The crash of a Boeing 737-500 belonging to Sriwijaya Air with flight number SJ-182 on the Jakarta-Pontianak route. It’s making the safety of Indonesia’s aviation world again in the spotlight of various parties.
Over the past decade, Indonesia has become the world’s deadliest aviation market, ‘outperforming’ Russia, Iran and Pakistan by the Aviation Safety Network.
There have been a total of 697 fatalities in airplane crashes in that decade, including private and military aircraft, Reuters reported.
Two deadly accidents in that decade, namely the Air Asia Indonesia crash with flight number QZ8501 in Java Sea waters, killed 155 passengers and 7 crew members on December 28, 2014.
And, in 2018 the Lion Air JT 610 plane crash killed 189 passengers and cabin crew.
From 2007 to 2018, the European Union banned flights from Indonesian airlines, after a series of accidents, as well as worsening surveillance and maintenance reports.
Meanwhile, the United States lowered Indonesia’s aviation safety evaluation to category 2 (the regulatory system was inadequate) from 2007 to 2016.
However, in recent years the aviation safety record in Indonesia has increased. It even received appreciation from the UN’s International Civil Aviation Agency (ICAO).
“Saturday’s crash has nothing to do with the (Boeing 737) Max. However, Boeing should guide Indonesia, which has an unstable flight safety record, to restore confidence in its aviation industry,” said Head of Flight Consultant Endau Analytics based in Malaysia Shukor Yusof. launch Reuters.
Meanwhile, Australia-based air crash investigation expert Geoff Dell said investigators would look at factors including mechanical failure, pilot actions, maintenance records, weather conditions and whether there had been any unlawful interference with the plane. Most air accidents are caused by a combination of factors that take months to conclude.
“There has been a lot of opinion being made about the speed of its final drop. It’s an indication of what happened, but why it happened is still in many ways a question. There are many ways you can lower the plane at that speed,” he explained.
On a different occasion, the FlightGlobal Executive Editor added that Sriwijaya Air’s operational records also need to be scrutinized. According to him, during 2008-2017 Sriwijaya Air had rested four Boeing 737 fleets.
“Due to a bad landing and resulting in the plane out of the runway, including in 2008 which resulted in a death and 14 injuries,” he said.
