Divers zero in on Lion Air Flight 610 black boxes
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Indonesian aviation experts, who examined what they said was the maintenance log from the flight from Bali to Jakarta on Sunday, said the plane had experienced problems with unreliable airspeed readings. While it is difficult to guess what might have caused the crash without the black boxes, aviation experts have raised the possibility that problems with the delicate instruments that gauge speed and altitude could have contributed to the tragedy.
Replay
A variety of malfunctions or oversights could lead to inaccurate speed and altitude projections, including electrical glitches or obstructions to the monitoring instruments affixed to the outside of the plane. Part of what is called the Pitot-static system, the external probes send three sets of measurements to the flight crew, and any discrepancy between readings is cause for concern, aviation experts said.
Lion Air technicians cleared the flight for takeoff Monday, and checked the Pitot tubes on the outside of the plane, according to the maintenance log viewed by Indonesian aviation analysts. The tubes can be compromised by invading insects or by ice forming during a flight, among other rare complications.
Peter Marosszeky, a longtime aircraft engineer and former senior executive at Qantas, said that while a full investigation of Flight 610’s final hours is needed, the initial evidence is consistent with problems with the Pitot tubes. These tubes are particularly vulnerable in hot, equatorial climates like Indonesia’s to being blocked by wasps, he said.
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