（中央社雅加達21日綜合外電報導）印尼飛航安全單位今天表示，獅子航空一架波音737 MAX 8去年墜機，奪走189人性命，事發前一天，同架客機上有第3名機師。彭博報導，他曾幫助執勤機師排除故障避免一場意外。
獅子航空（Lion Air）去年10月發生空難後，印尼國家交通安全委員會（KNKT）曾表示，約談前一天搭機旅客，部分旅客回報稱是一趟驚恐、不穩定的飛行。
KNKT今天表示，已約談當天休假的那名機師，但拒絕證實彭博一篇報導，報導提到他在那架峇里島-雅加達班機上，曾幫助機師排除故障的飛行控制系統問題，避免一場意外。
報導指出，另一組機師墜機隔天駕駛同架波音737 MAX 8噴射客機遭遇類似問題，但無法解決，因而墜入爪哇海（Java Sea）。
KNKT調查員努卡約（Nurcahyo Utomo）在雅加達告訴記者：「我們約談那名機師，因為我們想知道他看見和聽見什麼。」但並未詳述細節。
調查人員專注於波音737 MAX 8的自動防失速系統（automated anti-stall system）。這套系統目的是當飛機有失速之虞時，能自動將機頭調整朝下。
印尼官員表示，目標擺在8月公布最終調查報告。（譯者：葉俐緯/核稿：劉學源）
（Journey.ca 21日綜合外電報導）印尼調查人員今天表示，獅子航空（Lion Air）去年10月墜機的波音737 MAX 8飛機，座艙語音紀錄器顯示，駕駛曾試圖在手冊中尋找正確核對清單，並曾遭遇空速和高度問題。
路透社報導，調查人員在記者會上說，他們已取得完成最後調查報告所需資料的90%，目前預期報告將在8月公布。這起空難當時造成189人喪生。
印尼國家交通安全委員會（KNKT）調查員努卡約（Nurcahyo Utomo）表示，錄音內容顯示，在飛行的最後20秒，這架班機的駕駛艙內人員出現「恐慌」。
努卡約說：「在飛行快要停止前，駕駛似乎感覺自己無法再恢復正常飛行，接著便出現恐慌。」
此时已经由副驾驶接手飞机，正驾驶（印度人）转为查找核对清单并始终保持冷静。副驾驶（穆斯林）操控飞机反抗下坠的力道不如正驾驶，最终喊出“真主是好的”后坠机。
自從衣索比亞航空（Ethiopian Airlines）一架波音737 MAX 8客機上週也發生墜機意外，奪走157人性命，並引發全球停飛同型飛機，印尼獅航的墜機調查再度顯得迫切。
法國航空事故調查局（BEA）19日表示，衣航空難的飛航資料紀錄器顯示，這起事故和獅航空難有「明顯相似處」。
獅航空難調查人員正在研究，電腦如何根據一個出錯的感測器傳來的資料下令飛機俯衝，以及駕駛是否受過充分訓練來適當回應緊急情況。（譯者：張正芊/核稿：劉學源）
（中央社芝加哥20日綜合外電報導）美國西南航空公司機師工會今天表示，波音公司對737 MAX飛機進行軟體更新後，將須進行以電腦為主的額外訓練；並說他們正在為機師詢問額外資訊。
印尼獅子航空（Lion Air）一架波音飛機去年10月墜毀並造成機上189人全數罹難後，波音公司就對防失速系統（MCAS）研究軟體更新。
第2架波音737 MAX 8客機上週墜毀衣索比亞後，這項努力變得更具急迫性。這起事件造成157人喪命，波音737 MAX 8已遭全球多國管理單位禁飛。
西南航空機師工會表示，他們已經看過波音擬定的訓練，包括課程結束後的測驗。西南航空機師再次駕駛波音737 MAX前，將須接受這項測驗。（譯者：蔡佳伶/核稿：張佑之）
The pilots of a doomed Lion Air Boeing 737 Max 8 scoured a handbook as they struggled to understand why the jet was lurching downwards, but ran out of time before it hit the water, three people with knowledge of the cockpit voice recorder contents said.
The investigation into the crash, which killed all 189 people aboard in October, has taken on new relevance as the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and other regulators grounded the model last week after a second deadly accident in Ethiopia.
Investigators examining the Indonesian crash are considering how a computer ordered the plane to dive in response to data from a faulty sensor and whether the pilots had enough training to respond appropriately to the emergency, among other factors.
It is the first time the voice recorder contents from the Lion Air flight have been made public. The three sources discussed them on condition of anonymity.
Reuters did not have access to the recording or transcript.
A Lion Air spokesperson said all data and information had been given to investigators and declined to comment further.
Since the Lion Air crash, Boeing has been pursuing a software upgrade to change how much authority is given to the Manoeuvring Characteristics Augmentation System, or MCAS, a new anti-stall system developed for the 737 Max 8.
The cause of the Lion Air crash has not been determined, but the preliminary report mentioned the Boeing system, a faulty, recently replaced sensor and the airline’s maintenance and training.
The report also did not include data from the cockpit voice recorder, which was not recovered from the ocean floor until January.
French air accident investigation agency BEA said on Tuesday the flight data recorder in the Ethiopian crash that killed 157 people showed “clear similarities” to the Lion Air disaster.
Ride-along pilot solves issues on penultimate flight
The chairman of Indonesia’s transportation safety agency confirmed on Thursday that a third pilot was in the cockpit during the aircraft’s next-to-last flight as the flight crew struggled to keep the plane aloft.
However, Soerjanto Tjahjono, chairman of the National Transportation Safety Committee, disputed reports citing recordings of cockpit discussions during that flight.
The third pilot, qualified to fly Max 8s, was deadheading aboard the Oct. 28 flight from Bali’s Denpasar airport to Jakarta when the jet encountered the same problems that appear to have caused it to crash a day later.
The three pilots managed to resolve the issues and safely reached Jakarta. According to two of Reuters’s sources, the captain at Lion Air’s full-service sister carrier, Batik Air, solved the similar flight control problems; his presence on that flight, first reported by Bloomberg, was not disclosed in the preliminary report.
Tjahjono said the NTSC interviewed the pilot but legally cannot publish its findings.
‘Flight control problem’ just 2 minutes into flight
The captain was at the controls of Lion Air flight JT610 when the nearly new jet took off from Jakarta, and the first officer was handling the radio, according to a preliminary report issued in November.
Just two minutes into the flight, the first officer reported a “flight control problem” to air traffic control and said the pilots intended to maintain an altitude of 5,000 feet (1,524 metres), the November report said.
The first officer did not specify the problem, but one source said airspeed was mentioned on the cockpit voice recording, and a second source said an indicator showed a problem on the captain’s display but not the first officer’s.
The captain asked the first officer to check the quick reference handbook, which contains checklists for abnormal events, the first source said.
For the next nine minutes, the jet warned pilots it was in a stall and pushed the nose down in response, the report showed. A stall is when the airflow over a plane’s wings is too weak to generate lift and keep it flying.
The captain fought to climb, but the computer, still incorrectly sensing a stall, continued to push the nose down using the plane’s trim system. Normally, trim adjusts an aircraft’s control surfaces to ensure it flies straight and level.
“They didn’t seem to know the trim was moving down,” the third source said. “They thought only about airspeed and altitude. That was the only thing they talked about.”
Documented procedure exists, Boeing says
Boeing declined to comment on Wednesday because the investigation was ongoing.
The manufacturer has said there is a documented procedure to handle the situation. A different crew on the same plane the evening before encountered the same problem but solved it after running through three checklists, according to the November report.
But they did not pass on all of the information about the problems they encountered to the next crew, the report said.
The pilots of JT610 remained calm for most of the flight, the three sources said. Near the end, the captain asked the first officer to fly while he checked the manual for a solution.
About one minute before the plane disappeared from radar, the captain asked air traffic control to clear other traffic below 3,000 feet (914 metres) and requested an altitude of “five thou,” or 5,000 feet, which was approved, the preliminary report said.
As the 31-year-old captain tried in vain to find the right procedure in the handbook, the 41-year-old first officer was unable to control the plane, two of the sources said.
The flight data recorder shows the final control column inputs from the first officer were weaker than the ones made earlier by the captain.
“It is like a test where there are 100 questions and when the time is up you have only answered 75,” the third source said. “So you panic. It is a time-out condition.”
The Indian-born captain was silent at the end, all three sources said, while the first officer from Indonesia, a Muslim-majority country, said “Allahu Akbar,” or “God is great,” a common phrase in Arabic that can be used to express excitement, shock, praise or distress.
The plane then hit the water, killing all 189 people on board.
Soerjanto Tjahjono, head of Indonesian investigation agency KNKT, said last week the report could be released in July or August as authorities attempted to speed up the inquiry in the wake of the Ethiopian crash.
On Wednesday, he declined to comment on the cockpit voice recorder contents, saying they had not been made public.