Lion Air crash: Pilot fought to keep plane in air, says report

One of Indonesia’s aviation chiefs has revealed that the pilot of the Lion Air plane that crashed last month fought to keep the plane in the air to the end, even after it was nose-diving to the ground. Addressing the Indonesian parliament in Jakarta, Nurcahyo Utomo, the aviation head of the national transportation safety committee, said data retrieved from the flight recorder showed that the pilot “continued to fight until the end of the flight”. Nurcahyo also confirmed the aircraft had experienced “the same obstacles” on the previous day’s flight from Denpasar to Jakarta but on that occasion the pilot had managed to keep control of the plane. Analysis of the flight data recorder confirmed the 737 Boeing had no engine problems. Investigators are still searching for the cockpit voice recorder. <br/>