Aviation safety analysts caution it’s far too early to say what caused the Sriwijaya crash as numerous factors, including malfunction, pilot actions or even a suicide, remain possible.
The crash of Sriwijaya Air Flight 182 still a vexing mystery falls into a broad category of airliners that suddenly plunge out of the sky. Such violent descents make up a small percentage of overall accidents, but account for an outsize portion of deaths because they almost inevitably kill everyone aboard. While the airline accident rate has steadily improved, there have been multiple crashes of that type in recent decades. The Sriwijaya flight, with a 26-year-old Boeing Co. 737-500 jet, took off from Jakarta with 62 people on Jan. 9 and at first flew what appeared to be a routine trajectory, according to a flight track produced by Flightradar24. After reaching about 10,000 feet (3,050 meters), it leveled off, staying between 10,000 and 11,000 feet for about 45 seconds, according to the data.
Search teams at the site of the Sriwijaya Air crash in Indonesia have sent body bags and items of clothing to police for identification as they expand the search for the aircraft’s black boxes.
Indonesia Rescuers Pull Human Remains From Plane Crash Site Bloomberg 1/11/2021 Harry Suhartono, Rieka Rahadiana and Alan Levin
(Bloomberg) Search teams at the site of the Sriwijaya Air crash in Indonesia have sent body bags and items of clothing to police for identification as they expand the search for the aircraft’s black boxes.
The Boeing Co. 737-500 passenger jet carrying 62 people plunged more than 10,000 feet shortly after takeoff at 2:36 p.m. local time Saturday. Investigators said it came down quickly and broke apart after hitting the Java Sea, but haven’t determined a cause for the 26-year-old plane’s crash.