SESAAT sebelum jatuh, pilot pesawat Lion Air JT-610, Bhavye Suneja, warga India, melaporkan ´masalah teknis´ beberapa menit setelah lepas landas, lalu minta ijin kembali ke bandara, kata seorang pejabat. Menara pengawas udara (ATC) mengijinkan pesawat kembali, tetapi pesawat kemudian lenyap dari radar ATC.
Pihak berwenang semula tidak percaya pesawat naas itu jatuh padahal cuaca cerah, pesawat baru dan pilotnya berpengalaman. Situs web yang menampilkan data penerbangan menunjukkan pesawat melaju dan tiba-tiba hilang kontak sebelum menghilang.
Pesawat naas JT-610 menuju ke Pangkal Pinang, ibukota Provinsi Bangka Belitung, ketika kehilangan kontak dengan ATC sekitar pukul 06:33 pagi waktu setempat - 13 menit setelah lepas landas seperti dilansir MailOnline.
LION AIR´S flight JT-610 was heading to Pangkal Pinang, an island north of the capital, Jakarta, when it lost contact with air control about 6.33am local time - just 13 minutes after take-off.
Shortly before the disaster, the plane´s pilot, Indian national Bhavye Suneja, had reported ´technical difficulties´ and, minutes after take-off, asked to return to the airport, an official said. Traffic control allowed the return, but the aircraft then vanished from radar.
Authorities are not sure why the plane crashed - the weather was sunny, the aircraft was new and the pilots experienced. Websites that display flight data showed the plane speeding up as it suddenly lost altitude in the minutes before it disappeared.