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Sriwijaya Air crash adds to troubling safety record

With proper maintenance, age of aircraft should not matter: KNKT

Dian Septiari (The Jakarta Post)

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Jakarta

Mon, January 11, 2021 Published on Jan. 10, 2021 Published on 2021-01-10T23:02:26+07:00

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Indonesian Navy divers hold wreckage from Sriwijaya Air flight SJY182 during a search and rescue operation at sea near Lancang island on Jan. 10, after the Boeing 737-500 crashed shortly after taking off from Jakarta airport on Jan. 9.

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uthorities said they have picked up signals believed to be from the black boxes belonging to the Sriwijaya Air SJ-182 passenger jet that crashed off the coast of Jakarta.

The National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas), assisted by the Indonesian Navy and relevant agencies, is racing against time to fi nd both the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder of the aircraft that was meant to land in Pontianak, West Kalimantan, but disappeared from the radar only minutes after taking off on Saturday afternoon.

“We continue to monitor the two signals transmitted by the black boxes, and we have marked them. Hopefully we can lift the black boxes soon, so that we can fi nd the cause of the accident,” Indonesian Military commander Air Chief Marshal Hadi Tjahjanto said on Sunday in a televised press briefing.

Carrying 50 passengers and 12 crew members, the aircraft had climbed to about 11,000 feet before contact was lost and it suddenly nosedived, according to tracking website flightradar24.com.

Sriwijaya Air crash (JP/Hengky Wijaya)

Sriwijaya Air CEO Jeff erson Irwin Jauwena said the flight had been delayed for 30 minutes from its scheduled departure time due to heavy rain, but the plane had been “airworthy”

National Transportation Safety Committee (KNKT) chief Soerjanto Tjahjono said with the black boxes located, divers would soon begin the search using portable finders.