Investigators are beginning the grim task of determining why a brand-new Boeing Co. 737 Max jet flown by Indonesia's Lion Air plunged into the Java Sea minutes after takeoff, killing all 189 people on board.
Divers are searching for submerged wreckage of the plane, along with flight-data and cockpit-voice recorders documenting the aircraft's final moments. The accident is the first for Boeing's most-advanced 737, which began flying commercially last year, and is the worst commercial aviation disaster in three years.
There were already hints of possible causes: a request by pilots to return to the airport, a maintenance issue on a previous flight and erratic air speed tracked before the jet's final dive. But the limited and sometimes contradictory information about the flight doesn't obviously match any previous accidents, said Steve Wallace, the former head of accident investigations at the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration.