The damaged fan blade indicated that the plane engine was still working when it crashed
Jakarta (ANTARA) - The operation system of the ill-fated Sriwijaya Air plane was functioning normally and able to send flight data before hitting the Seribu Islands waters in Jakarta on Saturday, National Committee on Transportation Safety (KNKT) stated.

KNKT Head Soerjanto Tjahjono noted in a statement here on Tuesday that the committee had collected the ADS-B radar data from the state-run air traffic service, Airnav Indonesia.

According to data, Sriwijaya Air's SJ 182 plane took off at 2:36 p.m. local time and flew to the northwest. At 2:40 p.m. local time, it flew at an altitude of 10,900 feet before it started to descend. The latest data showed that it was only flying at height of 250 feet.

"The recorded data until its latest position at 250 feet has indicated that the airplane's system has functioned and was able to send data. Based on the data, we suspect that its engine was functioning before it crashed into the waters," he stated.

The committee that observed the crash site aboard Rigel warship also found wreckage of the airplane scattered in an area 100 meters wide along 300-400 meters in the waters.

"This has supported the surmise that the airplane did not explode before it struck the waters," he stated.

Tjahjono remarked that the plane's debris collected by the National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) comprised a turbine disc, with the fan blade damaged.

"The damaged fan blade indicated that the plane engine was still working when it crashed," he pointed out.

In the endeavors to locate the black box that comprised flight data recorder (FDR) and cockpit voice recorder (CVR), Tjahjono noted that the SAR team had detected signal from a locator beacon, and divers had been deployed to the location.
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Translator: Juwita T Rahayu, Sri Haryati
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
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