NOVEMBER 5, 2018
The “black box” flight recorder recovered after a plane crash off Indonesia shows four of the crashed Lion Air jet’s flights had problems with the airspeed indicator, investigators have said.
The head of Indonesia’s National Transportation Safety Committee, Soerjanto Tjahjono, says the “black box” data recorder from the crashed Lion Air jet shows its last four flights all had an airspeed indicator problem.
Mr. Tjahjono and investigator Nurcahyo Utomo told a news conference that the problem was similar on each of the four flights, including the fatal flight that killed all 189 people on board.
The stunning revelation on Monday comes after angry relatives confronted the airline’s co-founder at a meeting organized by Indonesian officials.
At the meeting, Mr. Tjahjono said information downloaded from the flight data recorder is consistent with reports the plane’s speed and altitude were erratic.
Searchers are still trying to locate the cockpit voice recorder.
Families of victims of Lion Air flight JT 610 attend a meeting on Monday – (Getty Images)
Divers recovered the flight recorder from the crashed jet on the sea floor, a crucial development in the investigation into what caused the two-month-old plane to plunge into the sea last week.
The Boeing 737 MAX 8 plane crashed last Monday just minutes after take-off from Jakarta.
It was the worst airline disaster in Indonesia since 1997 and renewed concerns about safety in its fast-growing aviation industry.
Distraught and angry relatives of those killed in the crash confronted the airline’s co-founder after the announcement was made on Monday.
Rusdi Kirana, the co-founder, was not invited to speak by Transport Minister Budi Karya Sumadi, who moderated the meeting between relatives and the officials who are overseeing the search effort and accident investigation.
Items recovered from the sea after the Lion Air crash – (AFP/Getty Images)
“Lion Air has failed,” said a man who identified himself as the father of passenger Shandy Johan Ramadhan, a prosecutor in a district of the island where the flight was headed.
“I want Mr. Rusdi Kirana and his team to pay attention,” he said. “Since the time of the crisis, I was never contacted by Lion Air. We lost our child, but there was no empathy that Lion Air showed to us.”
After the meeting, Mr. Kirana left in a hurry, avoiding questions from reporters.
Courtesy/Source: Evening Standard
