Indonesia May Seek U.S. Help in AirAsia Crash Probe

Once search teams start bringing up remnants of AirAsia Flight 8501 from underwater, Indonesian authorities are expected to ask U.S. experts to join the crash probe, according to government and industry officials from both countries.

No such formal request has been made by Indonesia, these officials said, and the final decision still could keep American experts on the sidelines. But there has been ongoing communication between the American and Indonesian sides, and various recent signs indicate the situation could change quickly.

In the wake of a typical airliner crash, representatives of the engine manufacturer routinely are requested to participate in the investigation, along with the regulatory agency responsible for overseeing testing and safety analysis of the engines installed on the accident plane.

Yet so far, that isn't the case in the high-profile AirAsia probe. Neither the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, which certified the jetliner's engines, nor General Electric Co., part of the joint venture which built them, is on the multi-national probe, which includes French and Indonesian entities.

Experts from Singapore and the U.K. also have pitched in by providing technical advice or equipment.

Engines of the Airbus A320, which went down in the Java Sea in stormy weather on December 28, were manufactured by CFM International, a 50-50 partnership between General Electric and the Snecma unit of France's Safran SA.

Some air-safety experts are puzzled by the delay in seeking U.S. assistance. "That surprises me," said Mark Rosenker, a former NTSB vice chairman, who dealt with Indonesian officials when the board participated in the probe of an Adam Air jet that crashed on a domestic flight in January 2007. This time, according to Mr. Rosenker, "I also would have thought we would be part of the investigation."

On Wednesday, a General Electric spokesman said "we fully expect to join the investigative team" once wreckage is brought to the surface, at which point the company "expects to be participating with the NTSB" to help Indonesian officials dissect the crash that killed all 162 people aboard the AirAsia plane.

"We are in communication with Indonesia," company spokesman Rick Kennedy added, and "we have told them we're ready to go."

Through an email, an NTSB spokeswoman said board officials "responded to the initial notification" of the accident, "offered any technical assistance that may be needed" and are "awaiting recovery of wreckage and/or recorders for further decisions."

Earlier this week, before search teams identified a portion of the plane's tail section in roughly 100 feet deep water, the head of the probe signaled he was moving toward asking for U.S. participation. In an interview, Mardjono Siswosuwarno, the lead investigator from Indonesia's National Transportation Safety Committee, said U.S. experts would join at a later stage due to their involvement with the engines.

Write to Andy Pasztor at [e-mail] and Ben Otto at [e-mail]

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