[ad_1]
JAKARTA, Indonesia – Research teams deployed underwater equipment Tuesday to map the soil of the Java Sea in search of a Lion Air airliner, while investigators gathered evidence in to determine the cause of the new flight.
Boeing
737 Max 8 aircraft with 189 people on board to crush.
Soerjanto Tjahjono, chairman of the Indonesian National Committee for Transport Safety, in charge of investigating the accident, said teams were using sonar to locate the aircraft's fuselage and data loggers, which sank into the Wed Monday shortly after takeoff.
"Once we have found traces of metal, we will deploy underwater beacons to find the black boxes," said Tjahjono, saying the pings issued by the flight data recorder and the 39 cockpit voice recorder could be detected at a little over a kilometer.
Search at sea
The new Boeing 737 model disappeared shortly after taking off from Jakarta to Pangkal Pinang.
Mr. Tjahjono questioned Lion Air about a problem encountered by the plane on Sunday during a Bali-Jakarta flight. He wanted clarification on "what the problem was and how they treated it". The airline said the plane had suffered a problem "that was resolved before the fatal flight on Monday.
The data collected by Flightradar24, a flight tracking network, indicated that the aircraft was suffering from possible erratic readings of speed and altitude on both the flight that had crashed and crashed. on the previous flight, including a drop in altitude that a pilot described as unusual.
Mr. Tjahjono stated that he was concentrating on finding recorders or black boxes and that his team was also collecting the flight log, tower data, maintenance records and data records. Pilot files to facilitate the investigation.
The loss of Lion Air Flight 610 is the first major accident involving the Boeing 737 MAX 8, a new variant of the company's popular 737 single-aisle aircraft. According to officials, no one would have survived this accident.
Air traffic controllers lost contact with flight 610 about 13 minutes after taking off from Jakarta's main airport to Pangkal Pinang, a town on Bangka Island. The Ministry of Transport said the pilots had asked to return to Jakarta airport before disappearing from the radar.
Rescuers said they found human remains floating in the area where the plane crashed, sending 24 body bags containing body parts to a police hospital for DNA identification. However, they have not yet located the fuselage, which would be on the seabed at a depth of about 115 feet.
The search area was widened from 5 to 10 nautical miles from where the plane was likely crashed, said Didi Hamzar, director of the search and rescue agency's preparations. The search was carried out in good weather by 50 divers, 35 boats and three aircraft.
The captain of Flight 610 was Bhavye Suneja, an Indian from New Delhi and co-pilot Harvino, an Indonesian. Mr. Suneja joined Lion in 2011, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Lion Air said Mr. Suneja had more than 6,000 flying hours, while Mr. Harvino, who, like many Indonesians, had only one name, had more than 5,000 hours.
Rescuers discovered debris and body parts off the coast of Jakarta, at the alleged location, where an Indonesian airliner carrying 189 people crashed a few minutes after takeoff. Photo: Getty Images
The Boeing 737 MAX 8 was delivered to Lion Air in August. It was equipped with CFM International Leap-1B engines, which, combined with other technological improvements, allow aircraft to gain more than 10% in fuel efficiency compared to older versions of similar jets.
Lion Air is a major customer of Boeing Max 8 and other variants of its 737 jet aircraft, as well as A320 single-aisle aircraft of its rival.
The investigation is in its infancy and the authorities have given no indication that a failure of the equipment would have led to the accident. Boeing said it was providing technical assistance to the probe, while CFM said it was ready to help.
US aviation regulators will closely monitor the investigation, which is part of the Federal Aviation Administration's efforts to streamline certification procedures for new aircraft.
Lion Air, formerly PT Lion Mentari Airlines, is one of the largest low-cost airlines in Asia and belongs to Indonesian magnate Rusdi Kirana.
The carrier has an unequal security history. In April 2013, another new Boeing crashed in shallow waters near the Bali landing strip. The 108 passengers and crew members were saved. The accident was attributed to a pilot error.
Indonesia has a long history of air disasters and its carriers have been forced for many years to travel to the United States and Europe for security reasons. The government and the airlines are committed to strengthening surveillance and improving safety. The latest restrictions imposed on Indonesian airlines were lifted in June of this year.
-Gaurav Raghuvanshi, Robert Wall and Andrew Tangel contributed to this article.
Write to Ben Otto at [email protected] and I made Sentana at [email protected]
