Lion Air Crash: Jet’s Airspeed Indicator Malfunctioned on Previous 4 Flights

ktla ^

[BenLurkin]

Indonesian investigators, the plane’s manufacturer, Boeing, and the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board are formulating a more specific inspection for Boeing 737 MAX 8 planes related to the airspeed problem, Tjahjono said.

“If there are urgent findings to be delivered, we will convey them to the operators and to the manufacturer,” he said.

Lion Air has said a technical problem with the jet was fixed after problems with the Bali to Jakarta flight. Investigator Nurcahyo Utomo said investigators need to review maintenance records, including what problems were reported, what repairs were done including whether components were replaced, and how the repairs were tested before the 2-month-old plane was declared airworthy.

“Currently we are looking for the cause of problem,” he said “Whether the trouble came from its indicator, its measuring device or sensor, or a problem with its computer. This is what we do not know yet and we will find it out,” he said.

At the meeting with family members, Tjahjono had said that information downloaded from the jet’s flight data recorder was consistent with reports that the plane’s speed and altitude were erratic after takeoff on its final flight. Searchers are still trying to locate the cockpit voice recorder.

[jimmygrace]

Lord I hope the pitot tube was not the root cause. These days, you can easily back up your instruments with GPS to get a 2nd opinion on air speed, altitude, and heading. Radar would be yet a 3rd source.

[JohnBrowdie]

gotcha. I am supremely confident that boeing, the NTSB, the FAA, several hundred international airline safety organizations, hundreds of airlines, assorted independent maintenance organizations, innumerable pilot and airline workers unions, and the OEM of the piece of equipment are all 100% cool with dangerous gear in commercial airliners for a damn decade.

I’m sure that could happen.

[BobL]

‘But this was in a warm climate and I don’t think they got very high where the air would be cold, so maybe not in this case.”

3 minutes into a flight, I’d agree with you, but at 13 minutes into the flight (the case here), the air would be quite cold, assuming a normal climb.

[minnesota_bound]

If the airspeed indicator survived then it will be used in another jet.....

[libertylover]

Thanks. How high would an airliner normally be after 13 minutes?

I was an instrument guy and I’ll admit to being a bit prejudiced, but I think there was more going on than an indicated airspeed problem. My guess is that there WAS a problem with the airspeed indication through the computer system and they should’ve turned off the computer system and relied on the backup instruments to get back down, not let the damn computer fly them right into the ocean.