The Indonesian Transport Ministry says it has found at least two more minor faults on 737 Max 8 jets. One of those faults is a “cockpit indicator display problem” the ministry says. The ministry is in the process of inspecting 10 of the newly delivered aircraft to see if there are any other similar problems that can be detected.
According to a report on Channel NewsAsia, “The ministry said it had looked over half a dozen jets so far and discovered that one had a problem linked to its cockpit display while another had a glitch in a jet stabilization system.” They are looking at both Lion Air aircraft as well as Garuda, the flagship carrier. Both of the faults found were on Lion Air aircraft.
Yesterday, the transport ministry of Indonesia had Lion Air suspend the company’s director of maintenance, the managers in charge of quality control and fleet maintenance, as well as the engineer who cleared the plane for departure. The certificates of the suspended employees have been “frozen” for 120 days. On Wednesday, the ministry also ordered that an audit of Lion Air’s maintenance, repair and overhaul unit be performed.
The flight data recorder was recovered Thursday, November 1, 2018 but the cockpit voice recorder had not been recovered as of yet. A flight seven hours previous to the crash flight also experienced similar problems but was able to continue on to its destination.