The 2021 Indonesian airline crash that killed 62 people was due to mechanical failures and negligent pilots, according to a report released this Thursday in Jakarta by a commission of inquiry.
An Air Sriwijaya Boeing 737-500 crashed in the Java Sea minutes after taking off from Jakarta to Pontianak in Borneo on January 9, 2021.
All 50 passengers and 12 crew on flight SJ182 died in the crash.
The Indonesian National Committee for Transportation Safety (KNKT) identified several contributing factors to the accident, including mechanical problems.
A failure in the aircraft’s automatic acceleration system caused it to tilt to the left, according to a KNKT statement quoted by French news agency AFP.
Normal auto climb stopped at 10,900 feet (3,322 meters) and throttle lever malfunctions began at 8,150 feet (2,884 meters).
The throttle lever on the right side of the aircraft remained stationary, while the lever on the left side was pushed down excessively to compensate, Spanish agency EFE said based on the report.
The plane, which had been in service for nearly 27 years, veered off course before diving.
Investigators concluded that the pilots discovered the problem too late, despite “having had time to notice the aircraft’s asymmetry in advance.”
They attributed this failure to a “lack of vigilance” due to the possible relaxation of the pilots during the operation of the automatic flight system, which did not allow them to correct the trajectory.
Investigators also attributed the lack of official rules and guidelines to pilots’ lack of competence and knowledge to deal with such situations.
In a preliminary report, investigators said previous crews had reported malfunctions in Boeing’s acceleration system, which had been repaired several times prior to the fatal flight.
Indonesia is a vast archipelago with poor aviation safety records despite being heavily dependent on air travel connecting over 17,000 islands.
Considered the most dangerous country to fly in Asia, Indonesia has experienced 104 plane crashes since 1945, killing 2,301 people, according to Air Safety Network data cited by EFE.
The most serious occurred in September 1997, when an Airbus A300B4 of the Indonesian airline Garuda Airlines crashed in northern Sumatra, killing all 234 on board.
Before last year’s crash, 189 people died in October 2018 when a Lion Air Boeing 737 MAX fell overboard, and in 2014 an Air Asia Airbus A320 also crashed into the Java Sea, killing all 162 people on board.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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