In an era when a commercial flight is largely automated — usually a seamless process in an aircraft, informed by sensors and signals acting in tandem with experienced pilots — the prospect that those systems could contribute to a crash is almost unthinkable.

But in the case of Lion Air Flight 610, a Boeing 737 Max 8 that plummeted into the Java Sea shortly after takeoff from the Indonesian capital in late October, investigators believe those systems may have been involved.

The plane, which was practically new, crashed minutes after takeoff, killing all 189 people on board. The crash has raised questions about Indonesia’s troubled airline safety record, Lion Air’s questionable safety practices and the automated systems aboard Boeing’s commercial aircraft. Here is what we know.

What happened?

On the morning of Monday, Oct. 29, Lion Air Flight 610 took off from Jakarta’s Soekarno — Hatta International Airport at 6:21 a.m. The plane was set to travel to the small city of Pangkal Pinang, the provincial capital of a small island in the Java Sea. The flight should have taken just over an hour.