in accordance with the procedures released by the plane manufacturer," he said. "I did not know exactly but let it be investigated by the authorities."

Boeing Co. said it was "deeply saddened" by the crash and was prepared to provide technical assistance to Indonesia's crash probe.

In a statement, the Chicago-based manufacturer expressed its concern for the 189 people onboard and offered "heartfelt sympathies to their families and loved ones."

The Transport Ministry said the plane took off from Jakarta at about 6:20 a.m. and crashed just 13 minutes later. Data from FlightAware showed it had reached an altitude of only 5,200 feet (1,580 meters).

The crash is the worst airline disaster in Indonesia since an AirAsia flight from Surabaya to Singapore plunged into the sea in December 2014, killing all 162 on board.

Indonesian airlines were barred in 2007 from flying to Europe because of safety concerns, though several were allowed to resume services in the following decade. The ban was completely lifted in June this year. The U.S. lifted a decadelong ban in 2016.

Lion Air, a discount carrier, is one of Indonesia's youngest and biggest airlines, flying to dozens of domestic and international destinations.

In 2013, one of its Boeing 737-800 jets missed the runway while landing on Bali, crashing into the sea without causing any fatalities among the 108 people on board.


Mon. Oct. 29, 2018 - Lion Air Boeing 737 crashes on flight from Jakarta to Sumatra
Three-month-old Boeing 737 crashes into sea off Indonesia

The aircraft reported a "problem" moments after taking off. Across all models, the 737 is the best-selling commercial jetliner in history.

A brand new Lion Air Boeing 737 MAX 8 carrying 189 passengers and crew crashed into the sea shortly after takeoff from Jakarta, Indonesian authorities said Monday.

There was no immediate confirmation of casualties but rescuers said bodies were spotted in the water. The plane had entered service on August 15.

Flight JT610 was reported missing 13 minutes after departing at 6:20 a.m. (7:20 p.m. ET Sunday) bound for Pangkal Pinang, the capital of the Sumatran island of Bangka-Belitung.

Some personal items belonging to people on board were recovered from the water, along with small pieces of debris, rescue officials said. The aircraft's "black box" data recorder was located but had not been retrieved, according to authorities.

It was carrying 189 people — 178 adult passengers, three infants, six crew members and two pilots. After taking off from Jakarta, pilots requested permission to return for what the state-owned Antara news agency described only as "a problem."

Edward Sirait, president of the budget airline, told reporters that the plane had also encountered a technical problem on its previous flight that was subsequently resolved by engineers.

"This aircraft last flew from Denpasar to Cengkareng [Jakarta airport] and it was released to fly," he said. "There was a report about a technical problem but we have worked on the technical issue based on the procedure from the aircraft manufacturer."

It is the world's first crash involving a Boeing 737 MAX 8, which is a significantly revamped version of the single-aisle workhorse. Across all models, the 737 is the best-selling commercial jetliner in history and has a strong safety record.

A spokeswoman for CFM International, the manufacturer of the plane's two LEAP-1B engines, confirmed to NBC News that the company had been notified that the plane was missing. She said the company had no further information.

Published on Oct 28, 2018 (0:44 min.)

Published on Oct 29, 2018 (1:24 min.)

 

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October 28, 2018 - Doomed Indonesian plane with 189 on board had asked to return to base
Doomed Indonesian plane with 189 on board had asked to return to base | Reuters

An Indonesian aircraft with 189 people on board crashed into the sea on Monday as it tried to circle back to the capital, Jakarta, from where it had taken off minutes earlier, and there were likely no survivors, officials said.

Lion Air flight JT610, an almost new Boeing 737 MAX 8, was en route to Pangkal Pinang, capital of the Bangka-Belitung tin mining region. Rescue officials said they had recovered some human remains from the crash site, about 15 km (9 miles) off the coast.

The pilot had asked to return to base (RTB) after the plane took off from Jakarta. It lost contact with ground staff after 13 minutes.

[...] At least 23 government officials, four employees of state tin miner PT Timah and three employees of a Timah subsidiary, were on the plane. A Lion Air official said one Italian passenger and one Indian pilot were on board.

[...] The plane went down in waters about 30 meters to 35 meters (98 to 115 ft) deep. Items such as handphones and life vests were found, along with the body parts.

The flight took off in clear weather at around 6.20 a.m. and was due to have landed in Pangkal Pinang at 7.20 a.m.

[...] Data from FlightRadar24 shows the first sign of something amiss was around two minutes into the flight, when the plane had reached 2,000 feet (610 m).

It descended more than 500 feet (152 m) and veered to the left before climbing again to 5,000 feet (1,524 m), where it stayed during most of the rest of the flight.

It began gaining speed in the final moments and reached 345 knots (397 mph) before data was lost when it was at 3,650 feet (1,113 m).

 

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Oct. 29, 2018 - US Transportation Safety Agency, Boeing aiding in Lion Air crash probe
U.S. transportation safety agency, Boeing aiding in Lion Air crash probe | Reuters


Indonesian rescue team members write the progress of the recovery process for Lion Air flight JT610, that crashed into the sea, at Tanjung Priok port in Jakarta, Indonesia, October 29, 2018. REUTERS/Willy Kurniawan

The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and Boeing Co said on Monday they are providing assistance in the investigation into the Lion Air flight that crashed into the sea north of Java Island with 189 people on board.

The Boeing 737 Max 8 crashed shortly after takeoff from Jakarta and all aboard are feared dead, an Indonesian search and rescue agency official told reporters. Boeing said it is “providing technical assistance at the request and under the direction of government authorities investigating the accident.” The NTSB is also providing assistance to Indonesian investigators, a spokesman for the agency said.


Oct. 29, 2018 - Indonesian aircraft was new, fell out of a clear sky minutes after take-off
Indonesian aircraft was new, fell out of a clear sky minutes after take-off | Reuters


An Indonesian rescue team member points out the spot on a map where Lion Air flight JT610 crashed into the sea, at Tanjung Priok port in Jakarta, Indonesia, October 29, 2018. REUTERS/Willy Kurniawan

Fishermen Budi and Gauk left home an hour before dawn on Monday and, with prawn nets stowed on their shallow teak boat, they headed out in a becalmed sea off the coast northeast of Jakarta in clear weather.

About the same time, on the other side of the Indonesian capital, passengers were checking in for Lion Air flight JT610.

Then, shortly after 6:30 a.m. (2330 GMT Sunday), their lives collided.

The Boeing 737 MAX 8 literally fell out of the sky near where the two men were fishing about 15 km (9 miles) off the coast, silently at first and then with a deafening crash as it smacked into the sea.

“You could feel the explosion from the shockwave in the water,” said Gauk, who goes by only one name, telling the pair’s story from the beach in Karawang regency.

Police busied themselves with rubber dinghies and ambulances were lined up on the shoreline, but no one pretended that any of the 189 people on board flight JT610 would be found alive.

Yusuf Latief, spokesman of national search and rescue agency, said there were likely no survivors. There was no word on any probable cause for the accident.

Air travel is crucial in Indonesia, a vast archipelago of more than 17,000 islands that stretches about 5,100 km (3,170 miles) from east to west, almost the distance between New York and London. Although it is one of the world’s fastest-growing aviation markets, it has been plagued by air disasters.

Lion Air, a low-cost airline that dominates the domestic air travel market, has had more than a dozen accidents in its nearly 20-year history, but none with fatalities since 2004.

ALMOST BRAND NEW
The captain of Monday’s flight JT610 from Jakarta to Pangkal Pinang, the main town on Bangka, a beach-fringed island off Sumatra, was Bhavye Suneja, a 31-year-old Indian citizen originally from New Delhi. He and an Italian passenger were the only known foreigners on board.

According to his Linkedin account, Suneja had worked for Lion Air since 2011, clocking up some 6,000 flight hours. On Facebook there are photos of him in his Lion Air uniform, smiling.

Minutes after take-off at 6:20 a.m., Suneja reported technical difficulties and obtained permission from ground officials to turn back. Data from FlightRadar24 shows the first sign of something amiss was around two minutes into the flight, when the plane had reached 2,000 feet (610 meters).

The plane dropped more than 500 feet (152 meters), veered to the left and then started climbing again to 5,000 feet (1,524 meters). It gained speed in the final moments before data was lost when it was at an altitude of 3,650 feet (1,113 meters).

The Boeing 737 MAX 8 is the most recent model of Boeing’s famous 737, the U.S. company’s best-selling plane, and is a popular choice among budget airlines around the world.

Lion Air’s plane was almost brand new. It was flown for the first time on Aug. 15, and the airline said it had been certified as airworthy before Monday’s flight by an engineer who is a specialist in Boeing models.

Lion Air Chief Executive Edward Sirait said on Monday that the plane had encountered an unspecified “technical issue” on its previous flight, which was from the resort island of Bali to Jakarta, but this had been “resolved according to procedure”.

“We don’t dare to say what the facts are, or are not, yet,” he told reporters. “We are also confused about the why, since it was a new plane.”

“WAIT AND BE BRAVE”
At Jakarta airport, tearful passengers waited for news: a mother urged her toddler son to “wait and be brave”, another told her crying girl, “be patient, pray the best for Papa.”

The only news that came, though, was of body parts and debris found floating in the water around the crash site.

Photos published by the search and rescue agency showed pictures of articles belonging to passengers, including ID cards, a driving license, and a pair of children’s shoes.

One of the passengers was 22-year-old Deryl Fida Febrianto, who was married just two weeks ago and was on his way to Pangkal Pinang to work on a cruise ship.

His wife, Lutfinani Eka Putri, 23, said that her husband messaged her from the aircraft at 6:12 a.m., sending her a photo from the plane, and at 6:15 a.m. he stopped replying to her messages. They had grown up together, she told reporters, showing a picture of the smiling couple on their wedding day.

“When I saw the news, I matched the flight number with the ticket photo Deryl had sent,” she said. “I immediately started crying.”

 

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October 29, 2018 - Indonesia deploys divers. 'pinger locators' in hunt for doomed plane's cockpit recorders
Indonesia deploys divers, 'pinger locators' in hunt for doomed plane's cockpit recorders | Reuters


Rescue workers of crashed Lion Air flight JT610 carry a body bag off a boat at Tanjung Priok port in Jakarta, Indonesia, October 30, 2018. REUTERS/Edgar Su

Indonesian divers resumed a search on Tuesday for an airliner that crashed with 189 people on board, as "pinger locators" tried to zero in on its cockpit recorders and uncover why an almost-new plane went down in the sea minutes after take-off.

Ground staff lost contact with flight JT610 of budget airline Lion Air 13 minutes after the Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft took off early on Monday from the airport in Jakarta, the capital, on its way to the tin-mining town of Pangkal Pinang.

“Hopefully this morning we can find the wreckage or fuselage,” Soerjanto Tjahjono, the head of a national transport safety panel, told Reuters, adding that underwater “pinger locators”, including equipment from Singapore, were being deployed to help find the aircraft’s black boxes.

The priority is finding the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder to help determine the cause of the disaster, safety experts said.

Although divers stopped searching overnight, sonar vessels and an underwater drone kept up the hunt for the wreckage, where many victims were feared trapped, officials said.

Only debris and body parts have been found off the shore of Karawang, east of Jakarta.

A Reuters witness on a boat at the crash site, saw teams of divers in black rubber suits enter the slightly choppy water from six inflatable boats.

“The visibility is not good as it’s very overcast,” a special forces officer said, noting the dive team had started just after dawn and been down to a depth of 35 meters.

Underwater footage released by the national search and rescue agency showed relatively poor visibility. In all, 35 vessels are helping to search.

DNA CHECKS
Yusuf Latif, the spokesman of the search and rescue agency, had said on Monday finding survivors “would be a miracle”, judging by the condition of the recovered debris and body parts.

Lion Air said human remains were collected in 24 body bags after sweeps of the site, in waters about 30 to 35 meters (98 to 115 ft) deep roughly 15 km (nine miles) off the coast.

Officers at Jakarta’s port picked through personal belongings retrieved from the sea, including wallets, backpacks and papers, in a bid to help identify their owners.

Dozens of relatives gathered at a police hospital where body bags were brought for forensic doctors to try to identify victims.

Police were taking saliva swabs from family members of the missing for DNA tests and also seeking details on body markings like tattoos or birthmarks on the passengers.

A tent has been set up next to the hospital building and a middle-aged woman and a teenager sat together, sobbing and comforting each other.

BOEING PROVIDING ASSISTANCE
The pilot of flight JT610 had asked to return to base shortly after take-off about 6.20 a.m. Investigators are trying to determine why the pilot issued the request, which was granted.

No distress signal was received from the aircraft’s emergency transmitter.

The aircraft suffered a technical problem on a flight from the resort island of Bali to Jakarta on Sunday but it was “resolved according to procedure”, Edward Sirait, chief executive of Lion Air Group, told reporters.

Sirait declined to specify the nature of the issue but said none of the airline’s other aircraft of that model had the same problem. Lion had operated 11 Boeing 737 MAX 8s and it had no plan to ground the rest of them, he said.

On Monday, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and Boeing Co (BA.N) said they were providing assistance in the crash investigation.

The accident is the first to be reported involving the widely sold Boeing 737 MAX, an updated, more fuel-efficient version of the manufacturer’s workhorse single-aisle jet.

Two witnesses described the plane as swaying or rocking as it came down, adding that the nose hit the water first and there was a tall column of smoke afterwards.

The aircraft did not make a noise when it came down, they said.

“From a long way off, it was already leaning,” said Gauk, a fisherman who uses one name.

Slideshow (29 Images)
Indonesia deploys divers, 'pinger locators' in hunt for doomed plane's cockpit recorders | Reuters


October 30, 2018 - Indonesian jet flew with unreliable speed readings the day before it crashed
Indonesian jet flew with unreliable speed readings the day before it crashed | Reuters

The Lion Air Boeing 737 MAX jet that crashed in Indonesia on Monday flew erratically the previous evening and its airspeed readings were unreliable, according to an accident investigator and a flight tracking website.

According to data from FlightRadar24, the jet displayed unusual variations in altitude and airspeed in the first several minutes of flight after taking off from Denpasar on the holiday island of Bali on Sunday evening, - including an 875-foot drop over 27 seconds when it would normally be ascending - before stabilizing and flying on to Jakarta.

However, the pilots kept the plane at a maximum altitude of 28,000 feet compared with 36,000 feet on the same route earlier in the week.

Lion Air CEO Edward Sirait told reporters on Monday a technical problem had occurred on the Denpasar-Jakarta flight but it had been resolved “according to procedure”.

National Transport Safety Committee (NSTC) deputy chief Haryo Satmiko told reporters on Tuesday there were technical problems on that flight, including unreliable airspeed readings.

“The suspected cause of the accident is still being investigated and it is making us all curious what could have caused it,” he said. Satmiko gave no further details.

Two passengers on Sunday’s flight posted on Instagram, reporting that they had been concerned about problems with the air conditioning system and cabin lighting before the plane departed nearly three hours late.

“I was angry because as a passenger who had paid her ticket, we have every right to question the aircraft’s safety,” said one of them, TV presenter Conchita Caroline. She added there was a “weird” engine noise upon take-off that continued during flight. It was not clear if the cabin problems were in any way related to the technical trouble mentioned by the airline’s CEO.

The Denpasar-Jakarta flight landed at 10:55 p.m. local time on Sunday, giving engineers six-and-a-half hours at most for checks before it was dispatched for the fatal Jakarta-Pangkal Pinang flight at 6:20 a.m. on Monday.

The plane plunged into the sea minutes after taking off from Jakarta and all 189 people on board are believed dead.

FlightRadar24 also reported unusual air speeds and altitudes in the few minutes that Flight JT610 was in the air on Monday.

Photos of alleged technical and maintenance logs following the Sunday flight have been circulating online, but to date they have not been verified as accurate by the airline or investigators.

Sirait declined to detail the maintenance procedures taken, and on Tuesday he told Reuters the airline had provided the relevant aircraft flight and maintenance logs to NTSC.

NTSC Chairman Soerjanto Tjahjono said there was a similarity between the maintenance log circulating online and the one received from Lion Air but he had not checked the exact details.

Satmiko said the agency had not yet met with the technician who handled the maintenance of the aircraft between the two flights.

Safety experts say the crash investigation is at a very preliminary stage and it is too early to speculate about the cause.

But pilot and engineering sources told Reuters the FlightRadar24 data for both flights, while not conclusive, could be a potential indicator of something wrong with the pilot static systems. Those are pressure-sensitive instruments that feed airspeed and altitude information to an avionics computer.

“Certainly the big changes in climb/descent very early on in the flight is what makes me think unreliable speed,” said a pilot at another airline, who declined to be named because he was not authorized to speak to media.

NO NOISE
The data from FlightRadar24 shows the first sign that something was amiss on Monday’s fated flight came about two minutes after take-off when the plane had reached 2,000 feet.

At that point, it descended more than 500 feet and veered to the left before climbing again to 5,000 feet, where it stayed during most of the rest of the flight. It began gaining speed in the final moments and reached 345 knots (397 mph) before data was lost when it was at 3,650 feet. “They were going way faster than you would normally expect,” said a second pilot at another airline.

Two fishermen who saw the crash from their boat out at sea told Reuters that the plane swayed slightly but made no noise as it fell, almost horizontal with its nose slightly down. There was an explosive sound as it plunged nose-first into the sea, and then there was a column of smoke.

The weather was clear at the time of the crash at 6:33 a.m. on Monday, according to the head of Indonesia’s transport safety committee, who said the pilots had requested a turnback to Jakarta.

A safe visual landing should have been possible even with faulty indicators and a lack of autopilot systems, the pilot sources said.

In July, a Malaysia Airlines flight took off from Brisbane, Australia without removing covers on the pitot tubes.

The pilots landed the Airbus SE (AIR.PA) A330 safely after obtaining groundspeed information from air traffic control and using the jet’s radar altimeter, according to a preliminary report from the Australian Transport Safety Bureau. There were no reported injuries.

In 2009, Air France flight 447 crashed into the Atlantic Ocean after icing that blocked the pitot tubes caused unreliable airspeed data and the confused pilots entered a high-altitude stall and ignored cockpit alarms, according to a report from France’s BEA. All 228 people on board died.


October 30, 2018 - Lion Air plane had airspeed problem on flight prior to crash: Official
Lion Air plane had airspeed problem on flight prior to crash: official | Reuters

The Lion Air Boeing 737 MAX 8 plane that crashed with 189 people on board on Monday had technical problems on its previous flight, including “unreliable airspeed”, an official of Indonesia’s national transportation safety committee said on Tuesday.

“There were technical issues, one of them was indeed unreliable airspeed,” committee deputy chief Haryo Satmiko told a news conference, referring to problems with the plane on a flight from Denpasar, Bali, to Jakarta on Sunday evening.

“The suspected cause of the accident is still being investigated and it is making us all curious what could have caused it,” he said.

He said the committee has a recording of the conversation between the pilot of JT610 before it crashed and the control tower at Jakarta, as well as input from the public, including comments on social media.

“We are also asking for information from the last pilot who flew from Denpasar to Jakarta, but we have not met the technician,” he added, referring to the technician who handled the aircraft between the two flights.

 

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Crashed Boeing Jet’s Possible Location Found in Widened Search
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-10-31/search-area-for-crashed-boeing-plane-s-black-box-to-be-expanded
Updated on October 31, 2018, 2:37 PM GMT+1
Indonesia may be close to finding the main wreckage of the Lion Air plane that crashed earlier this week into the Java Sea, as the hunt for clues to what caused the country’s worst air disaster since 1997 continued into a third day.

The search team stumbled on “quite a large” object, about 20 meters long, Haris Djoko Nugroho, commander of Indonesia’s naval ship Rigel said Wednesday. The crew has zeroed in on an area where the plane’s black box is believed to be located, National Military Chief Hadi Tjahjanto told reporters.

“We have located the area where we strongly believe the plane’s black box is. The large parts of the aircraft should be nearby,” Tjahjanto said in Jakarta. “We have also found in-flight magazines, clothes during the search and we are confident the remains of the aircraft are near.”

The National Search and Rescue Agency expects to find the black boxes and the main wreckage of the jet on Wednesday night, its chief M. Syaugi, said at the same briefing.

The ill-fated plane had a technical issue with its airspeed and altitude readings during its previous flight from Bali to Jakarta, but it was fixed by the airline, Lion Air’s spokesman Danang Mandala Prihantoro said. While that could be a potential focus area for investigators, the carrier said it was firing its technical director under instructions from the transport ministry.

The almost new Boeing Co. 737 Max 8 plane crashed a few minutes after takeoff from Jakarta airport early Monday, slamming into the water at high speed, according to preliminary data transmitted from the aircraft to the ground and reported by FlightRadar24. One of the jet’s pilots had asked to return to land, and the flight track showed variations of speed and altitude, suggesting they may have been dealing with some kind of problem.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1057541062095323136

The jet carried 189 people on board and all are feared dead.

The recovery of black boxes -- which monitor plane’s electronics and mechanical systems as well as record the words of the pilots -- are crucial to unravel the mystery behind the dive.

The sea-bound search for the crashed aircraft’s debris evoked images of the years-long and as yet unsuccessful search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which disappeared over the vast expanse of the Indian Ocean.

READ MORE: Why Airplane Black Boxes Are So Hard to Find After Crashes

Scouring in the shallow waters off Jakarta where the plane went down has so far yielded little else than small aircraft pieces, body parts and passengers’ personal belongings. It is too early to determine what led to the disaster, Lion Air owner Rusdi Kirana said. Authorities expanded the search area Wednesday.

The Lion Air crash is the first fatal incident for Boeing’s Max model, the latest version in the Chicago-based planemaker’s popular single-aisle 737 family. While Indonesia has ordered its airlines to check Max planes after the crash, other carriers in Asia that fly the plane indicated they hadn’t been prompted to do so by Boeing.

SilkAir, a unit of Singapore Airlines Ltd., said it is “closely monitoring developments” after the crash. India’s aviation safety regulator said Tuesday that it reviewed the performance of the six aircraft operated by local carriers and hadn’t found significant technical issues. Those planes have completed a cumulative 4,000 flight hours since their induction in June 2018, the regulator said.

Lion Air said Tuesday that it’s too early to decide on the future of the some dozen Max 8 planes it flies. The plane that crashed had clocked 800 hours of flight time since delivery in August.

A special inspection of the Max 8 planes ordered by Indonesia after the crash showed no technical issues with the jets operated by Lion Air and PT Garuda Indonesia and found all the 11 aircraft in service as airworthy, the Transport Ministry said.

Indonesia has dispatched more than 30 vessels and over 800 soldiers and civilians to look for the Lion Air plane. The mission is using remote operated underwater vehicles, ping locator and side-scan sonar in areas divided into one meant for diving and another for scanning.

A team of investigators from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, Boeing and engine maker CFM International -- a joint venture between General Electric Co. and Safran SA -- will assist the probe spearheaded by Indonesian authorities.

The plane dropped from an altitude of about 4,850 feet (1,479 meters) in about 21 seconds. Based on what appears to be a high-speed dive into the water at about 350 miles an hour -- far above the typical rate for a descent -- the body of the plane might have broken up into pieces as it plowed into the seabed, burying some of the crucial parts, according to Shadrach Nababan, a former investigator at Indonesia’s National Transportation Safety Board.

“The biggest question that I have so far is why the search and rescue parties have not been able to detect the ping from the black box,” said Nababan, who investigated the 1997 crash of a SilkAir Boeing 737-300 that plummeted into a river at high speed in South Sumatra. “This is puzzling.”

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Crashed Boeing Jet’s Possible Location Found in Widened Search
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-10-31/search-area-for-crashed-boeing-plane-s-black-box-to-be-expanded
Indonesia may be close to finding the main wreckage of the Lion Air plane that crashed earlier this week into the Java Sea, as the hunt for clues to what caused the country’s worst air disaster since 1997 continued into a third day.

The search team stumbled on “quite a large” object, about 20 meters long, Haris Djoko Nugroho, commander of Indonesia’s naval ship Rigel said Wednesday. The crew has zeroed in on an area where the plane’s black box is believed to be located, National Military Chief Hadi Tjahjanto told reporters.

“We have located the area where we strongly believe the plane’s black box is. The large parts of the aircraft should be nearby,” Tjahjanto said in Jakarta. “We have also found in-flight magazines, clothes during the search and we are confident the remains of the aircraft are near.”

Rescuers find black box of crashed Lion Air plane

Rescuers have found the black box of the Lion Air plane that crashed off Indonesia on October 29, Detik news portal reported on Thursday.

"The black box was found at the depth of around 30 meters," the portal cited rescuers as saying. They also noted that "it is not damaged."

On Monday, October 29, Lion Air Flight JT610 flew from Jakarta to Pangkal Pinang (capital of the province of the Bangka Belitung Islands). The Boeing 737 crashed into the Java Sea 13 minutes after taking off. All 189 people on board died in the crash. Investigators do not put forward any possible causes yet.

 

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November 2, 2018 - Indonesia struggles with damaged Black Box from crashed jet, hunts for second
Indonesia struggles with damaged black box from crashed jet, hunts for second | Reuters

Indonesian divers hunted on Friday for a second black box from an aircraft that crashed into the sea this week with the loss of all 189 people on board, as investigators tried to get data from a partly damaged recorder already found.

Searchers have found one black box and just one passenger has been identified from partial human remains recovered from the shallow waters.

“We haven’t downloaded the data because there are some broken parts in the black box,” Haryo Satmiko, the deputy of the transport safety panel, said of the flight data recorder found on Thursday, adding that some of the damage was to a socket on the device.

Satimiko told Reuters investigators were awaiting advice from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board or Boeing.

The pilot of flight JT610 had asked for, and received, permission to turn back to Jakarta airport, but what went wrong remains a mystery.

Efforts are now focused on retrieving the second of the two black boxes, as the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder are known, the head of Indonesia’s transport safety committee said.

“The team have been hearing the ‘ping’ sound from another black box for two days,” Soerjanto Tjahjono told Reuters.

The sea is only 30 m (98 ft) deep at the crash site but strong currents and nearby energy pipelines have hampered the search for the aircraft operated by the budget carrier.

While victims’ relatives are desperate to know what happened, the investigation of the first crash of a Boeing 737 MAX is also the focus of scrutiny by the global aviation industry.

‘WORK FAST’
Investigators said the damage suffered by the first data device reflected the severity of the impact.

Downloading the data on flight recorders can take as little as two hours but analyzing it can take weeks.

Results of a preliminary investigation will be made public after 30 days, one official on the investigation team said.

Slideshow (7 Images)
Indonesia struggles with damaged black box from crashed jet, hunts for second | Reuters

 

[angelburst29]

November 3, 2018 - Senior Indonesian Rescue Diver dies in jet crash search
Senior Indonesian rescue diver dies in jet crash search | Reuters

An Indonesian rescue diver died in a search operation for a jet that crashed early this week near Jakarta, killing all 189 people on board, the search and rescue agency (Basarnas) said on Saturday.

Syachrul Anto, 48, died on Friday while diving to search for victims of the crashed Lion Air aircraft, the agency said on Saturday.

“Deepest condolences for the passing of a humanitarian hero from the Indonesian Diving Rescue Team,” Basarnas chief Muhammad Syaugi said in a news release.

It was not immediately clear how Anto perished. Anto’s family had chosen not to conduct an autopsy and asked for his remains to be buried immediately, Basarnas spokesman Yusuf Latif told Reuters by text message.

Among other missions, Anto was also one of the main divers involved in the search for an AirAsia jet that crashed off Borneo in late 2014.

Rescue divers have been crucial in recovering human remains and pieces of the wrecked near-new Boeing Co. (BA.N) 737 MAX that smashed into the sea early on Monday, 13 minutes after it took off from Jakarta.

As of Saturday a total of 73 body bags, few containing intact remains, had been recovered, but only four of the victims had been identified.

Divers have been searching through debris on the muddy sea bed for a second black box from the jet, as investigators try to get data from a partly damaged recorder recovered on Thursday.

The pilot of flight JT610 had asked for, and received, permission to turn back to Jakarta, but what went wrong remains a mystery.

“The team have been hearing the ‘ping’ sound from another black box for two days,” Soerjanto Tjahjono, head of the transportation safety committee (KNKT), told Reuters on Friday.

The sea is only 30 m (98 ft) deep at the crash site but strong currents and nearby pipelines have hampered the search.

Visiting the search operation headquarters at Jakarta’s port on Friday, President Joko Widodo thanked rescue officials and the military involved and appealed for them to step up the search.

“I ask for you to use all your might, all the technology available, to work fast to find anything else,” he said.

While victims’ relatives are desperate to know what happened, the investigation of the first crash of a Boeing 737 MAX is also the focus of scrutiny by the global aviation industry. Preliminary investigation findings are expected to be made public after 30 days.

Indonesia is one of the world’s fastest-growing aviation markets but its safety record has been patchy. Its transport safety panel investigated 137 serious aviation incidents from 2012 to 2017.

“There’s still a lot we need to improve,” Air Transportation Director General Pramintohadi Sukarno said at a press conference on Saturday, referring to safety rules.

Slideshow (3 Images)
Italian storms claim 17th life, and 14 million trees | Reuters

 

[angelburst29]

November 4, 2018 - Indonesia extends search for Jet Crash Victims, Second black Box
Indonesia extends search for jet crash victims, second black box | Reuters


An Indonesian National Transportation Safety Commission (KNKT) official carries debris from the crashed Lion Air flight JT610 at Tanjung Priok port in Jakarta, Indonesia November 4, 2018. REUTERS/Beawiharta

Indonesian authorities on Sunday extended by three days the search for victims and a black box from the wreckage of a Lion Air passenger jet that crashed near Jakarta last week, killing all 189 people on board.

“We decided to extend it three days”, beginning on Monday, search and rescue agency (Basarnas) chief Muhammad Syaugi told a news conference.

The decision was based on an evaluation and observations of the crash site, he told reporters, noting that many victims’ remains had not been recovered.

As of Sunday a total of 105 body bags, few containing intact remains, had been recovered and handed to police for forensic identification, yet only 14 victims had been identified. “I’m sure the total will increase,” Syaugi said.

The agency is prioritizing recovering remains of victims and the cockpit voice recorder (CVR), the second of two black boxes from the Boeing Co. (BA.N) 737 MAX that crashed into the sea early on Monday, 13 minutes after it took off from Jakarta.

The head of Indonesia’s transportation safety committee (KNKT) said 69 hours of recorded data from 19 flights, including the one that crashed, had been downloaded successfully from a partly damaged flight data recorder recovered on Thursday.

“Now we are choosing which parameters we need. From here we will analyze what happened to that flight,” Nurcahyo Utomo told reporters. Analysis of the data and a recovered aircraft landing gear and engine will begin on Monday and information will be passed to police if needed, Utomo said. “Of course, this won’t be completed in one or two days.”

Meanwhile, divers searching for the cockpit voice recorder have been homing in on ping signals.

“Yesterday there was a fairly strong signal. Today (a search) dive was conducted — there was a signal but it was weak, quite possibly because of the mud,” Utomo said.

He noted that the flight data recorder had been found buried in half a meter of mud.

The second black box is thought to be around 50 meters from the main search area, where the water is only 30 m (98 ft) deep, but ocean currents and mud on the sea bed that is over a meter deep have complicated search efforts.

The pilot of flight JT610 had asked for, and received, permission to turn back to Jakarta, but what went wrong remains a mystery.

While victims’ relatives are desperate to know what happened, the first crash of a Boeing 737 MAX is also the focus of scrutiny by the global aviation industry. Preliminary findings of the investigation are expected to be made public after 30 days.

Indonesia is one of the world’s fastest-growing aviation markets but its safety record has been patchy. Its transport safety panel investigated 137 serious aviation incidents from 2012 to 2017.

“There’s still a lot we need to improve,” Air Transportation Director General Pramintohadi Sukarno said at a press conference on Saturday, referring to safety rules.

Slideshow (8 Images)
Indonesia extends search for jet crash victims, second black box | Reuters

 

[Eulenspiegel]

New plane. Just falls out of the air. Lots of government officials were on board. Seems fishy to me.

 

[Ca.]

Lion Air jet's final plunge may have reached 1,000kmh
Nov 3, 2018, 12:11 pm SGT
WASHINGTON (BLOOMBERG) - The Lion Air jet that crashed off Indonesia on Monday nosed downward so abruptly that it may have hit speeds of 1,000kmh or more before slamming into the sea, according to three experts who made calculations based on preliminary flight-tracking data.

The Boeing 737 Max 8 dove with little or no turns and its nose was pointed about 45 degrees below the horizon shortly before the impact, an unusually steep dive for an airliner, according to the analysis of data provided by flight-tracking company FlightRadar24.

The plane's speed will eventually be confirmed by its flight-data recorder, which has been recovered from the sea but not yet analysed. Indonesian officials haven't released any specific details about the aircraft's track or speed. The crash occurred shortly after the plane took off on a flight from Jakarta to Pangkalpinang.

FlightRadar24's data, which was captured from the plane's radio transmissions, suggests that the jet was moving at about 1,000kmh moments before it hit the Java Sea.

The estimate was first computed by Scott Dunham, a former National Transportation Safety Board investigator, who combined the distance the plane travelled horizontally and vertically to arrive at a speed estimate.

Dunham, who participated in the 2003 investigation into the destruction of the space shuttle Columbia and dozens of aircraft accident inquiries, conducted the analysis at the request of Bloomberg News.

Using a slightly different method, John Hansman, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology aeronautics and astronautics professor, estimated the plane was flying at 870kmh in the final moments before the FlightRadar24 system lost track of it.

The high-speed descent - which Hansman said would have made items and passengers on the plane weightless or perhaps even in negative gravity - offers a new insight into the final moments of the crash. Yet it doesn't provide a clear answer about why the plane went down.

"They were just diving at the ground," Hansman said.

A third expert, Jasenka Rakas, a lecturer in engineering and aviation at the University of California at Berkeley, conducted her own analysis of the data and concluded the speed could have been between 940kmh and 586 and 1018kmh.

FlightRadar24's raw data suggests that the jetliner, which had 189 people aboard, was descending at about 560kmh. That figure represented the speed at which the plane was losing altitude and didn't represent the higher speed at which it was slicing through the air as it angled downward.

Dunham, Hansman and Rakas cautioned that the estimates yielded only approximate speeds.

However, the estimated speeds were consistent with what would happen when a 737 with its engines running was pointed sharply downwards and began accelerating. It was also what would be expected based on the small sample of highly damaged aircraft debris that has been found in the water near where the crash occurred, they said.

"If the nose went over pretty heavy and it was still under power, it would pick up a lot of speed," Dunham said.

The accident investigation is being led by Indonesia's National Transportation Safety Committee. The agency is being assisted by representatives from the NTSB, Boeing as well as the US Federal Aviation Administration.

A crash-proof recorder containing data on how the plane functioned and its speed and trajectory has been recovered. Its contents haven't yet been read out.

The pilots on the flight the night before the early-morning crash had reported problems with sensors that calculate altitude and airspeed, an airline spokesman said Wednesday.

During the roughly 11 minutes of flight tracked by FlightRadar24, the plane frequently changed altitudes and speeds. While none of those changes were so abrupt they would cause a safety hazard, it suggests that the pilots were struggling to control the plane.

Jetliners flying on autopilot are far more consistent.

The FlightRadar24 data includes GPS positions, altitude, time and the speed it would have been traveling horizontally across the Earth's surface. In the final 1.6 seconds before the jet's track disappeared, 425 feet above the water, it lost 1,025 feet of altitude.

 

[angelburst29]

New plane. Just falls out of the air. Lots of government officials were on board.
Seems fishy to me.

They are still searching for the second Black Box. The first one retrieved had suffered some damage, so there's no conclusive "facts" yet, as to what really happened?

Reports have now surfaced, stating that the plane had experienced some technical issues with airspeed in a prior flight, the day before.

In hindsight, the plane should have been "grounded" until further testing and examinations, before passengers were allowed on board.

The plane crash might be due to - a combination of "human error" along with technical problems with the plane, itself.

October 30, 2018 - Lion Air plane had airspeed problem on flight prior to crash: Official
Lion Air plane had airspeed problem on flight prior to crash: official | Reuters

The Lion Air Boeing 737 MAX 8 plane that crashed with 189 people on board on Monday had technical problems on its previous flight, including “unreliable airspeed”, an official of Indonesia’s national transportation safety committee said on Tuesday.

“There were technical issues, one of them was indeed unreliable airspeed,” committee deputy chief Haryo Satmiko told a news conference, referring to problems with the plane on a flight from Denpasar, Bali, to Jakarta on Sunday evening.

 

[angelburst29]

November 5, 2018 - Indonesia Jet had damaged Airspeed Indicator on last four flights: Official
Indonesia jet had damaged airspeed indicator on last four flights: official | Reuters

Indonesia’s National Transportation Safety Committee (KNKT) said on Monday an airspeed indicator of a Boeing Co. (BA.N) 737 MAX plane that crashed last week killing all 189 people on board was damaged for its last four flights.

The damage was revealed after data had been downloaded from the plane’s flight data recorder, KNKT chief Soerjanto Tjahjono told reporters, adding that it was asking Boeing and U.S. authorities what action to take to prevent similar problems on this type of plane around the world.

“We are formulating, with NTSB and Boeing, detailed inspections regarding the airspeed indicator,” he said, referring to the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board.

It was not immediately clear whether the reported problem stemmed from a mechanical or maintenance issue, nor whether U.S. authorities would order any checks.

“We don’t know yet where the problem lies, what repair has been done, what their reference books are, what components have been removed,” said Nurcahyo Utomo, the KNKT sub-committee head for air accidents.

“These are the things we are trying to find out: what was the damage and how it was fixed.”

Safety experts say it is too early to determine the cause of the crash on Monday last week of the Lion Air flight from Jakarta to the tin-mining town of Pangkal Pinang.

Authorities have yet to recover the jet’s cockpit voice recorder from the sea floor, just northeast of Jakarta, where the plane crashed 13 minutes into its flight.

Boeing declined to comment. The U.S. manufacturer has delivered 219 737 MAX jets to customers globally, according to Boeing’s website, and it has 4,564 orders for jets that have yet to be delivered.

The Boeing 737 MAX is a more fuel-efficient version of the manufacturer’s popular single-aisle jet.

The Lion Air crash was the first involving the type of plane, which airlines introduced into service last year.

 

[Ca.]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1059271078642618368

Indonesian authorities are conducting a review of the operations of Lion Air, the transport ministry said, as the search for the main wreckage and cockpit voice recorder of the crashed Boeing jet continues into a seventh day.

The “special audit” will cover the standard operating procedures of the airline, the flight crew qualifications and coordination with industry stakeholders, the ministry said in a statement. The ministry is coordinating with institutions such as the European Union, the International Civil Aviation Organization and the Federal Aviation Administration and corrective steps will be taken on the basis of the review, it said.
Indonesian authorities intensified inspection of all aircraft in service with President Joko Widodo asking airlines to accord the highest priority to passenger safety after Lion Air’s flight JT610, a Boeing 737 Max 8 jet, plunged into the Java Sea off Jakarta on Oct. 29. The government had already ordered a review of Lion’s repair and maintenance unit and suspended several managers as it emerged the ill-fated jet had reported some technical issues a day before the crash.

Here’s what we know about Lion Air crash that took 189 lives

The transport ministry is coordinating with airport authorities, navigation operators and airlines among others to ensure airworthiness at all airports in Indonesia is well maintained, Transport Minister Budi Karya Sumadi said.

Even after a week-long search involving dozens of ships and hundreds of specialists, the plane’s main wreckage and the cockpit voice recorder that’s key to unraveling the mystery, are yet to be recovered. While the National Search and Rescue Agency had on Saturday said its divers had spotted the main body of the plane, its chief M. Syaugi said on Sunday the images spotted were only the skin of the aircraft on the seabed.

While search crews have been scouring a 270-square-mile area since the jet crashed, strong underwater currents and a mud seabed have made the task of finding the fuselage and the black box harder. More than 1,400 personnel from the navy, army and the search agency are using ROVs, dozens of vessels and helicopters in the underwater and aerial search.

The search agency will now sweep a wider area for debris and remains of the victims and continue the search for another three days, Syaugi told reporters.

Black Box

Search crews have recovered a flight data recorder, both the engines, a part of the landing gear, body parts of victims and personal belongings since the flight carrying 189 people plummeted into the sea.

While it may take days or weeks before definitive information emerges on the crash, Lion Air has said the aircraft had experienced problems with sensors used to calculate height and speed in its previous flight from Denpasar, Bali, to Jakarta. The issue was checked by maintenance workers overnight before the plane was cleared for the ill-fated flight, the airline said. It’s too early to determine what led to the disaster, the carrier’s owner Rusdi Kirana has said.

Indonesia’s National Transportation Safety Committee recovered about 69 hours of flying data by the crashed jet during its last 19 trips, it said in a statement on Sunday. The agency will begin analyzing the information from Monday to find out the reasons for the crash, Nurcahyo Utomo, the head of aviation accidents investigation sub-committee, told reporters.

“We will use data from previous flights, especially from Denpasar to Jakarta, to find the cause of the crash,” Utomo said. “We especially want to know how it managed to land the day before.”
The nation’s domestic airline market has boomed in recent years to become the fifth largest in the world. Local air traffic more than tripled between 2005 and 2017 to 97 million people, according to the CAPA Center for Aviation, and is dominated by flag carrier PT Garuda Indonesia and Lion Air Group.

Carriers have struggled with safety issues, partly as a result of the pace of that expansion, as well as issues intrinsic to a region of mountainous terrain, equatorial thunderstorms and often underdeveloped aviation infrastructure.

Lion Air Jet’s Audio Black Box Could Hold Key to Mystery of Doomed Flight - Breaking News, CNN, BBC, Nairaland.com
November 5, 2018

Search crews attempting to find the remains of Lion Air Flight JT610 have discovered the information recorder, engines and body portions of one of the crucial 189 sufferers. But the important thing to fixing the thriller at the back of the crash continues to be missing: the cockpit voice recorder.

Indonesia’s rescue company mentioned Sunday that wreckage noticed through divers had became out to be best the outside of the Boeing Co. jet slightly than the principle fuselage. Strong underwater currents within the Java Sea off Jakarta and a muddy seabed have sophisticated a week-long hunt that’s concerned dozens of ships and masses of specialist group of workers.

Flight JT610’s audio black field, because it’s identified, is also an important to unraveling what took place all over the flight’s final moments on Oct. 29. In specific, the tool might provide an explanation for why the staff requested to go back to base mins into the adventure, and expose any exchanges within the cockpit before the deadly high-speed plunge into the ocean.

As the 270-square-mile seek for particles widened on the weekend, Indonesian government broadened a overview of Lion Air’s operations, including the airline’s usual working procedures and flight-crew {qualifications}. That adopted the invention of defects on two different Boeing 737 Max eight planes — each operated through Lion Mentari Airlines — all over assessments on six airplane of that sort.

Because Flight JT610 lasted only some mins, the voice recorder is also more likely to come with a minimum of some audio from the former night time’s travel from Denpasar, Bali to Jakarta. The airplane, which might crash the following day, skilled issues at the flight from Bali with sensors used to calculate altitude and velocity. The tools have been checked through repairs employees in a single day and the airplane used to be cleared to fly, in line with Lion Air.

With the information recorder within the arms of investigators, Indonesia’s National Transportation Safety Committee has recovered about 69 hours of flying information through the crashed jet all over its final 19 journeys, it mentioned on Sunday. The company will start inspecting the tips from Monday to determine the explanations for the crash, Nurcahyo Utomo, the top of aviation injuries investigation sub-committee, instructed newshounds.

The inspection of airplane particles indicated the airplane didn’t explode mid-air before plunging into the Java Sea, Soerjanto Tjahjono, leader of the security committee, mentioned at a briefing in Jakarta on Monday. The company expects to release its initial findings inside a month, he mentioned.

“The aircraft broke apart under the impact of hitting the water at high speed and it didn’t break apart mid-air,” Tjahjono mentioned. “The engines were still running at high RPM.”

The country’s home airline marketplace has boomed in contemporary years to develop into the 5th biggest on the earth. Local air site visitors greater than tripled between 2005 and 2017 to 97 million other folks, in line with the CAPA Center for Aviation, and is ruled through flag service PT Garuda Indonesia and Lion Air Group.

Carriers have struggled with issues of safety, in part because of the tempo of that enlargement, in addition to problems intrinsic to a area of mountainous terrain, equatorial thunderstorms and regularly underdeveloped aviation infrastructure.

President Joko Widodo has requested airways to make passenger protection the perfect precedence, and the government had already ordered a overview of Lion’s restore and upkeep unit and suspended a number of managers.

The shipping ministry is coordinating with airport government, navigation operators and airways amongst others to verify airworthiness in any respect airports in Indonesia is definitely maintained, in line with Transport Minister Budi Karya Sumadi.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1057512660428877824

The Irregularities of the Lion Air JT 610 Must Be Investigated by the NTSC
Kejanggalan-Kejanggalan Lion Air JT 610 yang Harus Diusut KNKT - Tirto.ID
Oleh: Aqwam Fiazmi Hanifan - 31 Oktober 2018
Why is this plane still forced to fly to Pangkal Pinang even though it was problematic for the previous three days, especially when in Denpasar?
tirto.id - Our research and analysis, by checking information from a number of informants who understood flight cases, explained that the Lion Air JT 610 aircraft was indeed a problem before being used to transport passengers from Cengkareng to Pangkal Pinang.

These aircraft with PK-LQP registration numbers face obstacles - or we call them "irregularities" - especially when flying from Denpasar to Jakarta on the night of October 28, 2018. That is, if Lion Air's management wants to be critical and open to flight history on Boeing aircraft This 737 MAX 8, is open to the possibility of a terrible event on Monday morning, October 29, can be avoided.

The National Transportation Safety Committee (NTSC) began investigating information about the condition of the flight plane that was only 2.4 months old, especially from Ngurah Rai Airport to Soekarno-Hatta Airport. Even so, according to the NTSC investigator Ony Suryo Wibowo, "the data is very regretful because it cannot be delivered because we have to verify it. We also have to be careful."

Before Falling: For Three Days Always Late

Scheduled time of departure is not necessarily according to the actual time of departure. All depends on weather factors, air traffic density, and aircraft conditions.

Three days before the fall or since Friday, PK-LQP aircraft always delay in six flights in a row. In fact, a week before, the takeoff process was always on schedule; if it's too late no less than 45 minutes.

First delay when PK-LQP with flight number JT-776 Denpasar-Manado route on Friday, October 26. The plane should have flown at 09.55 instead it was delayed almost 4 hours and just flew to Manado at 13:35.

After arriving at Manado at 3:35 a.m., the plane went directly to Tianjin, China, and arrived at 11pm. An hour later, the plane returned to Manado and arrived at 07:00 at Sam Ratulangi Airport on October 27.

The arrival was more than an hour late because it should have been right at seven in the morning the plane had taken off from Manado to Denpasar with flight number JT 775.

After arriving at I Gusti Ngurah Rai Airport, the aircraft was planned to return to Manado and take off at 09.55. However, because it arrived at 10:11, it automatically delay 4 hours 44 minutes. The new plane rolled into Manado at 14.34 noon.

Cause of delay: PK-LQP fleet is used to schedule flights to and from Denpasar-Lombok. He returned to Denpasar at 13.30; one hour later, he continued to fly to Manado.

The next day, Sunday, October 28, the PK-LQP fleet stayed in Manado for the morning flight to Denpasar. Again delay; it should depart at 6:40 instead it stretches 1 hour 13 minutes.

Irregularities when Landing in Denpasar

After arriving in Denpasar irregularities oc
curred: the plane landed long enough. Arriving at 10:00, the PK-LQP fleet is scheduled to fly at 7:30 p.m. This event deviates from the usual pattern.

Since imported from Seattle, the largest city in Washington, in mid-August, the aircraft began to be effectively used nonstop as of August 18. As of October 29, PK-LQP has flown 439 times under Lion Air. Average, PK-LPQ gets 6 flights per day.

What happened in Denpasar was irregularities — or at least provoked questions — because since August 18, PK-LQP had never received a quota of less than 4 flights. He had gotten 2 flights a day on October 24 and 3 flights on October 26. But at that time Lion Air PK-LQP was scheduled to go back and forth to China which was taken more than 6 hours at a time.

The long-standing issue at Ngurah Rai Airport was justified by Lion Air's Managing Director Edward Sirait to Tirto, "In Bali it is grounded, it is repaired to replace spare parts." Even so, he denied the plane was grounded for more than 12 hours.

This claim is not synchronous when referring to the records of the managers of Ngurah Rai Airport. Since arriving in Denpasar at 10:00, the Lion Air PK-LQP aircraft should be heading for Jakarta at 7:30 p.m. But, in fact, the plane just took off at 10:21 p.m.

If indeed the plane has been at the airport since morning, why is it still delayed? If referring to other flights with similar hours such as Garuda Indonesia with flight numbers GA-728 and GA-7048, or with Emirates EK-451 and Lion Air JT 2611 — all fly on schedule.

Speculation is growing that this plane has indeed been problematic since arriving from Manado. When used with flight number JT 43 for Jakarta, there is a technical problem.

Even so, Edward Sirait dismissed it. "If the plane is damaged, it is impossible for the plane to be allowed to fly from Denpasar. When we receive the flight crew report, we immediately fix it," he explained.

Denpasar-Jakarta Flights Are Problems?

Edward's claim is not entirely accurate. There is something unusual when Lion Air PK-LQP flies from Denpasar to Jakarta. From Flightradar24 data, it is seen that the process of raising the airplane hull is not stable, instead it drops from a height.

The process dropped from a height quite dramatically: 1 minute 4 seconds after takeoff reaching a height of 480 meters. Within 20 seconds, the plane dropped to 410 meters. Then the pilot pulled the engine lever up to 453 km / hr and the plane went up again.

Lapse of 2.3 minutes later the height of the aircraft ranged from 1700 meters. And, again, Lion Air PK-LQP dropped dramatically. The aircraft's height drops to 300 meters in 25 seconds.

There are several possible causes for this condition: bad weather, turbulence, or downdraft.

The problem is that the night's weather at Ngurah Rai Airport is normal, especially when compared to other airlines which take off on the same schedule, such as Citilink QG 691, Singapore Airline SQ 949, or Batik Air OD 157 (still in group with Lion Air). The planes went through the climbing process smoothly.

The same conclusion we can find when comparing Lion Air PK-LQP data (Sunday, October 28) with Lion Air flights Denpasar-Jakarta route using Boeing 737 Max 8 types: for example, as JT flight number 41. When using a PK-LQK, PK- LGP, and PK-LQH, their climbing process looks normal.

The question of this irregularity was justified by the flight practitioner and former Sriwijaya Air Technical Director Ananta Wijaya. "From there it seems there is something abnormal when the plane wants to climb," he told Tirto.

This pattern happened to Lion Air JT 610 before it lost contact, which was later found in Tanjung Karawang waters. The first minute, JT 610 rises to an altitude of 625 meters, then drops 450 meters in 25 seconds. It was at this point that Captain Bhayve Suneja pulled the lever as fast as possible until the speed of the aircraft reached 630 km / h, so that JT 610 rose to an altitude of 1660 meters.

Two minutes later, instead of getting taller, the plane stagnated at that height. What happened: within the next four minutes the latest Boeing aircraft crashed almost 250 meters from 1630 to 1370 meters, with a 55-second pause.

Then, the captain tried to return to his normal position; then, the signal is interrupted. A few seconds before falling, the crew and passengers experience a gravitational pull alias G-force or swing. Instantly the plane's height dived almost 365 meters in 10 seconds.

Reading Oddity Lion Air PK-LQP from JT 43 Logbook

Yesterday, on social media, the Lion Air Logbook circulated with flight number JT 43 — the same plane for JT 610 flight number. President Director Lion Air Edward Sirait confirmed this document, "All documents have been submitted to the NTSC to be investigated."

There are two Logbooks circulating on social media. The difference between them is only in the corrective action chart: one is empty and the other is filled with Lion Air technicians. In the Logbook there are two important points that the pilot complained about.

The first complaint is the issue of no elevation data and indicated airspeed (IAS).

Rahmat Budiarto, an aviation observer, said that this complaint could be a serious matter. A case in point with this problem is Air France 447 which fell on June 1, 2009 and killed 228 people.

"If it is not synchronous with altitude data and IAS, it is usually an important issue. Because the data can affect the performance of auto pilots. That's why it might be why JT 43 flights don't use auto pilots," said the figure who is also Secretary General at the Bandung Institute of Technology Alumni Association.

In addition to the Logbook, there were also outstanding technicians from Lion Air, who presented the problem. From this note it is known that the auto pilot system was not functioning at that time.

"The STS (speed trim system) also went in the wrong direction, was suspected of being due to speed differences. It was identified the pilot's instrument could not be relied upon and gave control to the co-pilot," the note said.

Rahmat said the takeover of aircraft control to the co-pilot because computer data on the pilot screen might be chaotic and the co-pilot panel display still shows normal data. It is difficult to associate the cause of this problem with PK-LQP interference during climbing because when the process of raising the aircraft hull, the autopilot control system is usually not used.

Second complaint: there is a difference in feel pressure.

In general, the feel pressure is used to load the steering wheel (control column) to simulate the aerodynamic pressure in the control bar to feel natural. In the Logbook, Captain William Martinus complained about the excessive load received when holding the steering wheel control.

One senior technician at a national airline shared his knowledge with Tirto that this obstacle could be the cause of Lion Air PK-LQP being exhausted when the process climbed to more than 5000 feet.

Feel different pressure can be a sign that there is serious damage in the elevator section (lift wheel in the tail). Elevators have a control function that directs the plane's nose to go up or down.

"Data about the diff pressure is taken from the pilot system in the elevator. Feel transmitted to the steering wheel. On the steering wheel, the computer feel of the elevator uses a hydraulic system or pressure. Which is the highest number. feel the excess differential pressure, "he said.

In order to answer the complaints of JT 43 flight pilots, the matter that was checked by the technician was indeed the elevator part, and this can be seen in the Logbook. In the report, the elevator writing technician had no problem. "Performed cleaned electrician plug of elevator found the computer test on the ground ok," he wrote.

The JT 43 logbook can indeed be a preliminary analysis, although it cannot be a reference in finding the way for the PK-LQP crash in Tanjung Karawang waters.

"We must wait for a related party investigation, especially data from the Black Box," said the technician.

Also read articles related to LION AIR JATUH or other interesting writings Aqwam Fiazmi Hanifan
(tirto.id - Hukum)

Reporter: Aqwam Fiazmi Hanifan
Author: Aqwam Fiazmi Hanifan
Editor: Fahri Salam

11/5/18

MarineTraffic: Global Ship Tracking Intelligence | AIS Marine Traffic

 

[angelburst29]

The Irregularities of the Lion Air JT 610 Must Be Investigated by the NTSC
Kejanggalan-Kejanggalan Lion Air JT 610 yang Harus Diusut KNKT - Tirto.ID
Oleh: Aqwam Fiazmi Hanifan - 31 Oktober 2018
Why is this plane still forced to fly to Pangkal Pinang even though it was problematic for the previous three days, especially when in Denpasar?
tirto.id - Our research and analysis, by checking information from a number of informants who understood flight cases, explained that the Lion Air JT 610 aircraft was indeed a problem before being used to transport passengers from Cengkareng to Pangkal Pinang.

These aircraft with PK-LQP registration numbers face obstacles - or we call them "irregularities" - especially when flying from Denpasar to Jakarta on the night of October 28, 2018. That is, if Lion Air's management wants to be critical and open to flight history on Boeing aircraft This 737 MAX 8, is open to the possibility of a terrible event on Monday morning, October 29, can be avoided.

The National Transportation Safety Committee (NTSC) began investigating information about the condition of the flight plane that was only 2.4 months old, especially from Ngurah Rai Airport to Soekarno-Hatta Airport. Even so, according to the NTSC investigator Ony Suryo Wibowo, "the data is very regretful because it cannot be delivered because we have to verify it. We also have to be careful."

Before Falling: For Three Days Always Late

Great article, C.a.