AirAsia flight QZ8501 crash report released

Faulty equipment has been given as “major factor” leading to the crash of AirAsia flight QZ8501 which crashed into the Java Sea on 28 December, 2014 killing all 162 people on board, according to Indonesian officials. The Airbus A320-200 was travelling from Surabaya to Singapore and while investigators initially indicated that stormy weather was likely a major factor in the crash, they have now confirmed that this was not a case.
It has been revealed that the plane’s rudder control system malfunctioned four times during the flight and that this was a fault that had occurred 23 times in the preceding year. The report also mentioned that the crew’s response had contributed to the disaster.
A year in the making, this latest report from the National Transport Safety Committee discovered that the soldering on a tiny electronic part in the system that controlled the rudder had cracked and it was as a result of this that warning signals were sent to the pilots. They attempted to resolve the problem by resetting the plane’s computer system, but this then disabled the autopilot, after which the pilots lost control of the plane. According to the report, the plane then entered “a prolonged stall condition that was beyond the capability of the flight crew to recover.”
Referring in particular to the fact the fault had been dealt with by maintenance crews 23 times in the previous year, the report highlighted that:
– Inadequacies in the maintenance system had led to “unresolved repetitive faults occurring with shorter intervals”
– There seemed to be an element of miscommunication between the pilot and co-pilot
– At one point, the two pilots appeared to be pushing their controls in opposite directions
However the report is clear not to apportion blame or liability and instead has been written with the intention to assist the industry avoid future accidents.
AirAsia’s Chief Executive Tony Fernandes is quoted as saying: “There is much to be learned here for AirAsia, the manufacturer and the aviation industry.
“We will not leave any stone unturned to make sure the industry learns from this tragic incident.”
AirAsia had carried out 51 measures since the crash with the intention of improving safety standards, according to the report. Additionally, a spokesman for Airbus commented that: “Airbus has just received the final accident report. We are now carefully studying its content. With safety being top priority Airbus is fully committed to push the safety track record of our industry even further.”