What happened
On the scheduled flight from Makassar to Jakarta, Lion Air flight LNI-793, an Boeing 737, was conducting its approach to runway 25L at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport. At the time of the arrival, the weather conditions included rain, a visibility of 1,000 meters, and winds from 200 degrees at 20 knots. The flight crew, consisting of two pilots and four flight attendants, was accompanied by 166 adult passengers.
During the descent, the pilot in command transitioned from monitoring to active control, disengaging the autopilot while the aircraft was at 400 feet. As the aircraft descended to approximately 50 feet, it began drifting toward the right side of the runway. The pilot attempted to correct the deviation to maintain the centerline. Upon touchdown, the aircraft landed to the left of the runway centerline and began drifting further right.
In an attempt to stabilize the aircraft, the pilot applied thrust reversers. However, the aircraft continued to crab along the runway with the tail positioned to the right of the runway heading. The aircraft eventually came to a stop 1,095 meters from the runway end, positioned 90 degrees to the runway 25L track. The impact caused the main landing gear wheels to collapse onto the runway shoulder, though the nose gear remained on the pavement. All passengers and crew successfully evacuated via the front right escape slide and emergency windows, with zero injuries reported.
Findings
An investigation into the excursion determined that the asymmetric deployment of thrust reversers was a critical factor, as the right thrust reverser was activated while the left thrust reverser remained undeployed.