‘Not airworthy’ – Investigators DRAMATIC conclusion on crashed Lion Air flight

The flight, a Lion Air Boeing 737 jet, crashed while travelling between Bali and the Indonesian capital of Jakarta. Flight data showed the flight suddenly dived towards the sea, with all those on board killed after impact. However according to an investigation by Indonesia’s national transport committee (KNKT) the flight suffered the same technical issues the day before it crashed, and was not fit to fly.

Nurcahyo Utomo, head of the KNKT, told journalists “This is the basis of our recommendation to Lion Air. In our view the plane was not airworthy”.

On October 28 a Lion Air pilot chose to continue the aircraft’s journey despite the anti-stall system shutting down.

Investigators did not definitively say what they believe caused the aircraft to crash, with a crash report expected next year.

However they did note that the aircraft was still in service despite a fault with the airspeed indicator.

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The pilots may also have struggled with the plane’s anti-stall software according to the provisional report.

The model of plane involved in the crash, a Boeing Max 8 jet, was only rolled out globally last year.

The aircraft which crashed had been in service for less than three months.

Roughly 20 of those onboard were Indonesian finance department officials heading to Jakarta for a conference.

Lion Air Group currently controls around half the Indonesian air travel market, making it Southeast Asia’s biggest airline.

However Indonesia continues to be dogged by a poor aircraft safety record, with 40 fatal crashes over the last 15 years.

Investigators initially suggested the aircraft which crashed had an issue with its angle of attack (AOA) sensors.

This led Boeing to issue a special bulletin advising other airlines on what to do if they have a similar problem.