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Shortly before 6 am, divers from the Indonesian navy will resume their search off the north coast of Java for a Boeing 737 that crashed into the sea shortly after taking off from Jakarta on Saturday afternoon.
Sixty-two people are missing.
Sriwijaya Air flight SJ182 departed from Soekarno Hatta International Airport at 2.36 pm local time (7.36 am GMT). The routine domestic flight covering the 452 miles to Pontianak on the island of Borneo is scheduled to take 95 minutes.
FlightRadar24 flight tracking website reported that the plane took off to the southwest and initially climbed normally, turning to head northeast toward its destination.
The 26-year-old 737 flew a short distance north of the airport and over the Java Sea before contact was lost.
The twin plane reached its highest altitude, 10,900 feet, four minutes after takeoff. But in 21 seconds it had dropped to just 250 feet above sea level. That equates to a vertical speed of more than 25,000 feet per minute (340 mph).
Local fishermen told CNN they heard an explosion and were hit by a high wave the moment the plane disappeared.
Hendrik Mulyadi told the station: “I heard a very loud explosion. I thought it was a bomb or a big thunder. Then we saw the big wave, about 2 meters high, hitting our boat. “
The Indonesian navy has sent five boats and divers to an area about 12 miles north of the coast.
Flight path: Sriwijaya Air SJ182 runway from Jakarta to Pontianak
(FlightRadar24)
Jefferson Irwin Jauwena, CEO of Sriwijaya Air, said: “We hope your prayers will help the search process run smoothly and smoothly.”
The flight departure was delayed for about 40 minutes due to bad weather, with storm clouds over the airport. By the time the plane took off it was raining, with a low cloud base.
The recovery operation will seek to locate the aircraft “black boxes”, the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder as quickly as possible.
They must provide information on the control commands in the flight deck and the conversations between the captain and the first officer.
Investigators will consider a wide range of possible causes, including mechanical failure, terrorism, or an encounter with a storm cell, an air mass with violent winds.
They will also analyze the experience of the pilots, including the number of flights they have made during the coronavirus pandemic and the recent operations of the aircraft involved.
Some aviation security experts have raised concerns about the return to service of aircraft and crews following the Covid restrictions.
The search area is near where Lion Air Flight 610 fell on October 29, 2018. All 189 passengers and crew were killed aboard the Boeing 737 Max. It was the first of two tragedies that led to the grounding of the Max for 20 months.
The latest version of the 737 was returned to service in December 2020 after comprehensive changes to a software system that, when activated by a faulty sensor, triggered both accidents.
The aircraft manufacturer tweeted: “We are aware of the Jakarta media reports on Sriwijaya Air flight SJ182.
“Our thoughts are with the crew, the passengers and their families. We are in contact with the customer of our airline and we are ready to support them during this difficult time. “
The Sriwijaya Air flight involved a 737 “Classic”, two generations older than the Boeing 737 Max. It was delivered in May 1994 to Continental Airlines of the USA and in 2012 it was added to the Sriwijaya Air fleet.
The airline is a relatively small budget airline. He started flying in 2003 and has never been in a fatal accident.
The report on the Lion Air tragedy blamed software installed by Boeing on the latest version of the 737, which was triggered by a faulty sensor and forced the nose down despite the pilots’ efforts to save the plane. But he also criticized the Lion Air maintenance team.
All Indonesian carriers were included on the EU Aviation Safety List in 2007 due to “unaddressed safety concerns”. The blacklist prohibits or restricts operations within the European Union of airlines that are believed not to meet international safety standards.
The ban wasn’t finally lifted until June 2018, four months before the Lion Air Boeing 737 Max crash.
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