Originally Posted by
SLFinAZ
Trying to maintain 5000 ft. just doesn't seem like a prudent decision....
Your speaking with the benefit of hindsight. Put yourself in their shoes: 25nm MSA to the north is 2300'. Grid MORA's to the north are 3100'. Their intention was to return to Jakarta. Assuming they were working through the Unreliable Airspeed checklist, 5000 would have been a logical height. It's one of the standard heights published in the QRH for unreliable airspeed, it's above safety heights, but not too high for a return to Jakarta given their distance from the airfield. I think it's safe to assume they weren't expecting to have a flight control issue. Of course the CVR will confirm or invalidate these assumptions.