Pinning Our Hopes on the Black Box

KOMPAS/WAWAN H PRABOWO

Chairman of the Marine Survey Technology Center of the Agency for Assessment and Application Technology (BPPT) M. Ilyas gives an explanation about the process of discovering the black box of the Lion Air plane with the aircraft registration code PK-LQP at the main command post of Jakarta International Container Center (JICT) II, Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta, Thursday (1/11/2018).

On Thursday, Nov. 1, 2018, National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) and Naval amphibious reconnaissance battalion (Yontaifib) personnel successfully retrieved part of the black box, specifically the flight data recorder (FDR), of the downed Lion Air flight JT-610.

Retrieving the black box was the result of collaboration between agencies under Basarnas’s coordination. Many were involved in the humanitarian operation to locate the crash site of flight JT-610 off the coast of Karawang in West Java. The aircraft crashed into the sea on Monday (29/10/2018) morning just 12 minutes after taking off from Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Jakarta on its way to Depati Amir Airport in Pangkal Pinang.

Basarnas, the Indonesian Military, the National Police, the Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT) and several other institutions successfully located the crash site and recovered the aircraft’s black box on Thursday (1/11). We appreciate all parties involved in the search, especially Basarnas and the dive team, amid the ongoing search for the aircraft’s cockpit voice recorder (CVR). Everyone involved has been working tirelessly in high-risk conditions. Such an achievement is a source of pride.

It is hoped that the recovered black box can unravel the mysteries behind the air crash. Now, it is the duty of the National Transportation Safety Committee (KNKT) to find out why the brand new Boeing 737 MAX 8 crashed into the sea. As KNKT investigator Ony Soerjo Wibowo said, a preliminary report of the investigation comprising merely facts and data and without any analysis or conclusion would be made public (Kompas, 2/11/2018).

The public has the right to know what happened in the air crash. The KNKT report is not about finding who is to blame or who we must bring to court. It is not about this at all. The KNKT’s rights and duties are clearly stipulated in Law No. 1/2009 on aviation.

In line with the law, the KNKT has the duty to investigate, examine, compile a final report and provide recommendations in order to prevent future accidents. The KNKT is required to report the progress of its investigation to the Transportation Ministry. Results of the investigation will not be classified and, instead, will be publicly accessible.

Article 364 of Law No. 1/2009 stipulates that, in order to launch further investigations, uphold professional ethics, mediate and interpret regulations, the KNKT must establish an aviation professional assembly. Such an assembly is tasked with upholding professional ethics and personnel’s competence in aviation as well as serving as a mediator in resolving aviation disputes out of court. The assembly has the authority to give recommendations to ministers on appropriate administrative sanctions and other matters.

Unfortunately, in the nine years since the Aviation Law was issued, the aviation professional assembly has existed only in written words. If we wish to truly uphold the Aviation Law, surely we should urge for the establishment of the assembly. However, in the meantime, we hope that the rights of the crash victims’ families, including in insurance benefit claims, will be fulfilled.