Indonesia plane flew with airspeed problems - official
The Lion Air Boeing 737 MAX jet that crashed in Indonesia flew erratically the previous evening and its airspeed readings were unreliable.
That's according to an accident investigator and a flight tracking website.
According to data from FlightRadar24, the jet displayed unusual variations in altitude and airspeed in the first several minutes of flight after taking off from Denpasar on the holiday island of Bali on Sunday evening, - including an 875-foot drop over 27 seconds when it would normally be ascending - before stabilising and flying on to Jakarta.
However, the pilots kept the plane at a maximum altitude of 28,000 feet compared with 36,000 feet on the same route earlier in the week.
Lion Air CEO Edward Sirait told reporters on Monday a technical problem had occurred on the Denpasar-Jakarta flight but it had been resolved "according to procedure".
National Transport Safety Committee (NSTC) deputy chief Haryo Satmiko told reporters on Tuesday there were technical problems on that flight, including unreliable airspeed readings.
"The suspected cause of the accident is still being investigated and it is making us all curious what could have caused it," he said. Satmiko gave no further details.
Two passengers on Sunday's flight posted on Instagram, reporting that they had been concerned about problems with the air conditioning system and cabin lighting before the plane departed nearly three hours late.
"I was angry because as a passenger who had paid her ticket, we have every right to question the aircraft's safety," said one of them, TV presenter Conchita Caroline. She added there was a "weird" engine noise upon take-off that continued during flight.
It was not clear if the cabin problems were in any way related to the technical trouble mentioned by the airline's CEO.
The Denpasar-Jakarta flight landed at 10:55 p.m. local time on Sunday, giving engineers six-and-a-half hours at most for checks before it was dispatched for the fatal Jakarta-Pangkal Pinang flight at 6:20 a.m. on Monday.
Published: by Radio NewsHub