What happened to brand new Boeing 737

That question is being closely examined by experts who are looking at what happened in those pivotal 13 minutes before the plane crashed into the Java Sea on Monday, killing all 181 passengers.

Data from Flightradar24 shows the plane behaved erratically after takeoff. When planes would normally be ascending, flight JT610 experienced a 726-foot drop over 21 seconds.

Aviation expert Philip Butterworth-Hayes, who studied the plane’s flight data, said it was particularly unusual, especially because takeoffs were usually controlled by the plane’s automatic systems.

“This doesn’t fit an automatic flight profile,” Mr Butterworth-Hayes told CNN.

“Unless, the aircraft was trying to correct itself at the time for a number of reasons.

“This shows an unusually unstable vertical flight profile.

“Exactly at the same time as the speed increased there was an altitude dip, which meant that at that point there was quite some loss of control.”

Questions about the Boeing 737 Max 8

The plane model itself is now coming under scrutiny.

Indonesian officials have ordered the inspection of all Boeing 737 Max 8 planes belonging to national commercial airlines.

Transportation ministry official Capt. Avirianto said Lion Air had 11 Boeing 737 Max 8s in its fleet and national carrier Garuda Indonesia had one.

“We have inspected Garuda last night while Lion is still in progress,” he said, adding that the ministry hoped to inspect at least three of Lion Air’s planes Tuesday night and the other eight soon.

Meanwhile the gruesome search for the victims continues.

Thirty seven bags have now been filled with “body parts” of the passengers, which were found floating in the ocean.

A major search is under way for the plane’s fuselage and block box – which could contain important clues as to what caused the crash.

MORE BODIES FOUND

OFFICIALS have confirmed the remains of several people on the doomed Lion Air flight have been found in the sea off Jakarta.

The national deputy police chief Ari Dono Sukmanto confirmed the grim find, which included the remains of a baby.

Lion Air flight JT610 plunged into the sea off of Jakarta, the Indonesian capital, just minutes after it took off.

The recovery of bodies is being complicated because parts of the plane is submerged in water up to 30m deep.

Grieving relatives have provided dna samples to help try and identify their loved ones. The impact of the crash meant many victims bodies were not left intact.

Speculation is rising about what caused the aircraft carrying 189 people to crash.

Some reports suggest the aircraft had technical faults, while other experts say they’re looking at the possibility of a bomb being involved.

But according to aviation consultant and former pilot Alastair Rosenschein, we won’t have a definitive answer on what caused the crash until authorities recover the plane’s black box.

“It is almost impossible to say just what happened,” Mr Rosenschein told CNN. “At this point, some sort of mechanical failure is probably the most likely, but this is purely speculative.”

The aviation expert said that until the black box is found, it would remain unlikely authorities could figure out what brought down the plane.

He noted it’s especially important to find the black box quickly because the doomed plane was a newer model.

“What happened here could possibly affect the same model of aircraft flying in other parts of the world,” he said.

Investigators have deployed underwater beacons to trace the flight’s black box recorders, but so far they are yet to make a discovery.
The top priority will be finding the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder to help determine the cause, safety experts said.

As the plane crashed in shallow water, recovering the black boxes should be easier than with deepwater crashes such as AirAsia Indonesia flight QZ8501 in 2014 and Air France flight 447 in 2009, said Greg Waldron, managing editor of Flightglobal Asia, an industry publication.

ERRATIC ALTITUDE CHANGES BEFORE CRASH

The troubled Lion Air flight made erratic altitude changes in the brief time it was in the sky before it dramatically plunged and crashed into the sea.

About three minutes after the Boeing 737 Max 8 took off for its one-hour flight to Pangkal Pinang, pilot Bhavye Suneja asked air traffic control for permission to turn around and return to Jakarta airport.

Ten minutes later, the plane crashed into waters off the Java coast.

Preliminary data transmitted by flight 610 now suggests the doomed plane dropped at breakneck speed — falling from an altitude of 1479m in just 21 seconds.

A normal descent for an airliner would be about 450m to 600m per minute, aviation safety expert John Cox told Bloomberg.

Data obtained by FlightRadar24 shows the Lion Air plane descending at more than 9400m per minute.

“This thing really comes unglued,” said Mr Cox, who runs consulting company Safety Operating Systems.

“The numbers are barely believable.”

An analysis of data from the crashed plane by the Aviation Safety website described its speed and altitude during its 13 minutes of flying as “erratic”.

The plane made a climbing left-hand turn after takeoff, climbed to 640m and then dropped down to 450m.

It then climbed again and continued unsteadily for a few minutes between 1370m and 1630m before the fatal plunge.

The Boeing 737 Max involved in yesterday’s crash had flown a different route on Sunday. Similar data shows it had erratic movements immediately after takeoff, but managed to climb and maintain a steady altitude.

Lion Air has confirmed the aircraft had a “technical problem” on the Sunday flight, “which had been resolved according to the procedure”.

What caused the strange changes in altitude and speed, and why the pilot asked to return to Jakarta moments after takeoff, will now be a major focus for investigators.

HOW THE DISASTER UNFOLDED

This is what happened after the ill-fated Lion Air flight took off. All times are in Jakarta local time.

6.20am: JT 610 takes off from Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport. Its arrival at Pangkal Pingang airport is scheduled for 7.20am

6.23am: Pilot Bhavye Suneja asks air traffic control for permission to turn around and return to Jakarta airport. His request is approved.

6.33am: The aircraft loses contact with air traffic control and plunges into coastal waters less than 35m deep in the Java Sea.

6.45am: The crew of a tugboat report to maritime authorities they have seen a downed plane, suspected to be a Lion Air plane, in the water. Vessels are dispatched to the area.

9.18am: Lion Air confirms it has lost contact with flight JT 610, The Associated Press reports. “We can confirm that one of our flights has lost contact,” Lion Air spokesman Danang Mandala Prihantoro says. “Its position cannot be ascertained yet.”

10.11am: Indonesia’s disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho posts on Twitter a video of aircraft debris floating in the water.

10.40am: By now it is confirmed there were 181 passengers on board, including one child and two babies, and eight crew.

Serpihan pesawat Lion Air JT 610 yang jatuh di perairan Karawang. Beberapa kapal tug boad membantu menangani evakuasi. Video diambil petugas tug boad yang ada di perairan Karawang. pic.twitter.com/4GhKcRYkpG

— Sutopo Purwo Nugroho (@Sutopo_PN) October 29, 2018

Midday: Families of those on-board begin arriving at Indonesia’s National Search and Rescue Agency headquarters in Jakarta for word on the fate of their loved ones.

12.22pm: Boeing, the manufacturer of the crashed 737 Max 8, releases a statement. “We express our concern for those on board, and extend heartfelt sympathies to their families and loved ones,” it says.

12.38pm: Australia’s Ambassador to Indonesia Gary Quinlan tweets the Australian government is working to determine if any Australians are on board the crashed flight. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is still working today to confirm any Australian passengers.

We are aware of concerning reports about missing Lion Air flight JT610 that left Jakarta for Pangkal Pinang in Bangka Belitung this morning. Indonesian authorities are undertaking a search and rescue operation. We are making enquiries to determine if any Australians are affected.

— Gary Quinlan (@DubesAustralia) October 29, 2018

12.46pm: Jakarta’s governor Anies Baswedan offers his condolences on Twitter. “Our prayers for the victims and their families,” he says.

Innalillahi wa inna ilaihi rojiuun. Turut berduka atas musibah jatuhnya pesawat #JT610 rute Jakarta – Pangkalpinang. Doa kita untuk para korban dan keluarganya.

— Anies Baswedan (@aniesbaswedan) October 29, 2018

2pm: By now a team of 300 people including soldiers, police and local fishermen are searching for the plane. ID cards, personal belongings and aircraft debris are recovered but no human remains.

4.30pm: Some human remains are recovered.

5.10pm: The head of Indonesia’s search and rescue agency Bambang Suryo Aji says he doesn’t expect any survivors.

LION AIR’S DARK PAST

The crash of the Lion Air flight, despite clear weather, experienced flight crew and a Boeing 737 just two months old, has cast a dark spotlight on Indonesia’s chequered aviation history and that of Lion Air, one of the country’s biggest and youngest airlines that has just suffered its deadliest disaster.

The low-cost airline, which launched in 2000, has seen a number of crash landings and aircraft malfunctions. These are some of the most dramatic moments in the airline’s short history.

2004: Just four years after it started operating, Lion Air suffered its first deadly crash. Twenty-five people were killed when flight 538 crashed into a cemetery in Surakarta, Java.

2006: A McDonnell Douglas aircraft was written off when it crashed after touching down at Juanda International Airport and skidding off the runway. It was found the left thrust reverser, which was needed for the landing, was out of service. There were no fatalities.

2007: All Indonesian airlines, including Lion Air, were banned from flying to Europe due to safety concerns. The European Union’s ban relaxed over the next decade, and was completely lifted in June. The US also lifted a 10-year ban on Indonesian airlines in 2016.

2010: Some passengers were injured when flight 712 landed on its belly at Supadio Airport. All 174 passengers and crew were evacuated by the emergency slides.

2011 and 2012: Lion Air pilots were arrested for drug possession.

2013: On April 13, flight 904 from Bangdung to Denpasar with 108 people on board crashed into waters near Bali after overshooting the runway. The fuselage of the Boeing 737-800 split into two parts and passengers had to swim for their lives. Miraculously, all survived.

2014: Two passengers were seriously injured and three suffered minor injuries when a Boeing 737-900 landed hard on the runway at Surabaya’s Juanda airport and bounced five times on the runway.

2017: About 300 litres of fuel spilt on the tarmac at Surabaya’s Juanda International Airport from a Lion Air aircraft’s wings. All passengers were evacuated and the plane was grounded for further investigation.

2018: On April 28, flight 892 ran off the runway at Jalaluddin Airport after landing in heavy rain and darkness. The main nose gear collapsed but there were no fatalities.

The Australian Government has told government officials and contractors not to fly on Lion Air pending findings from the crash investigation.

Lion Air’s parent company has a presence in Australia through two subsidiaries: Malaysia-based Malindo Air, which services Brisbane, Melbourne and Perth, and Batik Air, which flies between Perth and Bali.

The company is believed to be looking to expand its network in Australia.

The Civil Aviation Safety Authority said yesterday the crash of the Lion Air plane would be taken into account when carrying out safety checks on Malindo and Batik, The Australian reported.

In early October, a Malindo Air Boeing 737 bound for Denpasar raised concerns when it turned left instead of flying straight ahead when taking off at Melbourne airport.

The European Commission said it had no immediate plans to ban Indonesian airline Lion Air again after yesterday’s crash.

Harro Ranter, who runs the Aviation Safety Network, told AP that Indonesian airlines dealt with difficult terrain, frequent bad weather leading to poor visibility and shortcomings with air traffic controllers.

“Indonesia does stand out … they did have some really bad accidents in the past,” he said.

“It’s hard to judge if they have made sufficient progress with regard to safety.”

The Lion Air crash appears to be the first involving the Boeing 737 Max 8, a more fuel-efficient update of Boeing’s 737, which is the best-selling airliner ever.