The National Transportation Safety Committee of Indonesia on Wednesday released a preliminary report into the crash of a Lion Air Boeing 737 at Ngurah Rai International Airport in Bali last month.
On April 13, 2013, Lion Air flight 904 crashed into the sea just short of runway 09 in Bali, and we are now getting a clearer idea of exactly what happened. The report states that flight 904 was descending through 900ft AGL (above ground level) as the second in command stated he did not have visual contact with the runway. At 37 seconds later at 550ft AGL, the Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System (EGPWS) sounded a minimum alert. At this point, a go-around would have been the proper procedure, as the crew still did not have visual contact with the runway. Contrary to proper procedure, the pilot disengaged the autopilot and the auto throttle then continued to descend.
At 20 seconds after the EGPWS warning, the pilot in command took the controls and stated that he could not see the runway while at about 150ft AGL. Eight seconds later, the aircraft’s EGPWS yelled twenty, indicating that they were a mere 20ft AGL. Only at this point did the pilot in command begin go-around procedure. One second later, they were in the water. The report indicated that the Boeing 737 was operating normally, and no mechanical issues were found.
The report says the aircraft stopped facing to the north at about 20 meters from the shore or approximately 300 meters south west of the beginning runway 09. Amazingly, there were no deaths as a result of this incident, and only four serious injuries out of a total of 101 passengers and seven crew members.
The 48 year old pilot in command is reported to have over 15,000 total flight hours. The second in command, age 24, has over 1,200 total hours, 923 of which are in a 737.
At the time of the crash, weather was reportedly degrading rapidly. At 1700 UTC, 10 minutes before the crash, the Automatic Terminal Information System reported broken clouds at 1,700 ft, a 7kt wind, and 10km visibility.
The full preliminary report can be accessed on the NTSC site.
