Crashed Indonesian plane had faulty air speed indicator

Indonesia is working to recover data from the crashed plane’s black box (Photo: www.riauredaksi.com)   Hanoi (VNA) – Indonesia’s National Transportation Safety Committee (NTSC) said on November 5 that a Lion Air plane that crashed into the Java Sea last week, killing all 189 onboard, had an air speed indicator problem on its fatal flight and on three previous journeys. According to the NTSC, the black box data showed the plane had an air speed indicator issue on at least two other earlier flights before the Boeing 737 MAX 8 met with the accident on October 29. “There were four flights in all that suffered a problem with the airspeed indicator,” NTSC head Soerjanto Tjahjono told reporters. When there was a problem, the pilot would write it down and the mechanic would do a repair and then the plane would be declared airworthy, he added. The agency said it would probe what caused the indicator problem and whether proper repairs were done, including replacing the faulty component. But, it did not give more details and did not speculate on how the indicator problem may have played a role in the crash, as it continues to mine the flight recorder – seen as key to answering why a nearly brand new plane fell out of the sky. Earlier the same day, Indonesian Minister of Transport Budi Karya Sumadi announced that authorities plan to launch a special investigation into Lion Air’s operations after its flight JT610 crashed last week. The authorities will… [Read full story]