Indonesian Search Pushes on as Mystery Unfolds
After the Lion Air 737‑MAX vanished off Jakarta’s coast on Oct. 29, the nation’s rescue teams are keeping the lights on—literally—for another three days. With 189 souls lost, the hunt for bodies and a missing black‑box is all‑on‑grid.
Basarnas Leads the Charge
“We’re extending the operation for three more days,” announced Muhammad Syaugi, chief of the national search & rescue agency (Basarnas). It’s the second time the mission has been prolonged, but the military and police have called it quits, leaving Basarnas to plug the gaping hole.
- Personnel: 220 rescuers, 60 divers.
- Ships: Four swift vessels combing the ocean.
- Coverage: A tight 250‑meter radius (about 273 yards).
After ten days of relentless sweeps, Syaugi said the yields are dropping fast: 186 body bags—and 44 victims identified after forensic work.
Black‑Box Battle
The flight data recorder (FDR) was recovered last week, but the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) still remains elusive. According to Nurcahyo Utomo of the Transportation Safety Committee (KNKT), a faint “ping” has tickled the search team, possibly buried under a heap of mud.
“We’ll probably bring in a mud‑scooping vessel next,” Utomo quipped, indicating the mystery is just a dive away.
What Boeing’s Bulletin Reveals
Boeing has issued a safety bulletin reminding pilots to double‑check a sensor that misread flight data on the doomed flight. The culprit? An angle‑of‑attack sensor that reported bogus information, a tell‑tale sign of aerodynamic duck‑duck‑and‑drop—an essential piece that tells the plane how high its nose is relative to the air.
When the sensor calls foul, the aircraft may inadvertently enter a stall, a frantic loop that spirals the plane into the sea. KNKT says the sensor issue surfaced during the last flight from Bali to Jakarta, despite a replacement earlier in Bali.
Simulations & Next Steps
KNKT is on the case: crew logs are under review, technicians on duty from past flights are being interviewed, and the faulty sensor is headed to Boeing’s engineering simulator in Seattle for testing. The goal? A realistic flight simulation to gauge how much a sensor glitch could skew a plane’s fate.
In a world where a sensor’s bad review can haunt a whole crew, the hunt for answers is more intense than ever. The hope is that the missing CVR will surface soon, painting the full picture of the tragedy—and maybe, just maybe, prevent another one in the future.
