Doomed Lion Air jet was not airworthy on penultimate flight, says report
A Lion Air jet that crashed into the sea off Indonesia in October was not in an airworthy condition on its second-to-last flight, when pilots experienced similar problems to those on its doomed last journey, investigators said on Wednesday. Contact with the Boeing 737 MAX jet was lost 13 minutes after it took off on October 29 from the capital, Jakarta, heading north to the tin-mining town of Pangkal Pinang. In a preliminary report, Indonesia’s transport safety committee (KNKT) focused on the airline’s maintenance practices and pilot training and a Boeing anti-stall system but did not give a cause for the crash that killed all 189 people on board. The report unveiled fresh details of efforts by pilots to steady the jet as they reported a “flight control problem”, including the captain’s last words to air traffic control asking to be cleared to “five thou”, meaning 5,000 feet. Automated anti-stall system Information retrieved from the flight data recorder showed the “stick shaker” wa...
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