Co-pilot was flying AirAsia Flight QZ8501

Thursday, 29 Jan, 2015 0

More detail from the black box flight data recorder of AirAsia Flight QZ8501 has revealed that the co-pilot was controlling the plane.

Indonesian officials said the co-pilot, French national Remi Plesel, was in charge from take-off until the cockpit voice recording ends.

They said it was common practice for the co-pilot to take the controls while the Captain was monitoring.

According to BBC reports, officials believe they now have a ‘pretty clear picture’ of what happened before the aircraft crashed into the sea.

They believe it climbed abruptly from its cruising height and then stalled, before plummeting out of control.

The automated stall warning was sounding in the cockpit when the black box recordings ended just before impact.

Flight QZ8501, travelling from Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore, was carrying 162 people when it crashed into the Java Sea on 28 December.

So far, only 70 bodies have been recovered.

Bev

Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.