The investigation is progressing.
An “anomaly” was detected on the autothrottles of Sriwijaya Air's Boeing, which crashed off Indonesia on January 9 with 62 people on board, showed a preliminary report from investigators published on Wednesday February 10.
The two autothrottles affected
Autothrottles are the automatic thrust control systems of an airplane.
According to the investigator of the Indonesian Transport Security Agency, Nurcahyo Utomo, who spoke during a press briefing, "the two autothrottles showed anomalies".
The investigators still prefer, for the time being, to remain cautious about the causes of the crash.
The plane crashed at sea only a few minutes after taking off from the capital Jakarta.
A first black box could quickly be recovered in good condition.
VIDEO.
Disappearance of the Boeing in Indonesia: the sad procession of the families of the victims to donate their DNA
"But what caused this anomaly?"
We cannot draw any conclusions yet ”.
Maintenance documents for the plane show the autothrottles were reported faulty and repaired twice in January before the crash, investigators said.
The 26-year-old plane, previously operated by U.S. companies Continental Airlines and United Airlines, hit the water four minutes after taking off from Jakarta.
No alert message
The crew had not issued an alert or reported a technical problem before the crash and the aircraft was likely intact when it dived into the water, the agency said previously.
The relatively limited area where debris was found and information from one of the black boxes, shows that the reactors were still operating at the time of impact.
The search continues to find the other black box, the cockpit voice recorder.
The agency described communications with air traffic controllers as normal until the aircraft significantly deviated from its path.
The crew, headed by an experienced captain, did not respond to repeated questions from the control tower.
The plane's departure had been delayed due to a severe thunderstorm, but there is no indication that the weather was a major factor at the time of the crash, authorities said.
A team from the US Transportation Safety Agency (NTSB) is participating in the investigation, along with representatives from Boeing and the US Aviation Regulator (FAA).