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Lion Air crash investigation begins
Say cheese!: Two children pose for a photograph with a part of ill-fated Lion Air flight JT-960 at Kedonganan beach in Denpasar, Bali, on Sunday
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span class="inline inline-center">Say cheese!: Two children pose for a photograph with a part of ill-fated Lion Air flight JT-960 at Kedonganan beach in Denpasar, Bali, on Sunday. The plane crashed into the sea on Saturday near Bali's Ngurah International Airport just before it was due to land. Several parts of the plane were scattered along the beach. Antara/Nyoman Budhiana
The National Transportation Safety Committee (KNKT) has started an investigation to find out why a new Lion Air passenger jet missed the runway and ditched into the sea in Bali on Saturday.
Separately, a member of the House of Representatives pointed out that the House had recently warned the country's largest private airline to pay more attention to human resources, including preventing possible overwork by its crew. But the airline strongly denied such a possibility.
Speaking to reporters on Sunday, Transportation Ministry air transportation chief Herry Bakti said that the KNKT was still collecting data about the crash, including passenger and crew statements, official weather reports, log books and flight data from the downed aircraft.
'We don't want be hasty in determining the cause of the plane crash, as the results of our investigation will serve as a reference for air transportation safety in the future,' Herry said.
Herry said that preliminary toxicology reports for the pilot, Mahlup Gozali, and his co-pilot, Chiraq Carla came up clean.
'We have performed urine and blood tests on the pilot and co-pilot from Lion Air on Saturday night. Early findings from the police are negative,' Herry said.
On Saturday, a Lion Air Boeing 737-800 aircraft travelling from Bandung, West Java, to Bali, ditched into the sea at the end of the runway 09 of Ngurah Rai International Airport in Badung, Bali.
All 108 people on board, including seven crew members, five children and one infant, survived the impact. While the aircraft's flight data recorder (FDR) has been secured, KNKT divers have temporarily halted their search for the cockpit voice recorder (CVR).
'We have located the CVR, but due to strong currents, our divers face difficulties in retrieving it,' Herry said.
Lion president director Rusdi Kirana made headlines last month when French President Francois Hollande attended a ceremony in Paris where Rusdi signed a massive deal with Airbus to provide 234 narrow-body Airbus A320s worth US$24 billion to the airline.
In Bali US President Barack Obama witnessed in 2011 the signing of an agreement for Lion Air to buy 230 aircraft worth $21.7 billion from Boeing.
Commission V chief Laurens Bahang Dama promised a House investigation of the incident.
'We will soon summon the transportation minister [EE Mangindaan] to learn whether there were any legal violations in this accident. Flight safety is number one,' said Laurens.
Meanwhile, another Commission V lawmaker, Yudi Widiana Adiya, said that the Commission had previously warned the airline to improve its human resources management to avoid fatal accidents.
'Although the aircraft was new, even the smallest mistake still can be fatal and threaten the safety of all the crew members and passengers,' Yudi said, speaking to Antara new agency.
List of air catastrophes
'¢ May 9, 2012: Russian-made Sukhoi Superjet 100-passenger jet crashes into Mt. Salak near Bogor, West Java, killing all 45 onboard.
'¢ Sept. 29, 2011: Nusantara Buana Airlines Casa 212 aircraft crashes in the Mt. Leuser National Park in Langkat, North Sumatra, killing 18.
'¢ March 7, 2011: Chinese-made MA60 Merpati Nusantara Airlines aircraft crashes in Kaimana, West Papua, killing 27.
'¢ March 7, 2007: Garuda Indonesia Boeing 737-400 crashes and bursts into flames at Yogyakarta Airport, killing 21.
'¢ Jan. 1, 2007: Adam Air flight plunges into the sea off of Sulawesi, killing all 102 on board.
'¢ Nov. 30, 2004: Lion Air Boeing MD-82 crashes while landing at Surakarta, Central Java, killing 26.
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