Distress Calls Were Made from Crashed Lion Air Jet’s Former Flight

Image of a Lion Air jet used for representational purposes.

(Photo Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons)

“Everyone in the plane shouted Allahu Akbar (God is Greatest), Subhanallah (Glory to God). We recited every prayer we knew,” said Diah Mardani in a TVOne broadcast, describing the turbulence in a flight taken by the same Lion Air jet that plummeted into the Java sea hours later, killing all 189 people on board.

The Boeing 737 Max flew from Bali’s Denpasar and landed at Jakarta at 10:55pm local time on Sunday, reported Reuters. The same jet took off at 6:20 am on Monday for Bangka island, but crashed 13 minutes later.

According to the Reuters report, the pilot of the Jakarta bound flight had made a “Pan-Pan” distress call, citing technical problems, only a little after taking off.

A “Pan-Pan” call, reportedly, is made by pilots to flag urgent situations, even though it is the “Mayday” calls that signal severe distress.

A pilot – who refused to disclose his name – told Reuters that he was approaching Bali right after the Jakarta bound flight had taken off, but “because of the Pan-Pan call, we were told to hold off, circling the airport in the air.”

However, subsequently the pilot informed that the problems had been resolved, and continued flying towards Jakarta.

According to an AP report, speaking about the Bali to Jakarta flight, an Alon Soetanto said:

About three to eight minutes after it took off, I felt like the plane was losing power and unable to rise. That happened several times during the flight.

Lion Air president Edward Sirait said there were reports of technical problems with the flight from Bali but they had been resolved in accordance with the plane manufacturer's procedures, reported AP.

The airline also, according to AP, did not respond to requests to verify a document purporting to be a Lion Air maintenance report, dated Sunday, that described inaccurate airspeed and altitude readings after takeoff.

According to the Reuters report, National Transport Safety Committee (NTSC) deputy chief Haryo Satmiko informed on Tuesday that there were technical problems on the flight, including unreliable airspeed readings.

Just before the Bangka based flight crashed, the pilot had made a request to return to the base.

Lion Air’s technical director and three other officers were suspended on Wednesday in order to facilitate the crash investigation, reported Reuters.

The ministry also said that the suspended technicians had issued the recommendations for that (final) flight, without specifying how many had been suspended.

(With inputs from Reuters, AP.)