Boeing 737 passenger jet Vanishes over sea after falling 10,000ft

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As Above So Below
Boeing 737 jet with 50 passengers onboard VANISHES over sea after 'falling 10,000ft' on takeoff from Indonesian capital Jakarta

A Boeing 737 passenger jet carrying 50 passengers has disappeared over the sea after plummeting 10,000 feet shortly after takeoff from Jakarta, reports claim.

The Sriwijaya Air plane took off from the Indonesian capital on Saturday and was heading to Pontianak in West Kalimantan province when it lost contact with the control room, according to local media reports.

The plane - believed to be a Boeing B737-500 - is understood to have fallen 10,000 feet in less than 60 seconds just four minutes after it took off.

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Indonesian airline Sriwijaya Air is still is still getting more information before issuing a statement.

Indonesia's transport ministry said on Saturday: 'A Sriwijaya (Air) plane from Jakarta to Pontianak (on Borneo island) with call sign SJY182 has lost contact,' said ministry spokesman Adita Irawati.

'It last made contact at 2:40 pm (0740 GMT).' The usual flight time is about 90-minutes. The budget airline said only it was investigating the incident.

Indonesia's search and rescue agency and the National Transportation Safety Commission were also investigating, Irawati said.

In October 2018, 189 people were killed when a Lion Air Boeing 737 MAX jet slammed into the Java Sea about 12 minutes after take-off from Jakarta on a routine one-hour flight.

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The particular airframe involved, registration PK-CLC, was first delivered in 1994, and was 26 years old. It had served previously for Continental and United.

PK-CLC Sriwijaya Air Boeing 737-524(WL)

The circumstances are at least superficially similar to another 737 classic (the variants -300, -400, and -500) crash of Turkish Airlines flight 5904 in 1999, which crashed shortly after take-off after ascending to 10,000 feet. This was thought to be caused ultimately by icing of the pitot tube, leading to a lack of airspeed awareness by the crew.

Turkish Airlines Flight 5904 - Wikipedia

There was also another issue with the 737 classic in the 1990s to do with a hydraulic rudder servo. A malfunction could cause uncontrolled full rudder deflection, and it is believed to have led to the crash of USAir Flight 427 in 1994.

USAir Flight 427 - Wikipedia

A similar rudder 'hard-over' was also implicated in the crash of SilkAir Flight 185 in 1997, which was a Singaporean plane which crashed over Indonesia, after a rapid descent from cruise altitude. However, the US NTSB's own investigation of the incident attributed the crash to intentional pilot action. Such a conclusion was probably politically unacceptable to Singapore authorities, even if true.

SilkAir Flight 185 - Wikipedia

It seems that the plane in this latest crash made an extremely rapid descent, descending more than 5,000 feet in its last seven seconds of flight. Indicating an average vertical speed in that time of 435 knots, or 500 statute miles per hour.

Sriwijaya Air Flight 182 - Wikipedia
 
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