Investigation of plane crash on Bali begins

BALI, Indonesia - Indonesian investigators on Sunday began working to determine what caused a new Lion Air passenger jet to miss a runway while landing on the resort island of Bali, crashing into the sea without killing any of the 108 people on board.

The National Transportation Safety Committee is examining the wreckage of the Boeing 737-800 that snapped in half before coming to a stop in shallow water near Bali’s airport Saturday, said Transportation Ministry spokesman Bambang Ervan.

He said aviation authorities had already removed the plane’s flight data recorder and were planning to tow the aircraft to a beach. Divers were searching for the cockpit voice recorder, located in the tail. Experts are examining what could have caused the crash, including whether wind shear might have played a role. Wind shear, a sudden change in wind speed or direction, can lift or smash aircraft into the ground during landing.

The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board announced Sunday that it was sending a team of investigators to assist Indonesian aviation authorities in their probe because the Boeing aircraft was designed and manufactured in the U.S. The team will include advisers from the Federal Aviation Administration and Boeing.

The crash marked Lion Air’s sixth accident in 11 years and has renewed questions about how safe it is to fly in Indonesia. The country has struggled to clean up its poor air-safety record while improving oversight.

All 101 passengers and seven crew members were safely evacuated from the budget carrier’s flight, which came from Bandung, the capital of West Java province.

Information for this article was contributed by Margie Mason of The Associated Press.

Front Section, Pages 6 on 04/15/2013

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