We don't know much yet about the loss of Sriwijaya Air flight #SJ182 off the coast of Jakarta this afternoon.
But there's a bit of misinformation building up about the age of the plane (26 years) and whether it should have been allowed to fly.
A thread...

Sriwijaya Air took delivery of the plane (Boeing 737-524, reg. number PK-CLC) in May 2012, when it was 18 years old. It was previously operated by United Airlines and Continental before that.

In 2016 Indonesian authorities issued a regulation, PM 155/2016, limiting the age of aircraft operating in Indonesia to 35 years.
A key point: Maximum age of 15 years for passenger aircraft being used *for the first time in Indonesia.*

Because Indonesian regulations are not retroactive, that restriction did not apply to PK-CLC, which began operating in Indonesia four years earlier at the age of 18. This is important to note.

In July 2020, Indonesian authorities issued a new regulation, PM 27/2020, scrapping all age limits.
One theory now being promoted is that PK-CLC wouldn't have been flying if PM 27/2020 hadn't been issued.
This is not the case at all and needs to be straightened out.

It's easy to engage in unfounded theories when there's so little information to go on. But in a tragedy like this, we should all respect the search process and subsequent investigation.