Indonesia says it may have found crashed jet fuselage
October 31, 2018
Investigators want to discover the airliner's black box to understand why the new Boeing 737 MAX 8 crashed. The tragedy has raised questions about Indonesia's safety record and potential issues with Boeing's new jet.
Image: Reuters/Beawiharta
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The fuselage of the Indonesian passenger plane that crashed into the Java Sea with 189 people on board two days ago may have been found, the country's military chief said Wednesday.
The location of part of the fuselage may have been discovered using sonar technology, armed forces chief Hadi Tjahjanto told reporters in Jakarta.
"We strongly believe we've determined the coordinates of the JT 610 fuselage," he said. "However, it has not yet been confirmed that it is part of the fuselage."
The head of the National Transportation Safety Committee separately told reporters that the "pings" detected by search teams were almost certainly from the plane's flight recorder due to their regular interval.
"The ping signals are consistent with those of the black box," Soerjanto Tjahjono said, adding that teams of divers were being sent to locate it.
Search teams have so far only found debris and body parts from the strewn wreckage of the Boeing 737 MAX 8 plane that plunged into the sea only 12 minutes after takeoff from Jakarta airport on Monday morning.
Search boats and divers are scanning water some 30-40 meters (100-130 feet) deep for signs of the downed plane, which was headed to the town of Pangkal Pinang.
Investigators are hoping to find the fuselage and flight data recorder to understand why the 2-month-old Lion Air jetliner crashed shortly after the pilot had requested to return to Jakarta after takeoff.
Concerns raised over safety
The crash has raised questions over the safety of Indonesia's fast-growing aviation industry.
Lion Air has said the pilot and co-pilot were highly experienced, with more than 11,000 combined hours of flight experience.
However, the budget airline admitted that the new Boeing 737-MAX 8 had an unspecified technical issue on its previous flight from the island of Bali on Sunday.
This has raised questions over possible problems with Boeing's new fuel-efficient 737-MAX 8 jet, which only went into service a few months ago. The crash was the first for the Boeing 737 MAX.
Boeing had suspended its first commercial delivery of the jet last year due to an engine issue. It was later cleared for sale, and Boeing has received orders for thousands of the jets from dozens of airlines. Lion Air has ordered 50 of the jets at an estimated cost of $6.2 billion (€5.5 billion). It currently operates nine of the aircraft.
Indonesian transportation authorities ordered an inspection of all 737-MAX aircraft on Tuesday.
Lion Air said it would be meeting with Boeing representatives on Wednesday to discuss the crash and the jet's safety.
Europe's major plane crashes of the 21st century
DW takes a look at a few of the most deadly and significant plane crashes in Europe in the 21st century.
Image: AP/Toshihiko Sato
European aviation disasters of the 21st century: Germanwings Airbus A320
A Germanwings Airbus A320 crashed into the French Alps on March 24, 2015 during a flight from Barcelona to Dusseldorf. All 144 passengers and six crew members were killed. A co-pilot with mental problems intentionally crashed the plane.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Malaysia Airlines flight MH17
Rebels in eastern Ukraine were accused of shooting down Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 on July 17, 2014 during a flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. All 298 people on board died, 193 of them Dutch. A Dutch investigation found pro-Russian rebels shot the plane down with a Buk surface-to-air missile launched from separatist territory in eastern Ukraine.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/E. Dunand
Polish President Lech Kaczynski killed
A Polish air force plane carrying President Lech Kaczynski crashed near the Russian airport of Smolensk on April 10, 2010. A Russian and Polish investigation found pilot error during landing in thick fog caused the crash that killed more than 90 people. Jaroslaw Kaczynski (pictured), the twin brother of Lech and leader of the ruling PiS, has suggested the crash was a political assassination.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/J. Kaminski
Air France Flight 447
An Air France flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris crashed in the Atlantic on June 1, 2009, killing all 228 people on board. It took nearly two years for the black box (pictured) to be recovered from the bottom of the ocean. The investigation found a combination of technical and pilot error caused the crash.
Image: picture alliance / dpa
Spanair Flight 5022
A Spanair MD-82 plane crashed after take-off from Madrid airport on August 20, 2008, killing 154 people. Amazingly, 18 people survived the crash and subsequent fire. The crash was caused by an improper flap and slat configuration and a failure of the pilots to follow a pre-flight checklist.
Image: AP
Pulkovo Aviation Enterprise Flight 612
A Russian passenger plane operated by Pulkovo Aviation Enterprise crashed near the eastern Ukraine city of Donetsk on August 22, 2006, killing all 170 people aboard. The plane was flying from St. Petersburg to the Black Sea resort of Anapa.
Image: AP
Helios Airways Flight 522
A Helios Airways flight from Cyprus crashed on August 14, 2005 near its destination Athens, killing all 121 on board. The crash was caused by a loss of cabin pressurization that immobilized the crew. The plane flew on autopilot until it ran out of fuel and crashed.
Image: AP
Überlingen mid-air collision
On the night of July 1, 2002, a DHL cargo plane flying near the southern German town of Überlingen struck a Russian passenger jet carrying mostly schoolchildren to Barcelona, Spain. The two men aboard the DHL plane and all 69 passengers and crew on Bashkirian Airlines Flight 2937 perished. Swiss air traffic control firm Skyguide was found to be at fault for the tragedy.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/R. Haid
SAS Flight 686
On October 8, 2001 a Scandinavian Airlines MD-87 airliner collided with a small Cessna on take-off from Milan's Linate Airport. All 114 people on the SAS and Cessna aircraft were killed, as were four people on the ground. The accident happened in thick fog. The SAS plane crashed into a hangar.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Ansa
Air France Concorde Flight
On July 25, 2000 an Air France Concorde flight from Paris to New York crashed two minutes after take-off, killing 109 people on board and four people on the ground. The crash was caused by the Concorde running over a piece of debris on the runway, which sent tire debris into part of the fuel tank that burst into flames.
