[iwiririwo]

Slightly off-topic:

This is an ATC recording where pilots lost control over the aircraft. Figuring out what to do when the aircraft goes to random directions, they ask for the direction of the ocean to ditch in. Because of low visibility they have no idea where they are going.

The description suggests that during maintenance, some steering control was attached in the wrong way.

https://youtu.be/kIc8Rr-cKd8

In this case, the pilots have like an hour to figure out how to control the aircraft.

[salex89]

If they actually reached the sea they would ditch it sooner. Because of the faulty controls they couldn't orient themselves, and more important, the airplane did not turn the way they wanted it to, and kept jumping altitudes. Because of that, at some point they kinda started to figure out how to manhandle the jet, while waiting the Portuguese F16s to come and help orient them. If I read correctly somewhere, the autopilot had enough life in it to keep the plane basically flying. If they were closer to water, maybe this would not be such a happy story.

The fighter pilot(s) and ATC did a whole lot actually, they seemed willing not to give up and let them just ditch. The fighter pilots obviously new the local conditions and airports very well and led them to land.

Sadly, the Lion Air had a different malfunction, they did not have time to react. Maybe, just maybe, another crew would, but that's not the point. It is pointless to sorrow about people not doing something they were not trained for, and possibly not even aware, in a profession heavily dependent on training and procedures.