Lion Air flight from Jakarta to Sumatra crashes with 189 aboard
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Oct. 28, 2018 / 10:56 PM EDT / Updated Oct. 28, 2018 / 11:34 PM EDT
An Indonesian Lion Air Boeing 737 carrying 189 passengers and crew crashed into the sea shortly after takeoff from Jakarta, the capital, on Monday morning, authorities said. There was no immediate confirmation of casualties.
The national news agency, Antara, said Flight JT610, a Boeing 737 MAX 8, was reported missing 13 minutes after it took off at 6:20 a.m. (7:20 p.m. ET Sunday) for Pangkal Pinang, the capital of the Sumatran island of Bangka-Belitung.
Family members of passengers aboard a crashed Indonesian Lion Air jet mourn at Pangkal Pinang airport, in Bangka Belitung province, on Monday local time. Hadi Sutrisno / AFP - Getty Images "It has been confirmed that the plane crashed in Tanjung Kerawang waters" in West Java Province, Erzaldi Rosman Djohan, the governor of Bangka Belitung, said at a news conference.
Antara said the plane was carrying 189 people — 178 adult passengers, three infants, six crew members and two pilots. Authorities initially said 188 people had been on board.
Before authorities lost contact with the plane, it requested permission to return to Jakarta for what Antara described only as "a problem."
A spokeswoman for CFM International, the manufacturer of the plane's two LEAP-1B engines, confirmed to NBC News that the company had been notified that the plane was missing. She said the company had no further information.
Boeing Co. said it was aware of the reports. Lion Air Group said it had no immediate comment.
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Lion is the budget airline for Indonesia.
Just heard on the news, they have confirmed, all on board are lost. Saying a prayer for the families.
Dear Friend SpikeGary: You and me both!
E.
I think that we would all be wise to not fly on either Indonesian or Malaysian Airlines.
I never feel safe traveling on those third world airlines.
189 people dead... You're hilarious. /s
I have a friend who does maintenance on the airlines airplanes. He won't fly any longer.
That tells me something.
He's also told me that most of the maintenance on these airplanes is contracted out now, He said about a third the work frice knows what its doing, a third dont have a frickin clue and the other third are either half drunk or stoned about half the time.
He ought ta know he's been in the industry for a long time, He said it used to be much more regulated and regularly policed. Now it's all much more about the profits for the investment groups who own the companies.
So he stopped flying.
What airline? I would like to avoid it.
He's a contact mechanic, he works on the big jets electrical systems so he works all over the country and for many airlines. He's been doing it for the 20 years I've known him.
He even gets out here to Phoenix from time to time. When he does he brings his guitar and we get together and jam out. Like we used to when we both lived in Melbourne. Good times !!
When planes start dropping from the sky your friend will have a good point. Let's hope it never happens.
In the meantime
It's already happening just not so much here yet:
Aseman Airlines has had other major crashes. In October 1994, a twin-propeller Fokker F-28 1000 commuter plane operated by the airline crashed near Natanz, 180 miles south of Tehran, killing 66 people. An Aseman Airlines-chartered flight in August 2008, flown by an Itek Air Boeing 737, crashed in Kyrgyzstan, killing 74 people.
Under decades of international sanctions, Iran’s commercial passenger aircraft fleet has aged, with air accidents occurring regularly in recent years.
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Although deaths are down in recent years, in a span of just four-and-a-half weeks at the start of 2018, three commercial planes crashed in Iran, Russia, and Nepal, claiming 186 lives.
When compared to driving, flying is still a relatively safe mode of transportation. This is good news when you consider that more than three billion people flew on a commercial aircraft in 2013 alone. There were 81 accidents on commercial planes that same year, however, and the passengers involved — especially those on the 16 flights with fatalities — were forever changed.
2018