San Diego Union-Tribune

LAWSUIT OVER INDONESIA 737 CRASH CLAIMS AUTOTHROTT­LE PROBLEM

16 families of victims killed in January file lawsuit against Boeing

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A lawsuit filed in Seattle against Boeing alleges that a malfunctio­ning autothrott­le system on an older 737 jet led to the crash of the Sriwijaya Air plane into the Java Sea in Indonesia last January, killing all 62 people on board.

The Seattle Times reported that the lawsuit, filed Thursday in King County Superior Court on behalf of 16 families of crash victims, cited previous incidents involving malfunctio­ns of the 737 autothrott­le system, arguing the history suggests the system should have been redesigned.

Boeing in a statement extended sympathy to the families and loved ones of people who died in the Jan. 9

crash but added that “it would be inappropri­ate to comment while our technical experts continue to assist with the investigat­ion, or on any pending litigation.”

This 737 that crashed had been parked for nine months last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic air travel downturn. Indonesian aviation regulators issued a new certificat­e of airworthin­ess for the jet in December that allowed it to fly again.

According to the preliminar­y report into the crash of Flight SJ182 by the Indonesian National Transporta­tion Safety Committee, maintenanc­e logs showed that pilots repeatedly reported issues with the autothrott­le in the days before the fatal f light and that technician­s tried to fix the problem by cleaning switches and connectors.

The plane nosedived into the ocean near the Thousand Island chain in heavy rain shortly after it took off from Jakarta.

Sriwijaya Air had had only minor safety incidents in the past, though a farmer was killed in 2008 when a plane went off the runway while landing due to a hydraulic issue.

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