NTSC: There Were 2 Planes Passing The Same Route When Sriwijaya Air SJ-182 Flew

Illustration - Aircraft (Irfan Meidianto / VOI)

JAKARTA - The National Transportation Safety Committee said that not only the Sriwijaya Air SJ-182 took the Jakarta-Pontianak flight route. One plane departed before the unfortunate plane took off and another plane departed after that on January 9.

"There was Air Asia plane with the same destination, namely Pontianak", said NTSC Chairman Soerjanto Tjahjono in a Working Meeting with related parties with Commission V House of Representatives regarding the Sriwijaya Air SJ-182 incident which was broadcasted on the official Facebook of the Indonesian Parliament, Wednesday, February 3.

He explained that at that time, the position of the Air Asia plane with an unidentified flight number was in front of the Sriwijaya Air SJ-182. After the two planes departed, Soerjanto said that the other aircraft flew through the same route.

The two planes, he said, were safe and did not experience any disruption during the flight. "The planes did not have a problem", he said.

However, different conditions occurred with the Sriwijaya Air SJ-182 aircraft. Soerjanto said, after taking off, the plane, manned by Captain Afwan, asked the control tower for permission to change the flight path.

"After the plane took off, he asked for directions 075 to the control tower to avoid the weather", he explained.

Previously reported, the Head of the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) Dwikorita Karnawati said there were cumulonimbus clouds before and when the Sriwijaya Air SJ-182 aircraft took off from Soekarno-Hatta Airport, Cengkareng, Tangerang on January 9.

"The weather conditions before and during (Sriwijaya Air SJ-182 aircraft, red) contained CB clouds (Kumolonimbus, red) above Jakarta and began to decay along with reduced rain intensity and increased visibility", said Dwikorita in the same meeting.

Furthermore, he also explained that this cloud was also found on the Sriwijaya Air SJ-182 flight route from Jakarta-Pontianak which stretched over the western part of Java Island which is moving towards the Southeast. This condition, said Dwikorita, can be monitored from the analysis of the Himawari Satellite Image which shows that the cloud peak temperature ranges from minus 43 degrees Celsius to minus 48 degrees Celsius.

It is known that the Sriwijaya Air SJ-182 aircraft on the Jakarta-Pontianak route lost contact in Kepulauan Seribu shortly after taking off from Soekarno-Hatta Airport on Saturday, January 9, 2020.

Furthermore, the authorities confirmed that the plane crashed around Laki Island and Lancang Island, Kepulauan Seribu at around 14:40 WIB.

The number of passengers who took part in the unfortunate flight consisted of 56 passengers and 6 crew members. After the incident, the number of passengers who have been identified has reached 58 out of a total of 62 people.