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Lion Air Flight Crash Could Have Been Caused by Bomb, Says Aviation Expert

A nearly-brand new Boeing 737 Max crashed into the sea off Indonesia, 13 minutes after takeoff from the Jakarta airport. Passengers and crew are all presumed dead, but only a few bodies have been recovered as of now.
Lion Air is Indonesia's main low-cost flight operator 11 photos
Photo: BusinessToday.com
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While authorities are investigating the causes of the crash, one aviation expert believes the way the plane went down itself offers enough clues to point to the culprit: a bomb. Aviation analyst Captian John Nance tells The AM Show, as cited by NewsHub, that only a bomb could have brought Flight JT610 the way it did.

His point is that a brand new plane like this one doesn’t just fall out of the sky. The plane had been introduced in August this year and was put into circulation shortly afterwards. It had only 800 hours of flight and was manned by experienced pilots with over 11,000 hours of flight between them. It was an updated version of the Boeing 737 and had only one minor issue on a previous flight, which flight operator Lion Air says was resolved immediately.

That leaves only a few possibilities as to the causes of the crash: a bomb, some major failure, or a suicide attempt / a terrorist act. Nance is inclining towards the first option.

“An airplane like this does not normally fall out of the sky, even a 737 of an older variety,” he says. “There's just nothing on board the airplane, including the engines, that could cause a catastrophic nose over like this. So we're looking at the possibility of, for instance, a bomb.”

“What we've got here is a flight path that doesn't make sense, outside of a bomb, or outside of some massive failure,” he adds.

The plane started from Jakarta and was on its way to Pangkal Pinang. Just 13 minutes before take-off, the plane went off the radar and then plunged 5,000 feet into the sea. Moments before, the pilot had asked for permission to return to Jakarta, but it wasn’t granted to him. The plane was carrying 189 passengers and crew, all of whom are presumed dead.
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About the author: Elena Gorgan
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Elena has been writing for a living since 2006 and, as a journalist, she has put her double major in English and Spanish to good use. She covers automotive and mobility topics like cars and bicycles, and she always knows the shows worth watching on Netflix and friends.
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