An Indonesian passenger jet crashed into the Java Sea minutes after takeoff on January 9, 2021.
Sriwijaya Air flight SJ 182 took off amid heavy monsoon season rains, heading towards Pontianak on the island of Borneo.
The crash comes during uncertain times for Boeing, the manufacturer of the plane in question - a Boeing 737-500.
The aviation behemoth has had to tread carefully on the international stage, after two Boeing 737 Max aircrafts operated by commercial airliners crashed due to faulty anti-stall software.
Here are 6 things you need to know about the Sriwijaya Air crash.
1. It's currently unclear what caused the Boeing 737-500 to crash.
The flight took off in the afternoon of January 9, 2021 amid a heavy monsoon rain from Jakarta. It climbed to a maximum altitude of 10,900 feet, before plunging to just 250 feet in less than a minute, according to flight tracking site FlightRadar24.
Despite Indonesia having a long history of air accidents, Sriwijaya Air had never recorded a single fatal crash throughout the entirety of its service.
The plane in question, a Boeing 737-500, had a proven track record for its reliability and safety, unlike Boeing's newer offering, the Boeing 737 Max.
2. The plane was carrying 50 passengers, as well as 12 crew members.
According to Indonesian Minister of Transportation Budi Karya Sumadi, of the 50 passengers, there were 43 adults and seven children.
Some witnesses of the crash describe the event sounding like an explosion, like "a bomb on the water," according to Solihin, a fisherman from Lancang Island. Though Solihin and his two colleagues never actually saw the plane crash into the sea, they reported the smell of fuel filling the air. Additionally, they saw debris floating in the water.
But the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder have been located, with plans to retrieve the blackbox set for January 11, 2021. We can only really find out what happened after authorities analyze the recordings.
However, apart from aircraft debris, human remains have also been found. This doesn't bode well for worried relatives waiting for news about their loved ones.
3. Sriwijaya Air is Indonesia's third-largest carrier.
According to the company's website, the carrier transports more than 950,000 passengers per month from its Jakarta hub, servicing 53 destinations within Indonesia and three countries in the region.
It spent 11 years on the European Union's list of banned carriers, only being taken off the list in June 2018.
4. The plane involved in the Sriwijaya Air crash had been in operation for 26 years.
It had originally been delivered to Continental Airlines back in 1994, before changing hands to United Airlines in 2010. While in operation for Continental Airlines, the plane had been fitted with two CFM56 engines, as well as two winglets that were installed in 2008.
In 2012, the plane was delivered to Sriwijaya Air.
One important thing to note is the fact that the Boeing 737-500 flown by the doomed Sriwijaya Air flight SJ 182 did not feature the same anti-stall software that plagued Boeing's 737 Max family of aircraft.
That faulty anti-stall software was blamed for the deaths of 189 people on the Lion Air Flight 610 crash of 2018, and the Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crash, which killed 157 people in 2019.
5. The Boeing 737-500 was first introduced in 1987 as an efficient way to carry a small load of passengers on long distance trips.
Southwest Airlines was the first commercial airliner to purchase the planes, buying 20 of them.
Each plane had a capacity of 122 passengers, which meant airlines could more efficiently handle long distance routes that only carried a small number of passengers. But as long distance trips became more popular, the use of the Boeing 737-500 decreased over the years, in favor of aircraft that could carry more passengers.
Throughout its years in operation, the Boeing 737-500 has enjoyed a relatively clean safety record. Four of the most recent fatal accidents involving the aircraft include crashes in South Korea (1993), Tunisia (2002), and Russia (2008 and 2013), according to the Aviation Safety Network.
6. No major airliners fly the Boeing 737-500 anymore, relegating its use to smaller, regional operators.
As many as 100 aircraft remain in operation today, used to service regional routes for smaller airliners.
According to Planespotters.net, the aircraft is still in use in places like Afghanistan, Iran, Nigeria, Russia, and Ukraine.
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Cover image sourced from Airways Magazine and Reuters / Al Jazeera.
