Off-duty pilot saved Lion Air Boeing 737 Max the day before crash

The pilot was hitching a ride in the cockpit

Wednesday 20 March 2019 11:29 GMT

Navy divers recover cockpit voice recorder of Lion Air jet that crashed into the Java Sea in October

An off-duty pilot onboard a Lion Air flight saved a Boeing 737 Max jet from catastrophe the day before the October 2018 crash that killed 189, it has emerged.

The ongoing investigation into the Lion Air incident, when a Boeing 737 Max plane crashed into the Java Sea just minutes after take-off from Jakarta on 29 October, showed that the malfunctioning jet was saved from disaster by a third pilot who was riding in the cockpit the day before.

As the crew struggled to control the diving Max 8 aircraft, which was flying from Bali to Jakarta, the pilot diagnosed the problem and instructed them on how to disable the flight control system, sources told Bloomberg.

Just a day later, the same problem emerged onboard the Lion Air aircraft, which quickly lost control and crashed shortly after leaving Jakarta for the city of Pangkal Pinang, just north of Sumatra.

This detail hasn’t previously been released, and wasn’t included in the Indonesian aviation authority’s November report, which said that the plane was not “airworthy” and had suffered similar problems on earlier flights.

Boeing 737 MAX grounding: Ethiopia Airlines Flight 302 in pictures

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1/9Boeing 737 MAX grounding: Ethiopia Airlines Flight 302 in pictures

Boeing 737 MAX grounding: Ethiopia Airlines Flight 302 in pictures

This picture taken on March 11, 2019, shows debris of the crashed airplane of Ethiopia Airlines, near Bishoftu, a town some 60 kilometres southeast of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. - An Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 crashed on March 10 morning en route from Addis Ababa to Nairobi with 149 passengers and eight crew believed to be on board, Ethiopian Airlines said. (Photo by Michael TEWELDE / AFP)MICHAEL TEWELDE/AFP/Getty Images

AFP/Getty Images

Boeing 737 MAX grounding: Ethiopia Airlines Flight 302 in pictures

Family members mourn the victims at the crash site of the Ethiopian Airlines operated Boeing 737 MAX aircraft, at Hama Quntushele village in the Oromia region, on March 13, 2019. - A Nairobi-bound Ethiopian Airlines Boeing crashed minutes after takeoff from Addis Ababa on March 10, 2019, killing all eight crew and 149 passengers on board, including tourists, business travellers, and "at least a dozen" UN staff. Families of the victims were taken to the remote site on March 13, 2019, where the plane smashed into a field with 157 passengers and crew from 35 countries, leaving a deep black crater and tiny scraps of debris. (Photo by TONY KARUMBA / AFP)TONY KARUMBA/AFP/Getty Images

AFP/Getty Images

Boeing 737 MAX grounding: Ethiopia Airlines Flight 302 in pictures

A page of a Boeing flight crew operations manual is seen at the scene of the Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET 302 plane crash, near the town of Bishoftu, near Addis Ababa, Ethiopia March 12, 2019. REUTERS/Baz Ratner

REUTERS

Boeing 737 MAX grounding: Ethiopia Airlines Flight 302 in pictures

epa07434278 Rescue workers search the site for pieces of the wreckage of an Ethiopia Airlines Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft near Bishoftu, Ethiopia, 13 March 2019. Ethiopian Airlines flight ET 302 carrying 149 passengers and 8 crew was en route to Nairobi, Kenya, when it crashed on 10 March 2019 by yet undetermined reason. All passengers and crew aboard died in the crash. The Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft has come under scrutiny after similar deadly crashes in Ethiopia and Indonesia within a few months. Several countries have banned the plane type from their airspace and many airlines have grounded their 737 Max 8 planes for safety concerns after the Ethiopian Airlines plane crashed minutes after take-off on 10 March. EPA/STRINGER

EPA

Boeing 737 MAX grounding: Ethiopia Airlines Flight 302 in pictures

A grounded Boeing 737 MAX 8 passenger plane of the Norwegian low-cost airline Norwegian is parked at the tarmac at Vantaa airport in Vantaa near Helsinki, Finland on March 13, 2019. - A number of countries have banned Boeing's 737 MAX 8 medium-haul workhorse jet from their airspace in response to the Ethiopian Airlines crash that killed all 157 people on board. (Photo by Heikki Saukkomaa / Lehtikuva / AFP) / Finland OUTHEIKKI SAUKKOMAA/AFP/Getty Images

AFP/Getty Images

Boeing 737 MAX grounding: Ethiopia Airlines Flight 302 in pictures

Rescue workers search the site for pieces of the wreckage of an Ethiopia Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft near Bishoftu, Ethiopia, 13 March 2019. Ethiopian Airlines flight ET 302 carrying 149 passengers and 8 crew was en route to Nairobi, Kenya, when it crashed on 10 March 2019 by yet undetermined reason. All passengers and crew aboard died in the crash. The Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft has come under scrutiny after similar deadly crashes in Ethiopia and Indonesia within a few months. Several countries have banned the plane type from their airspace and many airlines have grounded their 737 Max 8 planes for safety concerns after the Ethiopian Airlines plane crashed minutes after take-off on 10 March. EPA/STRINGER

EPA

Boeing 737 MAX grounding: Ethiopia Airlines Flight 302 in pictures

A heap of debris from the wreckage of an Ethiopia Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft are piled at the crash site near Bishoftu, Ethiopia, 13 March 2019. Ethiopian Airlines flight ET 302 carrying 149 passengers and 8 crew was en route to Nairobi, Kenya, when it crashed on 10 March 2019 by yet undetermined reason. All passengers and crew aboard died in the crash. The Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft has come under scrutiny after similar deadly crashes in Ethiopia and Indonesia within a few months. Several countries have banned the plane type from their airspace and many airlines have grounded their 737 Max 8 planes for safety concerns after the Ethiopian Airlines plane crashed minutes after take-off on 10 March. EPA/STR

EPA

Boeing 737 MAX grounding: Ethiopia Airlines Flight 302 in pictures

A crew working with an investigative team to clear the site after the Sunday crash of the Ethiopian Airlines operated Boeing 737 MAX aircraft, carry debris at Hama Quntushele village in the Oromia region, on March 13, 2019. - A Nairobi-bound Ethiopian Airlines Boeing crashed minutes after takeoff from Addis Ababa on March 10, killing all eight crew and 149 passengers on board, including tourists, business travellers, and "at least a dozen" UN staff. Families of the victims were taken to the remote site on March 13, 2019, where the plane smashed into a field with 157 passengers and crew from 35 countries, leaving a deep black crater and tiny scraps of debris. (Photo by TONY KARUMBA / AFP)TONY KARUMBA/AFP/Getty Images

AFP/Getty Images

Boeing 737 MAX grounding: Ethiopia Airlines Flight 302 in pictures

FILE PHOTO: An American Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8, on a flight from Miami to New York City, comes in for landing at LaGuardia Airport in New York, U.S., March 12, 2019. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton/File Photo

REUTERS

Lion Air spokesman Danang Prihantoro told Bloomberg: “All the data and information that we have on the flight and the aircraft have been submitted to the Indonesian NTSC [National Transportation Safety Committee].

“We can’t provide additional comment at this stage due the ongoing investigation on the accident.”

The Boeing 737 Max jet was grounded worldwide following an Ethiopian Airlines crash on 10 March that killed all 157 onboard. Initial data suggests the two accidents followed very similar profiles, according to Ethiopia’s transport minister.

Investigators are focusing on the new anti-stall system installed on the Boeing 737 Max jets, which is known as the “Manoeuvering Characteristics Augmentation System” or MCAS.

The system is designed to kick in if the angle between the wings and the airflow, known as the “angle of attack”, gets too steep and a stall looks feasible.

The initial report into the Lion Air crash shows that MCAS was activated a dozen times.

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Off-duty pilot saved Lion Air Boeing 737 Max the day before crash

The pilot was hitching a ride in the cockpit

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Boeing 737 MAX grounding: Ethiopia Airlines Flight 302 in pictures

Boeing 737 MAX grounding: Ethiopia Airlines Flight 302 in pictures

Boeing 737 MAX grounding: Ethiopia Airlines Flight 302 in pictures

Boeing 737 MAX grounding: Ethiopia Airlines Flight 302 in pictures

Boeing 737 MAX grounding: Ethiopia Airlines Flight 302 in pictures

Boeing 737 MAX grounding: Ethiopia Airlines Flight 302 in pictures

Boeing 737 MAX grounding: Ethiopia Airlines Flight 302 in pictures

Boeing 737 MAX grounding: Ethiopia Airlines Flight 302 in pictures

Boeing 737 MAX grounding: Ethiopia Airlines Flight 302 in pictures

Boeing 737 MAX grounding: Ethiopia Airlines Flight 302 in pictures

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