Indonesia's National Transportation Safety Committee (KNKT) has held a closed-door meeting here with representatives of the crashed plane producer, Boeing, and officials of the United States' National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) over the crash of Lion Air Boeing 737 Max 8 plane in the country, KNKT chief said here on Thursday.
KNKT Chairman Soerjanto Tjahjono said the visit of Boeing and NTSB officials was a form of assistance commitments to help Indonesia in carrying out investigation into the crash of the brand new plane of which KNKT has yet to get familiar with.
"We are yet to have sufficient knowledge about the new plane nor trainings related to new features and technology of the brand new plane model," Soerjanto said, referring to the recent meeting with a total of 16 officials from Boeing and NTSB in his office here.
The crashed Lion Air plane was Boeing 737 Max 8, a brand new variant of single-aisle Boeing 737 family, which arrived at Indonesia in August this year. Lion Air was apparently the largest operator of the plane in Indonesia.
Boeing 737 Max 8 has bigger body than the previous 737 planes, advanced and quieter engines. The plane provides more legs room for the passengers as well as larger cargo compartment inside its larger body.
Lion Air Boeing 737 Max 8 plane carried 189 passengers and crew when it crashed enroute to Pangkal Pinang on Monday morning.
Indonesian authorities predicted that the plane dived at rapid speed from a height of 3,000 feet and hit sea surface that made its body and people inside the plane fragmented into pieces.
Indonesian air transport authorities has ordered examination over all Boeing 737 Max 8 planes operated in the country after the crash took place.
