Black box revelation: Lion Air jet suffered speed fault on three consecutive flights, then disaster struck on the fourth
- Troubled airline’s safety record has been under the microscope since a new Boeing 737-Max 8 plunged into the sea just 12 minutes after take-off on October 29
An Indonesian Lion Air jet that plunged into the Java Sea last week, killing all 189 on board, had an air speed indicator problem on its fatal flight and on three previous journeys, the country’s transport watchdog said on Monday.
The new details – gleaned from a recovered flight data recorder – come after the government said it was launching a “special audit” of the budget carrier’s operations.
A week after the disaster, there is still no answer as to what caused the crash.
Lion – long been dogged by safety problems – has said the Boeing 737-Max 8 suffered a technical issue on the flight just before its deadly crash on October 29 and that it was fixed.
But the National Transportation Safety Committee (NTSC) said on Monday that the black box data showed the plane had an air speed indicator issue on at least two other earlier flights.