Lion Air Flight 610 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Soekarno–Hatta International Airport, Tangerang, to Depati Amir Airport, Pangkal Pinang, in Indonesia. On 29 October 2018, the Boeing 737 MAX 8 operating the route, carrying 181 passengers and 8 crew members, crashed into the Java Sea 11 minutes after takeoff, killing all 189 occupants on board. It was the first major accident and hull loss of a 737 MAX, a then recently introduced aircraft.
It is the deadliest accident involving the Boeing 737 family, surpassing Air India Express Flight 812 in 2010. It was the deadliest accident in Lion Air's history, surpassing the 2004 Lion Air Flight 538 crash that killed 25, the deadliest aircraft accident in Indonesia since Garuda Indonesia Flight 152 in 1997, and the deadliest aircraft accident in the Java Sea, surpassing Indonesia AirAsia Flight 8501 in 2014.
The Indonesian government's search and rescue found debris and human remains soon after from a 280-kilometre-wide (150-nautical-mile) area. The first victim was identified two days after the crash. The flight data recorder (FDR) was found on 1 November and recovered for analysis. One diver also died during recovery operations.
The subsequent investigation, led by the National Transportation Safety Committee (NTSC), revealed that a new software function in the flight control system caused the aircraft to nose down. That function, the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS), had been intentionally omitted by Boeing from aircraft documentation for aircrews, so the Lion Air pilots did not know about it nor did they know what it could do. Investigators concluded that an external device on the aircraft, the angle-of-attack (AoA) sensor, was miscalibrated due to improper maintenance which sent erroneous data to MCAS. In turn, MCAS responded by pushing the nose down. The problem had occurred on the same aircraft during its immediately preceding flight, and the pilots had recovered using a standard checklist for such a "runaway stabilizer" condition. During the accident flight, the AoA sensor again fed erroneous data to the MCAS, which pushed the nose of the aircraft down. The pilots did not properly follow the checklist, with the result that MCAS remained active and repeatedly put the aircraft into an unsafe nose-down position until it crashed into the water.
After the accident, the United States Federal Aviation Administration and Boeing issued warnings and training advisories to all operators of the Boeing 737 MAX series, reminding pilots to follow the runaway stabilizer checklist to avoid letting the MCAS cause similar problems. The company also said that a software update would be made available to update the behavior of MCAS. Despite these advisories, similar issues caused the crash of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 on 10 March 2019, prompting a worldwide grounding of all 737 MAX aircraft.
The final report by the National Transportation Safety Committee (NTSC) of Indonesia criticized Boeing's design and the FAA's certification process for MCAS and said the issues were compounded by maintenance issues and lapses by Lion Air's repair crews and its pilots, as well as Xtra Aerospace, a US-based company that supplied Lion Air with the AoA sensor.
Aircraft and crew
The aircraft involved was a Boeing 737 MAX 8, registration PK-LQP, line number 7058, and powered by two CFM International LEAP-1B engines, and was delivered new to Lion Air on 13 August 2018. At the time of the accident, the aircraft had flown about 800 hours in service. This was the first accident involving a 737 MAX since the type's entry into service on 22 May 2017, and the deadliest accident involving a Boeing 737.
The accident aircraft had recently received a replacement angle-of-attack (AoA) sensor. The used replacement sensor was supplied by a US-based company, Xtra Aerospace. Subsequent investigations found that the sensor was likely miscalibrated when sent out by Xtra Aerospace, and that Lion Air’s maintenance crews did not test the sensor before returning the aircraft to service.
The flight's cockpit crew included Captain Bhavye Suneja (31), an Indian national, who had flown with the airline for more than seven years and had about 6,028 hours of flight experience (including 5,176 hours on the Boeing 737) and received his training in California; and First Officer Harvino (41), an Indonesian who had 5,174 hours of flight experience, 4,286 of them on the Boeing 737. The six flight attendants were also Indonesians.
Flight details and accident
The aircraft took off from Jakarta on 29 October 2018 at 6:20 am local time (28 October 2018, 11:20 pm UTC) and was scheduled to arrive at Depati Amir Airport in Pangkal Pinang at 7:20 am. It took off in a westward direction before circling around to a northeast heading, which it held until crashing offshore northeast of Jakarta in waters estimated to be as much as 35 m (115 ft) deep. The flight crew had requested clearance to return to the Jakarta airport 19 nmi (35 km; 22 mi) into the flight. The accident site was located 34 km (18 nmi; 21 mi) off the coast of the island of Java.
Communication between air traffic control (ATC) and Flight 610 was suddenly lost at 6:33 am. ATC informed the National Search and Rescue Agency, which deployed three ships and a helicopter to the area. At 7:30 am, the agency received reports that Flight 610 had crashed a few kilometres from an offshore oil platform. Workers on the platform reportedly saw the aircraft crash with a steep nose-down angle. Boats from the platform were immediately deployed and debris from the crashed aircraft was found shortly after.
Victims
On board the aircraft were 189 people: 181 passengers (178 adults, one child, and two infants), as well as six cabin crew and two pilots. All 189 passengers and crew on board were killed.
Among the passengers were 38 civil servants. They consisted of 20 Ministry of Finance employees, 10 Audit Board of Indonesia employees, two auditors from the Finance and Development Inspection Agency, three Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources employees, and three Indonesian National Police officers. There were also three public prosecutors, six members of Bangka Belitung Regional People's Representative Council members, and three judges of Indonesia's High Court and National Court.
Two confirmed foreigners were among those on board: The captain was an Indian citizen named Bhavye Suneja and one passenger was an Italian citizen, former professional cyclist Andrea Manfredi.
Response
On 29 October, Indonesia's Transportation Ministry ordered all of the country's airlines to conduct emergency inspections on their 737 MAX 8 aircraft. The ministry also launched a special audit on Lion Air to see if any problems existed with its management system. The Transportation Ministry announced that all Indonesian Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft were airworthy and were allowed to resume normal operations on 31 October.
A Basarnas spokesperson confirmed to reporters that the aircraft had crashed; Muhammad Syaugi, head of Basarnas, later confirmed that casualties had occurred, without specifying a number.
The Transportation Ministry set up crisis centres in Jakarta and Pangkal Pinang. Lion Air offered free flights for the families of the victims to Jakarta. On 30 October, more than 90 relatives were flown to Jakarta for the identification of the victims. Chairman of Lion Air Edward Sirait stated that accommodation had been provided for the relatives, and later added that relatives should go to Halim Perdanakusuma International Airport for further information. The Indonesian National Police announced that a trauma-healing team would be provided for the relatives of the victims.
Indonesia's People's Representative Council announced on 29 October that they would examine the standard operating procedures of Lion Air and the airworthiness of the aircraft. They would also examine the health history of the crew of Flight 610. The speaker of the People's Representative Council, Bambang Soesatyo, later asked the government to enforce stricter rules for the aviation industry and to audit every airliner in the country. On 1 November, Indonesian Minister of Transportation Budi Karya Sumadi announced that the government would evaluate every low-cost carrier in Indonesia.
As 20 of the passengers were employees of the Indonesian Ministry of Finance, Sri Mulyani, the Indonesian finance minister, immediately visited the Indonesian Search and Rescue Agency's office in Jakarta, seeking coordination and further information. She later announced that Finance Ministry employees should wear a black ribbon for a week to commemorate the victims. Posthumous awards were issued to the 20 victims and scholarships to their children.
Minister of Health Nila F Moeloek and Minister of Transportation Budi Karya Sumadi visited the relatives of the victims. Indonesian President Joko Widodo, who was attending a conference in Bali during the crash, visited the recovery efforts at the Port of Tanjung Priok the next day.
The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade announced that its staff would be banned from flying on Lion Air, as well as its subsidiary airlines Batik Air and Wings Air, until the cause of the accident was known. The Indonesian Minister of Transportation, Budi Karya Sumadi, later stated that his ministry would hold talks with the Australian government about the warning.
The government-owned social insurance company Jasa Raharja announced that the victims' families would each receive 50 million rupiah (US$3495) in compensation.
In the immediate aftermath of the crash, the Indonesian media were warned by Indonesian Broadcasting Commission for their unethical coverage of the crash. Some media were accused of pushing the family members to answer unethical questions. Chairman of Indonesia's Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI), Abdul Manan, stated that images of debris were broadcast repeatedly and inappropriately. This, in turn, traumatized relatives of the victims. In response, some Indonesians voiced their anger and disappointment on social media.
On 31 October, Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi temporarily suspended Lion Air's technical director Muhammad Arif from his duties based on the crash investigation. Budi said the ministry had also suspended an unspecified number of Lion Air technicians who had cleared the aircraft for its final flight.
Recovery operations
Indonesia‘s National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) launched a search-and-rescue operation, with assistance from the Indonesian Air Force, the Indonesian Navy, and the Republic of Singapore Navy. Basarnas dispatched about 150 people in boats and helicopters to the site of the accident. Civilian vessels also responded to the reports of a downed aircraft, and the crew of a tugboat reported to authorities in Tanjung Priok that they had witnessed an aircraft crash at 6:45 am and located debris in the water at 7:15 am. The Indonesian Agency for Assessment and Application for Technology deployed the research ship Baruna Jaya, which had been previously used in the search for Adam Air Flight 574 and Indonesia AirAsia Flight 8501.
Officials from Basarnas announced that the search-and-rescue operation would be conducted for seven days and be extended by three days if needed. A command centre was set up in Tanjung Priok.
On 29 October, the director of operations for Basarnas said that all on board were presumed dead and that the first human remains had been recovered. Divers had located fragments of the aircraft's fuselage and assorted debris, but had yet to find the onboard flight recorders. Air Marshal Muhammad Syaugi, head of Basarnas, suggested that most of the victims were still inside the fuselage, as in the days following the crash rescue personnel only managed to recover a small number of body parts. Poor underwater visibility and strong sea current hampered the search and rescue effort.
On the same day, Basarnas published the area of the search-and-rescue operation, divided into two main areas. The first was a 62 nmi (115 km; 71 mi) long underwater search area, while the second was a "visual search" area, 124 nmi (230 km; 143 mi) wide.
On 30 October, the search area was divided into 13 sectors. The search area was widened to 150 nmi (280 km; 170 mi), reaching as far as Indramayu to the east. Approximately 850 personnel from the National Search and Rescue Agency, National Armed Forces and volunteers participated in the operation. At least 13 bodies were retrieved from the crash site. Indonesian officials confirmed that faint pings had been heard in the search area.
On 31 October, acoustic "pings" were reported to have been detected, no further than 3 km (1.6 nmi; 1.9 mi) from the group of eight current search points, which were possibly from one of the underwater locator beacons (ULBs) attached to the aircraft's flight recorders.
The first victim was identified on 31 October. At the time, more than a dozen body parts had been found by authorities. Some of the parts had drifted more than 5 km (2.7 nmi; 3.1 mi) in the sea current. Police also reported that 152 DNA samples had been collected from the victims' relatives. Hundreds of pieces of the aircraft had also been recovered; all of them were transported to Tanjung Priok, Jakarta. Authorities stated that the search area for dead bodies and debris would be focused in the sea off Karawang Regency, a coastal area of Java close to the crash site, as analysis showed that the sea currents in the area would bring debris to the south. A command centre was set up in Tanjung Pakis, Karawang, to oversee the salvage effort.
On the same day, authorities widened the search area from 10 to 15 nmi (19 to 28 km; 12 to 17 mi). In all, 39 ships (including four equipped with sonar) and 50 divers were deployed to the search area. The National Police announced that 651 personnel had joined and assisted in the search-and-rescue operation. Officials stated that the operation, starting from 31 October, would focus on finding the fuselage of the aircraft and the flight recorders.
The joint search-and-rescue team announced on 31 October that at least three objects, one of which was suspected to be one of the aircraft's wings, were found in the search area. Officials confirmed that "pings" from the aircraft's ULBs were also heard near the area.
On 1 November, searchers recovered Flight 610's flight data recorder (FDR), which was located at a depth of 32 m (105 ft). The cockpit voice recorder (CVR) was reported as not yet found. Haryo Satmiko, deputy chief of National Transportation Safety Committee (NTSC) (Indonesian: Komite Nasional Keselamatan Transportasi), the body investigating the crash, told journalists that the device's poor condition was evidence of the "extraordinary impact" of the crash, which had separated the memory unit from its housing. Despite the damage, investigators were able to recover data from the aircraft's most recent 19 flights spanning 69 hours, and planned to begin analysis on 5 November.