Jakarta (VNA) - The Air Traffic Control (ATC) repeatedly attempted to communicate with Sriwijaya Air Flight SJ182 a few minutes before it crashed into the Java Sea shortly after takeoff from Jakarta on January 9, killing all 62 people on board, including 50 passengers and 12 crew members, but the captain made a turn that did not match the coordinates, according to the Indonesian Navigation Service Providing Agency (AirNav Indonesia).

The plane took off at 2.36pm WIB and contacted ATC at an altitude of 1,700 feet (around 51,816 metres), AirNav Indonesia head Pramintohadi Sukarno told a parliamentary hearing on the accident on February 3.

It was then instructed to ascend to an altitude of 29,000 feet, and while doing so it requested a 0.75-degree direction from ATC for weather reasons, Sukarno said, adding that it was approved and instructed by ATC to ascend to 11,000 feet.

The instruction was answered with “clear” by the pilot, he said.

When SJ182 reached an altitude of 10,600 at around 2.39pm WIB, it asked ATC to climb to 13,000 feet, and the pilot again responded well to the confirmation.

During that three-minute timeframe, there were no indications of the aircraft being in abnormal conditions, according to Sukarno.

At 2.39pm WIB, the plane was observed on the ATC radar screen turning left towards the northwest, but this should have been 0.75 degrees to the right, and it then disappeared from the radar screen, he said, confirming that ATC tried to contact the pilot 11 times but there was no response./.
VNA