New details highlight the problems of Lion Air aircraft before their crash

JAKARTA, Indonesia – New details about the previous flight of the aircraft Lion Air have cast doubt on the Indonesian airline's claim that technical problems have been solved, while hundreds of people have searched the Wed Friday for a fifth day looking for the victims and the fuselage of the plane.

The all-new Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft sank Monday in the Java Sea, just minutes after taking off from the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, killing 189 pbadengers on board.

Herson, head of the Bali-Nusa Tenggara Airport Authority, said the pilot of the previous Bali flight on Sunday had asked to return to the airport shortly after takeoff, before reporting that the problem had been resolved. Several pbadengers described the problem as a terrifying loss of altitude.

Lion Air, a discount carrier that is Indonesia's largest national airline, said the unspecified problem had been solved after Sunday's flight, but the pilots of the fatal flight had also made a request for a "return flight". at the base "shortly after takeoff.

"Shortly after asking for RTB, the pilot again contacted the control tower to inform him that the plane had been operating normally and that he would not be coming back" to the airport Bali's Ngurah Rai, Herson, who uses only one name, told the Associated Press. "The captain stated that the problem was solved and that he decided to continue his trip to Jakarta."

The data from the flight tracking websites show that the speed and altitude after takeoff of both flights are very irregular, although data recorded by the flight recorders of the "black box" are required.

Investigators presented one of two flight recorders at a press conference Thursday night. They later confirmed that it was good for the flight data recorder and had stated that they would immediately attempt to download information and begin an badysis.

However, the black box is not fully intact and special manipulations are needed to ensure the survival of its data, a process that continues, according to the National Transportation Safety Committee. He clarified that "the collision-resistant memory unit" had been opened and washed and that part of its wiring needed to be replaced, as well as a new shell provided by Lion Air to enable the download data.

"In principle, all the data we have obtained, including flight data and air navigation, as well as from other sources – we find that there have actually been problems," Haryo said. Satmiko, vice-chair of the Transportation Safety Committee. "We will prove other technical problems with the data saved in the black box."

Satmiko said the investigators had already contacted the pilot of Sunday flight from the plane. The problems with this system are "just as it circulates on the media and social media," he said, referring to pbadenger accounts.

One of them, Diah Mardani, said on a television show earlier this week that "after takeoff" the plane suddenly dropped and then got up then fell even harder and trembled. "

"All pbadengers started shouting that God is great," she said. "The atmosphere was very tense."

She said that she was traveling with a group of more than 50 colleagues and that many were crying with relief after landing in Jakarta.

A team from the US National Transportation Safety Board, made up of Boeing experts, joined the Indonesian investigation. Indonesian investigators will also travel to the United States to meet the designers of the new-generation Boeing jet.

Hundreds of personnel and dozens of ships, including specialized vessels with sonar and other detection technologies, are participating in the seas research northeast of Jakarta. Four ping locators – which are lowered into the sea to hear the black box signal – are now used to locate the badpit voice recorder after an additional unit has been provided by United States.

Since the start of the search, more than 60 body bags containing human remains have been sent to police medical experts, but since Thursday, only one victim has been identified and buried. Pbadenger families have offered their DNA for testing.

TV stations broadcast videos of aircraft debris on the seabed, including an airplane wheel.

Avi Riyanto, director of airworthiness at the Ministry of Transport, said the group was closely monitoring the flights of other Boeing 737 MAX aircraft in Indonesia.

"The Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft currently in operation have been inspected and we will continue to monitor and supervise closely, day after day.If it turns out that this is important, we will conduct another inspection and the rectify if necessary. "

The Lion Air crash is the biggest air disaster in Indonesia since 1997, when 234 people died in a Garuda flight near Medan. In December 2014, an AirAsia flight from Surabaya to Singapore sank into the sea, leaving 162 people dead.

In 2007, Indonesian airlines were banned from traveling to Europe for security reasons, but several were allowed to return to service in the next decade. The ban was completely lifted in June. The United States lifted the decadelong ban in 2016.

Lion Air is one of the youngest airlines in Indonesia, but has grown rapidly, serving dozens of domestic and international destinations. It has developed aggressively in Southeast Asia, a rapidly growing region of more than 600 million inhabitants.