AirAsia QZ8501

[Philip Argy]

I notice that the underwater photos published in today's papers show both wings still attached to the fuselage and flaps partially extended. The tail was found 3km from the rest of the fuselage.

Although there has been speculation about a mid air explosion, it looks to me more like an unsuccessful attempt at an emergency ocean landing, probably due to wave size.

Of course the CVR/FDR will reveal much more shortly but the physical evidence is certainly significant.

[Philip Argy]

From today's Straits Times


JAKARTA - A confluence of technical faults in an AirAsia passenger jet that the flight crew could not resolve in mid-air led to the crash of flight QZ8501 last December, killing all 162 people on board, an investigation report released by Indonesia on Tuesday (Dec 1) has revealed.

The pilots had tried to resolve the issue according to procedure but was unable to do so because of the "electrical interruption" to the flight augmentation computer (FAC), causing the autopilot to disengage.

The Airbus A320, while in manual flight, subsequently rolled, stalled and crashed, killing all on board.

[Mick F]

Partially extended flaps could suggest an attempt at stall recovery as well. It's part of the memory items for stall recovery. If it was an attempted ocean landing, then I don't see why the tail would have been so far from the rest of the aircraft.

Mick

[Philip Argy]

Yes - my 15 January speculation was off the mark somewhat, although given the findings released yesterday, it's perplexing that the plane remained so intact from a high altitude stall and a death roll. :confused:

[Grahame Hutchison]

I found this part of the report disturbing ...

"the system that regulates the plane's rudder movement kept malfunctioning because of a cracked solder joint.Aircraft maintenance records found it had malfunctioned 23 times in the year before the crash, and the interval between those incidents became shorter in the three months prior to the crash, Indonesia's National Transport Safety Committee said in a report."