On Saturday January 9, 2020, an Indonesian plane crash occurred which involved a Boeing 737-500 plane belonging Sriwijaya Air. This airline is a budget airline operating domestically in Indonesia similar to other budget airlines such as SouthWest and Spirit Airlines in the United States. The Indonesian plane was carrying a total of 62 persons including passengers and crew, of which, all of them are presumed dead by now.
But most people are wondering what in earth could have downed the jetliner into the sea? Well, there could be several factors that contributed to the Indonesian plane crash.
Possible Factors That Led to the Indonesian Plane Crash.
1. A Bomb Explosion.
We know that the Sriwijaya Air’s Boeing 737-500 was able to take-off and then climb to at least 10,000 ft. According to reports, the plane suddenly lost more altitude rapidly as it was descending at a rate of 10,000ft/minute. The plane eventually disappeared off radar after it went below 200 feet.
A powerful bomb explosion onboard of the plane will be consistent with this rapid descent as the plane will be severely damaged and hence unable to continue flying. The plane will literally fall off the sky and then break-up as it accelerates down towards the sea. This has happened before.
On November 1, 1955, United Airlines Flight 629, bound to Denver-Portland, exploded and burned in flight near Longmont, Colorado, a few minutes after takeoff, with the loss of all 44 on board. Investigation revealed that the plane had been destroyed by the explosion of a bomb that had been placed in the rear luggage hold in Denver.
Twelve days after the disaster, John Gilbert Graham, the son of one of the female passengers, was arrested and charged with murder. He reportedly admitted placing a time bomb on board the aircraft, apparently in order to collect $37,500.00 in life insurance that he had taken on his mother’s life.
There has been many other planes brought down by a bomb explosion onboard the aircraft including the most recent one which occurred in 2015 involving a Russian Metrojet from Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, to St. Petersburg, Russia. All 224 passengers were killed in the crash. Terrorist group, Islamic States of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) claimed responsibility for the crash.
A bomb explosion onboard of the Sriwijaya Air plane is not far fetched. In fact, three fishermen from Lancang Island told CNN they heard an explosion and experienced a sudden large wave around the time the plane went missing.
“I heard very loud explosion. I thought it was a bomb or a big thunder. We then saw the big wave, about 2 meters high, hitting our boat,” Hendrik Mulyadi told CNN. Hendrik’s colleague, Solihin, described the sound as “a bomb on the water.” They said it was dark and raining at the time.
The men said they didn’t see a plane crash into the sea, but smelled fuel and spotted debris. The men said they returned to shore to report what they experienced to police.
2. Explosive Decompression/Fuel-air Explosion
Planes are known to experience explosive decompression and explode in midair. The inflight break-up can also be caused by fuel-air explosion occurring on the center wing fuel tank. The Indonesian plane crash information provided by the media says that the plane did not relay any Mayday warning or any distress calls for that matter.
This makes it likely that the Sriwijaya Air plane unexpectedly exploded in mid-air so fast that the crew did not get a chance to communicate with the Air Traffic Controllers (ATC) on the ground to alert them about the problem on board their aircraft.
The fact that the plane lost altitude rapidly will mean that there was uncontrolled descent of the plane into the sea below which rules out a pilot-induced descent due to an emergency on board the plane.
Similar incidences of explosive decompression/ fuel-air explosion occurred in July 17, 1996. This involved a Trans World Airlines (TWA) Flight 800. The TWA Flight 800 was a Boeing 747-100 that exploded and crashed into the Atlantic Ocean near East Moriches, New York, United States. The accident occured only 12 minutes after take off from New York’s JFK International Airport on a scheduled flight to Rome, Italy with a planned stop over in Paris, France. The accident killed all 230 people onboard including crew and passengers.
It is also possible that the plane could have exploded in the air due to faulty wiring or material fatigue. This is very possible as the plane is reported to be more than 26 years old. This means that the plane was nearly the end of service since planes older than 30 years old are not allowed to fly in Indonesian airspace.
3. Indonesian Plane Crash due to Aerodynamic Stall.
It is possible that the pilot mishandled the takeoff by climbing too steeply hence triggering an aerodynamic stall. This can occur also if the pilots fail to engage the autopilot due to miscommunication between them.
Also, an aerodynamic stall can be caused by sharp turns initiated by the pilot flying leading to a bank angle that is irrecoverable. According to Flightradar 24, the plane climbed to FL100 (10,000ft) and then made a sharp turn. Immediately after that, it fell off the sky and disappeared off the radar.
Similar plane crashes before that occured due to an aerodynamic stall includes Ethiopian Airlines Flight 409 from Beirut, Lebanon to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in 2010. The aircraft involved a Boeing 737-800 that had 90 people onboard. The crash killed everyone onboard as the plane crashed into the Mediterranean Sea.
The Ethiopian Airlines Flight 409 aircraft took off from Runway 21 at Beirut-Rafic Hariri International Airport during a bad weather with 82 passengers and 8 crew members onboard. The aircraft climbed to 9,000 feet (2,700 m),[2][12] turned sharply to the left, stalled, and crashed into the Mediterranean Sea about 4 or 5 minutes after take off.
The version of events is similar to what happened to the Indonesian plane crash yesterday as the aircraft vanished from the radar roughly 4 minutes after take off. According to reports, there was also light showers taking place in Indonesia during yesterday’s doomed flight.
Similar incidences also involved a Kenya Airways Flight 507 that stalled and crashed shortly after take off from Abidjan, Ivory Coast bound for Nairobi in 2007 and another Kenya Airways Flight 431 from Abidjan to Nairobi in the year 2000. The former involved a Boeing 737 while that latter involved an Airbus A310.
4. Pilot Suicide
Pilot suicide could be behind the Indonesian plane crash. This can be explained due to the fact that the plane was reported to be descending with a rate of 10,000ft/minute meaning that the aircraft was on an accelerated dive towards the Java Sea. Intentional crash of planes is nothing new as it has happened before around the world.
In 2015, Germanwings Flight 9525 crashed 100 km (62 mi; 54 nmi) north-west of Nice in the French Alps. All 144 passengers and six crew members onboard the Airbus A321-200 were killed. The investigation determined that the crash was caused deliberately by the co-pilot, Andreas Lubitz, who had previously been treated for suicidal tendencies and declared “unfit to work” by his doctor.
According to Flight Voice Recorder, Mr. Lubitz locked the captain out of the cockpit when the latter went to the washroom. Mr. Lubitz then put the plane on accelerated descent before the plane impacted terrain on the French Alps. The captain can be hard banging the cockpit doors begging Mr. Lubitz to open the door for him.
Similarly, in 1999, EgyptAir Flight 990 crashed near Nantucket, Massachusetts, killing 217 people. Before the crash, the plane’s pilot had apparently excused himself to go to the bathroom. The black box recorder then picked up unintelligible commotion and banging on the door. The co-pilot, Gamil El Batouty, could be heard muttering over and over, “I rely on God. I rely on God. I rely on God. I rely on God.” The captain eventually forced his back way in and could be heard saying, “What is this? Did you shut the engine[s]?” As the plane crashed, the captain was heard trying to right the plane, saying, “Pull with me. Pull with me.”
Also, in December 1997, SilkAir Flight 185 crashed in Indonesia, killing 104 people on board. Indonesian authorities weren’t sure exactly what had happened, though U.S. investigators suggested the captain may have switched off the flight recorders and caused the plane to dive — possibly after his co-pilot had left the cockpit. At the time of the crash, investigators noted, the pilot had been experiencing significant financial difficulties and had work-related problems.
5. Dual Engine Failure
A dual engine failure (also called double-engine failure) involves the flaming out of both engines in a twin-jet plane or both engine being rendered inoperative inflight. This can be caused by various factors including mechanical problems or a possible bird strike.
On January 15, 2009, US Airways Flight 1549, an Airbus A320 on a flight from New York City’s LaGuardia Airport to Charlotte, North Carolina, struck a flock of birds shortly after take-off, losing all engine power. Unable to reach any airport for an emergency landing, pilots Chesley Sullenberger and Jeffrey Skiles glided the plane to a ditching in the Hudson River off Midtown Manhattan.[1] All 155 people on board were rescued by nearby boats, with a few serious injuries.
Also, in August 15, 2019, Ural Airlines Flight U1678 was taking off from Moscow’s Zhukovsky airport for Simferopol, in Crimea, when it hit the birds during takeoff. The pilot began to climb before both engines failed, tried to circle back around to the airport but had to land in a nearby corn field after losing power. Luckily nobody was seriously hurt or killed as all of the 233 passengers onboard the aircraft evacuated safely using emergence slides.
Shortly after the accident, Ural Airlines released a statement on Twitter stating: “Flight U6178 Zhukovsky-Simferopol on departure from Zhukovsky sustained multiple bird strikes to the aircraft engines. The aircraft made an emergency landing. There were no injuries to the passengers and crew.” The airline praised the professionalism of the pilots.
Whereas this is likely to be the case for the Indonesian plane crash, the fact that the pilots never made emergency calls to the ATC to alert them of the problem on board makes a dual engine failure less likely to have caused the crash. This is because when both engines fail, an aircraft does not immediately drop off the sky. The plane can glide for quite some time depending on their initial altitude before experiencing all engine failure. During this time, the pilots have enough time to notify ATC about their emergency so that they (ATC) can clear the airspace below them to avoid subsequently collision with other aircraft in the vicinity.
