Lion Air crash: 'Black box' voice recorder found

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Indonesian officials on Monday said they will immediately download contents of a cockpit voice recorder (CVR) from a Lion Air jet that crashed off the coast of Jakarta in October, killing all 189 people on board.

The crash was the world's first of a Boeing Co 737 MAX jet and the deadliest of 2018, and the recovery of the aircraft's second black box from the Java Sea north of Jakarta on Monday may provide an account of the last actions of the jet's pilots.

Contact with flight JT610 was lost 13 minutes after it took off on October 29 from Jakarta, heading north to the tin-mining town of Pangkal Pinang.

It's reported that the bright orange voice recorder was found at least 50 meters (165 feet) from where the first black box - the plane's flight data recorder - was found last November.

Rear Admiral Harjo Susmoro, the head of Naval Hydrographic and Oceanographic (C) during a press conference at Tanjung Priok Port in Jakarta, Indonesia, January 14, 2019. /VCG Photo

Though the voice recorder was broken into two pieces, "hopefully it's still useful," said Haryo Satmiko, deputy head of Indonesia's transport safety committee, adding that "We have our own laboratory and personnel to do it."

A preliminary report by Indonesia's transport safety commission focused on airline maintenance and training, as well as the response of a Boeing anti-stall system and a recently replaced sensor, but did not give a cause for the crash.

A group of relatives of victims urged the transportation safety committee to reveal "everything that was recorded" and to work independently.

KRI-934 naval ship carrying the cockpit voice recorder of the crashed Lion Air JT-610 at Tanjung Priok Port in Jakarta, Indonesia, January 14, 2019. /VCG Photo

Navy Lieutenant Colonel Agung Nugroho said a weak signal from the recorder was detected several days ago and it was found buried deep in soft mud on the seafloor in water about 30 meters (98 feet) deep.

"We don't know what damage there is but it has obvious scratches on it," Nugroho said.

Nurcahyo Utomo, an investigator at the safety committee, said it should take no more than five days to download the data, but if there was a problem the CVR would be sent to the manufacturer.

"We hope it can be done as soon as possible because all the Boeing operators are waiting," said Utomo, adding that investigators hoped to complete the full report within a year of the crash.

Indonesian woman Inchy Ayorbaba (C), whose husband Paul Ayorbaba died in the crash, participates in a rally to demand continued search operations for the remains of the missing, Jakarta, Indonesia, December 13, 2018. /VCG Photo

With the recovery of the CVR, officials said there was no plan to continue searching for other parts of the wrecked plane, including an angle of attack sensor that was suspected to have been faulty.

Boeing said in a statement on Monday that it was taking "every measure" to fully support this investigation.

"As the investigation continues, Boeing is working closely with the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board as a technical adviser to support Indonesia's National Transportation Safety Committee," said the planemaker.

Since the crash, Lion Air has faced scrutiny over its maintenance and training standards, and relatives of victims have filed at least three lawsuits against Boeing.

Source(s): Reuters