A new Boeing crash. What’s ailing the Indonesian aviation industry?

Image Source: Shutterstock

Summary

• The most recent aeroplane crash from Jakarta, Indonesia, raised many eyebrows regarding the country’s aviation industry’s capability to have safe flights.
• While authorities are still waiting for answers through the data received from the black boxes, many airlines workers are coming out with chilling stories regarding poor weather conditions and maintenance at Indonesian airports.

The Boeing 737-500 carrying 62 passengers and six flight crew disappeared from the radar four minutes after taking off from Jakarta, Indonesia, during the weekend.

The aeroplane was a 26-year-old model, which had a good record of successful flights. The 737-500 model did not have the same composition as the infamous Boeing 737 Max had, which had faulty software issues that caused two fatal plane crashes in recent years, one of them being, again, from Jakarta.

Indonesian authorities are still not certain why Boeing 737-500 crashed four minutes after its take-off, but recent news confirmed that local scuba divers had found a couple of black boxes, which should have shed more light on what truly happened on Saturday.

Indonesia seems to have reoccurring aviation accidents, but the company Sriwijaya Air, whose flight altitude decreased more than 10,000 feet in less than 60 seconds on Saturday, did not record a single fatal accident until 9 January 2021.

       © Kalkine Group 2021

When can Indonesians expect closure?

Even though divers have found two black boxes in recent hours, aviation experts are still investigating the causes of the deadly accident.

For now, some believe that the poor monsoon condition in Indonesia might have been a key trigger to the crash, combined with low safety standards and maintenance of Indonesian aeroplanes.

According to Air Chief Marshal Hadi Tjahjanto, the search for body remains, passenger belongings, and the plane wreckage should be efficient:

What is the most recent crash saying about Indonesian airlines’ culture?

Even before the crash on Saturday, Indonesia undoubtedly has had a poor record in fatal aeroplane crashes during the last decade, as per the Aviation Safety Network’s report.

One of the deadliest accidents in the country took place in 2018 when 189 individuals tragically lost their lives in Boeing 737 Max from Jakarta.

The situation at Indonesian airports has become even worse after the coronavirus pandemic struck the aviation industry, leaving many pilots and other flight crew members without jobs. For many flight controllers and pilots, coming back to work was not relaxing, as many had breaks, which lasted a whole month.

For Indonesia, which is highly dependent on tourism, aeroplane catastrophes are tarnishing the image of the country and the aviation industry. Limited budgets and concerns about the future of the aviation business are not bringing more reassurance to the Indonesian and travellers from other countries.

In the recent past, more complaints have been lodged against the behaviour of Indonesian crew members. It was reported that flight attendants and other staff might not be performing their jobs in the best fashion after the pandemic forced them to take pay cuts.

Some even said that low-budget companies forced the pilots to fly to the places that were considered unsafe. Poor circumstances in Indonesia also led to poorer safety regulations, as airlines put the focus on profit, rather than people’s lives.

Due to the reasons mentioned above, the European Union did not allow any Indonesian carriers to fly into the European sky for many years, until 2018, when the bans were lifted.

Crashes in 1997, 2014, and 2018, and now in 2021, have taken hundreds of lives as safety becomes a major issue for the Indonesian aviation industry. However, everyone from the Sriwijaya crew and its passengers will be remembered forever by their families, who are still waiting for the probe’s conclusion.