Indonesia orders inspections of Boeing Max 8s
Indonesia’s Ministry of Transportation has ordered an airworthiness inspection on all Boeing 737 Max 8s registered in the country as rescuers continue to sift through the wreckage of Lion Air Flight JT 610 in an attempt to recover the victims and retrieve the flight data and cockpit voice recorders.
Lion Air’s fleet now includes ten 737 Max 8s, and the other planes did not have the same technical problem. Garuda Indonesia took one last December, before deferring the rest of its deliveries amid financial troubles.
The flight JT 610 Boeing 737 MAX 8 plane was delivered in August and had 800 hours of flying time. It sank in waters about 30 to 35 metres depth in Java Sea.
"It is far too early to determine the probable cause of the accident. The investigation is ongoing and until we recover the FDR and CVR, we won’t know the circumstances involved. It’s fruitless to comment without knowing the facts,” said the group’s organization development director, Ziva Narendra Arifin, who also serves as the secretary general of AOPA Indonesia and director of consulting firm Aviatory Indonesia.
ADS-B data from the airliner’s October 28 evening flight revealed erratic variations in altitude and airspeed including an 875-foot drop over 27 seconds when the aircraft would normally be ascending. Nevertheless, the fight crew maintained an altitude of 28,000 feet before landing safely in Jakarta. Data from Flight JT 610, captured by Flightradar24 and FlightAware, indicated similar erratic values in altitude and airspeed.
Moments after crash of JT 610, US-based Boeing Company said it was "deeply saddened" by news of the crash, has suspended release of the 737 MAX just days out from its first commercial delivery last year due to an engine issue.
Meanwhile, pilot association Ikatan Pilot Indonesia is asking people to refrain from speculating on the cause of the fatal crash.
So far, numerous theories have emerged about what might have caused the two-month-old 787 Max 8 to crash into the Java Sea 13 minutes after takeoff from Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta International Airport.
