Pilot response a factor in AirAsia crash
Tuesday, 02 Dec, 2015
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The actions of pilots contributed to the crash of an AirAsia jet in Indonesia last year, the first official incident report says.
The Airbus A320-200 had a faulty rudder system which ultimately caused the crash, but it also found that the crew response was in part to blame.
The system that helps control the rudders had cracked soldering, said the National Transportation Safety Committee, which caused it to send repeated warning messages to the pilots.
When they received the fourth warning alert they responded by re-setting the system, which caused the autopilot to disengage and as a result they lost control of the aircraft.
The AirAsia plane was 40 minutes into the flight from Surabaya in Indonesia n rout to Singapore when it lost contact with air traffic control.
It had earlier requested permission to climb from 32,000 feet to 38,000 feet to avoid storm clouds, but it was refused due to heavy traffic in the area.
The AirAsia plane was flying at a lower altitude than all the surrounding aircraft, but the report said bad weather wasn’t a contributory factor in the crash.
The report said it crashed after climbing sharply, then stalling. French co-pilot Remi Plesel was at the controls at the time, rather than the more experienced Captain Iriyanto.
Wreckage and bodies were found around 10 miles from the plane’s last known co-ordinates, but only 106 bodies were eventually recovered from the sea with the rest remaining unaccounted for.
The report found that the Rudder Travel Limiter had suffered 23 separate problems in the12 months prior to the crash, according to the aircraft’s maintenance records.
TravelMole Editorial Team
Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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