All Boeing 737 Max planes to be inspected by Indonesian authorities following Lion Air crash
The Lion Air aircraft had an airspeed problem prior to the crash
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Indonesian aviation authorities will inspect all Boeing 737 Max 8 planes belonging to the country’s commercial airlines following the Lion Air crash on 29 October.
The low-cost airline was flying from Jakarta to Pangkal Pinang near Sumatra when it crashed into the sea not long after take-off with 189 people onboard.
Indonesia’s transport minister Budi Karya Sumadi says he has instructed airlines “to conduct an inspection of all Boeing 737-MAX planes” and Indonesian transportation ministry official Captain Avirianto confirmed the move to CNN.
Indonesia’s National Transportation Safety Committee says the Lion Air aircraft had an airspeed problem prior to the crash.
Data from the plane showed erratic speed, altitude and direction in the minutes after takeoff. The same thing happened on the plane’s previous flight, according to Aviation Safety Network.
Lion Air currently has 11 737-MAX aircraft in its fleet; Garuda Indonesia has one, which was inspected on Monday night.
The ministry plans to check Lion Air’s planes as soon as possible. “We will check list one by one, with its system and technical things,” said Avirianto.
Rescuers have so far found 26 bodies and are not expecting to find any survivors from the crash.
The incident is the second-worst crash in Indonesia’s history and follows a number of accidents for Lion Air in recent years.
In 2013, a Lion Air Boeing 737 overshot the runway at Bali’s Denpasar Airport, while in 2011, a Lion Air flight overshot the runway at Sepinggan Airport in Indonesian Borneo.
In 2004 a Lion Air flight crashed during landing, killing 25 of the 163 people on board.
Indonesia does not have one of the best reputations when it comes to air safety. Until four months ago the country’s airlines had been on an EU blacklist since 2007, and have also been banned from American airspace in the past.
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