• AirAsia Flight 8501's Pilot Was Out of His Seat When Doomed Plane Lost Control

    It has been almost two weeks since the black boxes for AirAsia Flight 8501 have been recovered and investigators are working hard to not only determine the cause of the crash, but also to piece together those last few minutes of the ill-fated flight. Flight 8501 plunged into the Java Sea on December 28 killing all 162 on board. Bad weather is believed to have played a significant part in the crash but now it's also looking like a mechanical problem may have even complicated things more.

  • Indonesian Officials: AirAsia Plane Climbed Too Fast, Likely Stalled Out

    About a week after finding and recovering the black boxes from AirAsia Flight 8501, investigators are beginning to put together a solid idea of what led to the demise of the plane. It had been reported almost immediately after the flight went missing that storms in the area and bad weather conditions had prompted the pilot to ask to climb from 32,000 feet up to 38,000 feet but was initially denied. Indonesian officials are now saying that the pilot did climb 6,000 feet in just one minute, and that likely caused the airbus to stall out.

  • Investigators Believe Terrorism Wasn't a Factor in Crash of AirAsia Flight 8501

    Terrorism has been a major story over the last few weeks. Between the massacre at Charlie Hebdo's French office, the blood bath at the Parisian market and the terror sweeps in Belgium, it is clearly a frightening topic that is on everyone's mind. Thankfully, terrorism appears to not have contributed to the crash of AirAsia Flight 8501 into the Java Sea a few weeks ago. Divers discovered the black boxes last week and have begun to evaluate the information they contain. According to Indonesian officials, they believe they can safely say that terrorism was not a factor that contributed to the loss of 163 lives on board the aircraft.

  • Divers Find Black Boxes from AirAsia Flight 8501

    Investigators in charge of finding out what caused the demise of AirAsia Flight 8501 a little more than two weeks ago have just retrieved a major piece to the puzzle. On Monday, Jan. 12, divers recovered the flight data recorder from beneath a wing at the bottom of the Java Sea. They also have located the cockpit voice recorder about 105 feet below the water, buried beneath wreckage. Divers are reportedly working to free that second black box from beneath heavy wreckage. Flight 8501 left Surabaya for Singapore two Sundays ago only to find itself caught in horrible weather. The pilot had asked for permission to climb to a higher altitude and, by the time that permission was granted a few minutes later, all contact had already been lost with the craft. Indonesian officials have speculated that icing may have built up, causing the engine to stall out and leading to the plane plummeting into the sea. Everything at this point is sheer speculation, but two things are certain, though. There were six other planes flying in exactly the same storm as Flight 8501 and they made it safely to their destinations, so this flight should not have even been in the air. AirAsia is permitted to run the Surabaya-to-Singapore route four days a week, and Sunday is not one of those days, so if they had been following their legal guidelines this plane would never have been in the air, let alone lost. Investigators are hopeful that they will get answers about what happened from these boxes.

  • Bodies, Debris Recovered from AirAsia Flight 8501 Crash Site

    Families of the 162 passengers aboard AirAsia Flight 8501 are grieving this morning, as it has been confirmed that the wreckage has been found in the ocean about 6 miles from the Airbus's last-known location. About halfway into the two-hour flight, the crew encountered extremely bad weather early Sunday morning, Dec. 28, and when Capt. Iriyanto requested permission to climb to a higher altitude, he was denied. Two minutes later, the controller told him that it was safe to proceed to 38,000 feet, but got no response. Loved ones held out hope for more than two days, only to have the worst confirmed early this morning, Dec. 30. AirAsia group CEO Tony Fernandes has attempted to handle this tragedy with great care and has been nothing but supportive and empathetic toward the families who were waiting for official word. Today, Fernandes tweeted, "My heart is filled with sadness for all the families involved in QZ 8501. On behalf of AirAsia my condolences to all. Words cannot express how sorry I am." He has since flown back to Surabaya to be with the grieving families. He also has chartered a flight to take them out to the airspace over the Java Sea to say their final goodbyes to loved ones in the area where they lost their lives.
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