Lion Air plane crash disaster: Passengers aboard jet day before speak of horror flight

Passengers aboard the Lion Air Boeing 737 the day before it crashed describe a “roller coaster” flight.

Passengers aboard the Lion Air Boeing jet the day before it crashed in the sea off Jakarta have described panic during a “roller coaster” journey from Bali.

The aircraft crashed on its next flight, soon after take-off from Soekarno-Hatta airport on Java, after the pilot reported technical difficulties. All 189 people on board were killed. Speculation on the cause has focused on loss of control that may have stemmed from a failure in the pitot-static system, the sensors that provide airspeed and altitude readings.

Recovered debris from the ill-fated Lion Air flight.

Edward Sirait, president of the budget airline Lion Air, has acknowledged that there was a technical problem with the Boeing 737 Max 8, a new model that had been in service for a matter of weeks, but said that it had been fixed.

Two passengers on the aircraft’s immediately preceding flight, from Bali to Jakarta, described a long and unexplained delay before take-off, unusual engine noises, vibrations, sudden drops in altitude and cabin-temperature problems, causing fear among many on board.

Alon Soetanto told Indonesian television: “About three to eight minutes after it took off I felt like the plane was losing power and could not ascend.” He said the plane had dropped repeatedly. “It felt like a rollercoaster. Some passengers began to panic and vomit.”

Conchita Caroline. Picture: Instagram

Conchita Caroline, a television presenter who claimed that she was onboard the last flight before the crash, said that passengers were left on the plane without air conditioning for more than half an hour before departure, and that the engines gave an “unusual roar” before take-off. “The passengers were all confused,” she said. “We had no idea what was going on.” She said that a crew member to whom she spoke was unhelpful. “He treated me like a passenger full of disturbing dramas even though what I was asking represented friends and confused tourists who didn’t understand Indonesian.”

She said that when the plane finally took off the cabin was uncomfortably stuffy, the floor was hot and the starboard engine was vibrating. “I have never experienced this kind of thing before,” she said.

The Boeing 737 Max 8 is the latest revision of the manufacturer’s medium-haul workhorse, and hundreds have been sold to budget airlines. Indonesia has ordered an inspection of all Boeing 737 Max airliners. Lion Air has ten in its fleet and the national carrier Garuda Indonesia has one.

Aviation Commentator Byron Bailey on the Lion Air plane crash: It is a very new airplane, it is unusual to have anything wrong.

They did have a fault on the previous flight but that crew handled it and it was reportedly fixed.

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— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) October 30, 2018

The pilot of the doomed plane had radioed that he was trying to turn back to the Jakarta airport because of technical issues before contact was lost.

Investigators are searching for the aircraft’s hull and its black box flight recorders in waters about 100 feet deep five miles off the coast. Specialist equipment has been brought in from Singapore to detect the signals given off by the recorders.

Recovered personal items of passengers on board the ill-fated Lion Air flight JT 610 are laid out as search and rescue personnel stand in formation.

Search teams have recovered 24 bags of human remains from the sea. The fragmentary state of the debris and body parts suggests that the aircraft crashed at high speed and at a steep angle; a theory corroborated by fishermen who witnessed the impact.

Among the passengers were 10 employees of Indonesia’s finance ministry. A colleague, Sony Setiawan, just missed the flight after being stuck in Jakarta’s notorious traffic jams. “My friends and I always take this plane,” he said. “The first time I heard, I cried. My friends were on that flight.”

Rescuers carry a body bag containing the remains of victims retrieved from the waters where Lion Air flight JT 610 is believed to have crashed at Tanjung Priok Port in Jakarta.

Police have begun taking saliva swabs from relatives of passengers to identify remains with DNA testing.

“This is a very difficult time for our family,” Leo Sihombing said at Soekarno-Hatta airport. “We know that it is very unlikely that my cousin is alive. What we hope is rescuers can find his body so we can bury him properly.”

Latief Nurbana and his wife, Yeti Eka Sumiati, came seeking news of their son, Lutfi Nuramdani, 24, who was on the flight after visiting them in Jakarta. “We were chatting together about his wife, who is now seven months pregnant, his plans and his dreams with his own small family until we fell asleep,” Mr Latief said.

“Now he’s gone. We can’t believe that he left us this way. We want to see his body, his face, his remains.”

THE TIMES