Jakarta Globe, Reuters, Jan 05, 2015
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| Bodies and wreckage from the crashed AirAsia plane continue to be recovered from the sea, but bad visibility, high waves and strong winds have hindered the operation in the past days. (EPA Photo/Fully Handoko) |
Pangkalan
Bun/Jakarta. An Indonesian naval patrol vessel has found what could be the tail
of a crashed AirAsia passenger jet, the section where the crucial black box
voice and flight data recorders are located, officials said on Monday.
News of the
possible breakthrough came as the transport ministry in Jakarta said some
officials on duty at the time of the accident will be moved to other roles. It
also announced it was tightening rules on pre-flight procedures.
Ships and
aircraft scouring the northern Java Sea for debris and bodies from the Airbus
A320-200 have widened their search to allow for currents eight days after
Flight QZ8501 plunged into the water enroute from Surabaya to Singapore with
162 people on board.
“We found
what has a high probability of being the tail of the plane,” Yayan Sofyan,
captain of the patrol vessel, told reporters.
He was
speaking after his ship returned to the port in Surabaya on Monday, and it was
not immediately clear if he was referring to one of the five large objects
pinpointed by search vessels over the weekend.
Indonesia’s
meteorological agency has said seasonal tropical storms probably contributed to
the Dec. 28 crash and the weather has persistently hampered efforts to recover
bodies and find the cockpit voice and flight data recorders that should explain
why the plane crashed into the sea.
The
recorders are housed in the tail section of the Airbus, making retrieval of
that part of the aircraft crucial.
“I am not
saying it’s the tail yet,” the head of Indonesia’s search and rescue agency,
Fransiskus Bambang Soelistyo, told a news conference in Jakarta. “That is
suspected. Now we are trying to confirm it.”
Transport
ministry crackdown
The
transport ministry said some officials at the country’s airport operator and
air traffic control agency who were involved with the AirAsia flight will be
moved to other duties while the accident investigation is completed.
The
ministry gave no reason.
It also
said that, three days after the crash, it had issued a directive making it
mandatory for pilots to be briefed in person by an airline official on weather
conditions and other operational issues before every flight.
“A circular
has been signed by the transport ministry on December 31, stating that pilots
must have a face-to-face briefing with a flight operation officer so the
briefing officer will know the pilot is in a healthy condition and so on,” said
Djoko Murjatmodjo, acting director general of air transportation.
Aviation
experts said this was a common practice in the industry, but it was not
immediately clear if it has been normal procedure in Indonesia.
The main
focus of the search is about 90 nautical miles off the coast of Kalimantan,
where five large objects believed to be parts of the plane — the largest about
18 metres long — have been located in shallow waters by ships using sonar.
While
experts say the shallow sea should make the recovery fairly straightforward in
good weather, strong winds and big waves have frustrated the multinational
force of ships and divers that has converged at the site.
“The seas
haven’t been very friendly, but the black boxes have a 30-day life and they
will be able to find them,” said Peter Marosszeky, a senior aviation research
fellow at the University of New South Wales in Sydney. “It’s the weather that
is causing the delay.”
Thirty-seven
bodies of the mostly Indonesian passengers and crew have been recovered,
including some still strapped in their seats. Many more may be trapped in the
body of the aircraft.
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| Indonesian security forces carry three coffins containing the bodies of Flight QZ8501passengers before they are transported back to Surabaya. (Reuters Photo/Darren Whiteside) |
Licence confusion
Indonesia
AirAsia has come under pressure from authorities, who have suspended its
Surabaya-Singapore licence, saying the carrier only had permission to fly the
route on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Flight QZ8501 took off on
a Sunday.
It was not
immediately clear what difference, if any, the day of the week had on the Dec.
28 flight, and Murjatmodjo made clear that the investigations of the route and
the crash were separate.
“Please
differentiate between the probe into flight licences and the air crash
investigation,” he said.
Singapore’s
civil aviation authority and its Changi Airport Group said AirAsia had the
necessary approvals to operate a daily flight between Surabaya and Singapore.
Indonesia
AirAsia is 49 percent owned by Malaysia-based budget carrier AirAsia, whose
shares fell nearly 5 percent on Monday.
While the
licence investigation could have serious consequences for the airline’s
operations, insurance industry experts said insurers were expected to pay
claims whether or not the airline was properly licensed to fly on the day.
The crash
was the first fatal accident suffered by the AirAsia budget group, whose
Indonesian affiliate flies from at least 15 destinations across the archipelago.
Reuters
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