Indonesia Plane Crash Probe's Focus Is on Lack of Pilot Response to Controllers
January 14 2021 - 3:45AM
Dow Jones News
By Andy Pasztor and Jon Emont
A communication breakdown between pilots and air-traffic
controllers has emerged as an early focus of the investigation into
last weekend's crash of a 1990s-era Boeing 737 in Indonesia,
according to people with knowledge of the probe.
The cockpit crew of the Sriwijaya Air jet, which plunged into
the Java Sea minutes after takeoff, failed to acknowledge or
respond to two radio transmissions from controllers questioning why
the aircraft had shifted from its designated route during its climb
away from Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, the
people said. Instead of flying northeast as expected, the plane
veered northwest and at one point, a controller instructed the
pilots to execute a turn to get back on track, one of these people
said.
It is too early to draw definitive conclusions about the
sequence of events before the crash that killed all 62 people on
board, according to these people and safety experts not connected
with the investigation. Indonesian authorities said the aircraft's
flight-data recorder, one of its so-called black boxes, was
recovered by divers Tuesday and taken to a laboratory so its
contents can be downloaded.
Authorities said they believe the location of the cockpit-voice
recorder--which is the other black box--also has been identified,
but rough seas prevented retrieval Wednesday.
For now, according to the safety experts, the crew's lack of
response on the radio could indicate pilot confusion or
distraction. One possibility is that a problem with some mechanical
or flight-control system could have consumed the pilots' attention,
they said.
Preliminary traffic-control information, the experts said, also
raises the possibility that the 26-year old Boeing 737-500, which
had been delayed for takeoff due to a storm, could have ended up
flying through unexpected weather conditions. The jet quickly
plunged more than 10,000 feet with its engines running, but there
was no mayday call or emergency transmission from the cockpit,
according to investigators and publicly available radar data.
Experts said the descent appeared to be a near-vertical dive.
Barring damage to the recorders, data downloaded from them
could, within days, provide direction for investigators by
revealing details about changes in the jet's speed or trajectory,
pilot actions, flight-control commands and potential system
malfunctions.
Indonesia's transportation ministry said earlier that
air-traffic controllers tried to communicate with the pilots to get
the plane back on its designated course seconds before it
disappeared from radar. Haryo Satmiko, deputy head of the national
transportation safety committee, said via text message that
air-traffic control tried to contact Sriwijaya Air Flight 182 more
than once to ask why it unexpectedly changed direction.
Others familiar with the probe said the crew failed to respond
to a second radio call asking about the plane's direction. That
transmission came around the time the jet went into its fatal dive,
one of the people said. The exact timing can't be determined until
data from the recorders is downloaded.
Another person familiar with the probe said there was a further
unsuccessful attempt to make radio contact with the plane after its
disappearance from the radar, after which air-traffic control
contacted other planes flying in the area to look for and try to
contact Sriwijaya Air Flight 182.
Initial inspections of the jet's maintenance records haven't
revealed irregularities, according to this person, although
authorities will probe further.
Indonesian investigators haven't indicated what the focus of
their investigation is. A Boeing Co. spokesman declined to
comment.
The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, which is
participating in the probe, is sending four officials to Indonesia,
including operational and humanfactors experts. Boeing, engine
maker General Electric Co. and the Federal Aviation Administration
are assisting the U.S. safety board. A safety board spokesman
wasn't immediately available for comment.
Flight 182's takeoff roll, lift off and early climb appeared
normal, according to some of the people familiar with the probe.
Despite a delay due to stormy weather, publicly available radar
data indicates other jets seemingly departed without problems
before and after the jet.
While waiting to download data from the recorders, investigators
are examining maintenance records, dissecting air-traffic control
transmissions and interviewing pilots and mechanics who flew and
worked on the Boeing 737-500 before its last flight.
Andrew Tangel and Viriya Singgih contributed to this
article.
Write to Andy Pasztor at andy.pasztor@wsj.com and Jon Emont at
jonathan.emont@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 14, 2021 03:30 ET (08:30 GMT)
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