Indonesia AirAsia Flight 8501

Indonesia AirAsia Flight 8501

The aircraft involved in the crash, registered as PK-AXC, eight months before the crash
Accident summary
Date	28 December 2014 (2014-12-28)
Summary	Rudder travel limiter failure followed by inappropriate pilot response
Site	Karimata Strait, Java Sea (near Belitung and Borneo Islands, Indonesia)
Passengers	155
Crew	7
Fatalities	162 (all)
Survivors	0
Aircraft type	Airbus A320-216
Operator	Indonesia AirAsia
Registration	PK-AXC
Flight origin	Juanda International Airport, Surabaya, Indonesia
Destination	Singapore Changi Airport, Singapore

Indonesia AirAsia Flight 8501 (QZ8501/AWQ8501) was a scheduled international passenger flight, operated by AirAsia Group affiliate Indonesia AirAsia, from Surabaya, Indonesia, to Singapore. On 28 December 2014, the aircraft operating the route, an Airbus A320-216, registered as PK-AXC, msn: 3648, crashed into the Java Sea during bad weather, killing all 155 passengers and seven crew on board. Two days after the crash, debris from the aircraft and human remains were found floating in the Java Sea. Searchers located wreckage on the sea floor beginning on 3 January 2015, and the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder were recovered by 13 January. The search for bodies ended in March 2015 after recovery of 113 of the 162 bodies.

On 20 January 2015, it was reported that the aircraft had stalled during an abnormally steep climb and had been unable to recover. On 1 December 2015, the Indonesian National Transportation Safety Committee released its report concluding that the sequence of events leading to the crash started with a malfunction in the rudder travel limiter unit that eventually led to a 104-degree roll of the aircraft. The pilots' response, and apparent miscommunication between them, was a significant link in the chain of events that led to the loss of the aircraft.

The air crash became the second-deadliest in Indonesian territory, behind Garuda Indonesia Flight 152 in 1997 and the only fatal crash of AirAsia's group. It was also the second deadliest plane crash involving an Airbus A320 and the third deadliest involving an Airbus A320 family. It was the third deadliest plane crash in 2014.

Sequence of events

Flight path and location of debris. Flight path (red) is limited to range of Flightradar24 coverage; it does not reflect ATC coverage.

Flight 8501 was a scheduled flight from Surabaya, Java, Indonesia to Singapore on Sunday, 28 December 2014. It was scheduled to depart Juanda International Airport at 05:20 Western Indonesian Time (WIB, UTC+7) and arrive at Singapore Changi Airport at 08:30 Singapore Standard Time (SST, UTC+8). Flight 8501 took off at 05:35. Indonesia AirAsia did not have permission from the Indonesian Ministry of Transportation to operate the route on Sundays.

After departure, Flight 8501 was in contact with the Jakarta Area Control Centre (callsign: "Jakarta Centre"), which provides air traffic control (ATC) service over the western Java Sea, and flying along air route M635, when it approached a line of thunderstorms off the southwest coast of Borneo. At 06:12, Flight 8501 was flying at flight level 320—approximately —when the cockpit requested and received permission to deviate left from its original flight path to avoid these storms. The pilot then requested to climb to flight level 380, which was deferred by ATC because of other aircraft in the vicinity. AirNav Indonesia, which operates the Jakarta Area Control Centre, reported that Jakarta Centre then cleared Flight 8501 to flight level 340 at 06:14, but no response was received; other aircraft in the vicinity were asked to contact Flight 8501, but also did not receive a response.

Between 06:17:00 and 06:17:54, the aircraft climbed from 32,000 to 37,000 ft (9,800 to 11,300 m), exceeding a climb rate of 6,000 ft (1,800 m) per minute, about twice the maximum rate that a commercial aircraft should climb in still air. A photo of a secondary radar screen, without a timestamp, showed the aircraft at flight level 363—approximately 36,300 ft (11,100 m)—and climbing with a ground speed of 353 knots (654 km/h; 406 mph), which is too slow to maintain stable level flight in still air. The Indonesian Minister of Transport interpreted the apparent aircraft behaviour at peak altitude as an aerodynamic stall, when it began to descend at 06:17:54, descending within six seconds and within 31 seconds. The aircraft also began a turn to the left, forming at least one complete circle before disappearing from radar at 06:18:44. The cockpit voice recorder captured multiple warnings, including a stall warning, sounding in the cockpit during the final minutes of the flight. No distress signal was sent from the aircraft.

Timeline of disappearance

Elapsed (HH:MM)	Time			Event
	UTC	WIB UTC+7	SST UTC+8
00:00	27 December	28 December		Flight departed from Juanda International Airport. Scheduled departure was 05:20 WIB.
	22:35	05:35	06:35
00:37	23:12	06:12	07:12	Pilots requested and received air traffic controller (ATC) clearance to divert left from the flight plan to avoid bad weather. The pilot then also requested permission to climb from to . Jakarta ATC deferred this request because of traffic.
00:39	23:14	06:14	07:14	ATC offered permission to climb, but no response was received from pilots.
00:42	23:17	06:17	07:17	Radar contact was lost, according to AirNav Indonesia. AirAsia initially reported that contact was lost at 06:24.
00:43	23:18	06:18	07:18	ADS-B transponder signal was lost, with last position reported as , according to Indonesia's Ministry of Transport.
01:20	23:55	06:55	07:55	AirAsia Flight QZ8501 was officially declared missing. Its last known position is over the Java Sea, Karimata Strait between the islands of Belitung and Kalimantan.
01:55	28 December	07:30	08:30	The aircraft missed scheduled arrival at Singapore Changi Airport.
	00:30
04:47	03:22	10:22	11:22	Search and rescue (SAR) operations were activated by the Indonesia National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) from the Pangkal Pinang office.
04:55	03:30	10:30	11:30	The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) and Changi Airport Group (CAG) Crisis Management Centres were reported to have been activated, working with the airline’s crisis management team.
05:06	03:41	10:41	11:41	AirAsia announced on Facebook and Twitter (six minutes later) that AirAsia flight QZ8501 from Surabaya to Singapore lost contact with air traffic control.

Search and recovery

Shortly after the aircraft was confirmed to be missing, unconfirmed reports stated that wreckage had been found off the island of Belitung in Indonesia. Indonesia's National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) deployed seven ships and two helicopters to search the shores of Belitung and Kalimantan. The Indonesian Navy and the provincial Indonesian National Police Air and Water Unit each sent out search and rescue teams. In addition, an Indonesian Air Force Boeing 737 reconnaissance aircraft was dispatched to the last known location of the airliner.

The Indonesian Navy dispatched four ships by the end of the first search day and the Air Force deployed aircraft including a CASA/IPTN CN-235. The Indonesian Army deployed ground troops to search the shores and mountains of adjacent islands. Local fishermen also participated in the search.

Ongoing search and rescue operations were under the guidance of the Civil Aviation Authority of Indonesia. The search was suspended at 7:45 pm local time on 28 December due to darkness and bad weather, to be resumed in daylight. An operations center to coordinate search efforts was set up in Pangkal Pinang. The search area was a 270-nautical-mile (500 km) radius near Belitung Island.

Search and rescue operations quickly became an international effort. By 30 December naval and air units from Singapore, Malaysia and Australia had joined Indonesian authorities in patrolling designated search areas. Singapore's Rescue Coordination Centre (RCC) deployed three C-130 Hercules aircraft to aid in the search and rescue operation. A Formidable-class frigate, a Victory-class corvette, a Landing Ship Tank, and a submarine support and rescue vessel subsequently took part in the search and rescue after Indonesia's National Search and Rescue Agency accepted the offer of help from the Republic of Singapore Navy. Singapore's Ministry of Transport provided specialist teams from the Air Accident and Investigation Bureau and underwater locator equipment. The Malaysian government set up a rescue coordination centre at Subang and deployed three military vessels and three aircraft, including a C-130, to assist in search and rescue operations. Australia deployed a P-3 Orion to assist in the search and rescue operation. Elements of the United States Navy joined the search effort; USS Sampson arrived on station late on 30 December, and USS Fort Worth on 3 January.

By 5 January, 31 bodies had been recovered with the aid of the Russian and the US search teams. Divers entered the main section of the fuselage underwater and discovered 6 bodies on 24 January.

More than ninety vessels and aircraft from Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, South Korea, Japan, China, the United States, and Russia participated in the search. This fleet included three ships with underwater detectors and two fuel tankers seconded to ensure efficient operation of the vessels in the search area. On 2 January the Indonesian Ministry of Transport reported that two other Indonesian tender vessels had been fitted with equipment which could detect acoustic signals from the flight recorder ("black box") beacons and airframe metal, as well as multibeam side scan sonar.

The official search for bodies ended on 17 March, after 106 bodies had been recovered. 56 bodies remained unaccounted for.

A live Reddit feed that was constantly updating the details of the search and recovery efforts, leaked details of the operation. An April press conference revealed details discovered by the BASARNAS rescue team divers. 115 remains (including body parts) were recovered. 111 of them are believed to be from 99 passengers.

Wreckage

An offshore supply ship with the tail of PK-AXC on its stern on 10 January 2015

On the day of the disappearance, a fisherman observed "a lot of debris, small and large, near Pulau Tujuh. [...] It looked like the Air Asia colours." Another fisherman reported that, while moored on Sunday at Pulau Senggora, south of the town of Pangkalan Bun in Central Kalimantan, "Around 7am, I heard a loud booming sound. Soon afterwards, there was haze that usually happened only during the dry season. [...] Before the exploding sound, my friends saw a plane from above Pulau Senggaro heading towards the sea. The plane was said to be flying relatively low but then disappeared."

The fishermen's reports, delivered after they had returned home the next day, were credited with guiding the search and rescue team to the vicinity of the crash. The first items of wreckage were spotted by search aircraft on 30 December in the Karimata Strait, 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) from where the crew last contacted air traffic control, and three bodies were recovered by the warship KRI Bung Tomo. Also on 30 December Indonesia's Search and Rescue Services reported that the wreckage of the aircraft had been located on the Java Sea floor, 97–100 nautical miles (180–185 km) southwest of Pangkalan Bun.

On 31 December, Basarnas claimed that a sonar image obtained 30 December by an Indonesian naval ship appeared to show an aircraft upside down on the seabed in about 24–30 m (80–100 ft) of water, approximately 3.2–3.5 km (2.0–2.2 mi) from the debris found on 30 December. The head of the Search and Rescue Agency also denied the existence of any sonar images of the wreckage (as well as the reported recovery of a body wearing a life vest). He stressed that only official information from his Search and Rescue service can be considered to be reliable.

On 2 January 2015, Basarnas reported evidence of a fuel slick on the water surface in the search area, but detection of the fuselage remained unconfirmed.

At a press conference given on the morning of 3 January by Basarnas, the discovery of two large submerged objects was reported: 9.4m × 4.8m × 0.4m, and a thin object 7.2m × 0.5m. Also, the previously reported fuel slick was confirmed. A later media report mentioned four large sections of wreckage, the largest being 18m × 5.4m × 2.2m located at . Later in the day, Basarnas announced the discovery of the two larger "adjacent" objects in the afternoon of 3 January was confirmed, but apparently not "adjacent" to the first two somewhat separated items found the previous day. The two additional items were observed to be 18m × 5.4m × 2.2m and 12.4m × 0.6m × 0.5m. No more bodies were found, leaving the total at 30.

On 7 January divers found parts of the aircraft including a portion of the tail. Other portions of the tail are expected to lie nearby. On 10 January divers used an inflatable device to bring the aircraft's tail to the surface of the sea. They continued to search the sea floor within 500 metres (1,600 ft) of where faint pings were heard.

The flight data recorder was recovered by Indonesian divers on 12 January at , within 4 km (2.5 mi) of part of the fuselage and tail. Later in the day the cockpit voice recorder was located and was recovered the following day.

On 14 January searchers located a large portion of the fuselage with one wing attached. On 25 January ropes around the fuselage snapped during an initial failed effort to raise the wreckage. Four bodies were recovered, taking the total recovered to 69. More bodies were thought to be inside. Rear Admiral Widodo, who is in charge of recovery operations, said that the fuselage might be too fragile to be lifted.

On 27 February salvage workers recovered a large piece of fuselage, including the wings, of the A320. Lifting balloons were used to lift the fuselage, but the first attempt failed as the balloons deflated. By March 2015 all large pieces of fuselage from the jet had been lifted from the seafloor and moved for investigation purposes.

Aircraft

The aircraft was an Airbus A320-216, with serial number 3648, registered as PK-AXC. It first flew on 25 September 2008, and was delivered to AirAsia on 15 October 2008. The aircraft had accumulated approximately 23,000 flight hours over 13,600 flights. It had undergone its most recent scheduled maintenance on 16 November 2014. The aircraft was powered by two CFM International CFM56-5B6 engines and was configured to carry 180 passengers.

Passengers and crew

Persons on board by nationality:

Nationality	No.
Indonesia	155
South Korea	3
France	1
Malaysia	1
Singapore	1
United Kingdom	1
Total	162

AirAsia released details of the 155 passengers which included 137 adults, 17 children, and one infant. The crew consisted of two pilots and four flight attendants. A company engineer was also on board and was not counted as one of the passengers.

The pilots on board the flight were:

• Captain Iriyanto, age 53, an Indonesian national, had a total of 20,537 flying hours, of which 6,100 were with AirAsia Indonesia on the Airbus A320. The captain began his career with the Indonesian Air Force, graduating from pilot school in 1983 and flying jet fighter aircraft. He took early retirement from the air force in the mid-1990s to join Adam Air, and later worked for Merpati Nusantara Airlines and Sriwijaya Air before joining Indonesia AirAsia.
• First Officer Rémi Emmanuel Plesel, age 46, a French national, had a total of 2,275 flying hours with AirAsia Indonesia. He was originally from Le Marigot, Martinique, and had studied and worked in Paris. He was living in Indonesia.

41 people who were on board the AirAsia flight were members of a single church congregation in Surabaya. Most were families with young children travelling to Singapore for a new year's holiday.

The bodies began to be returned to their families on 1 January 2015. At that time the East Java Department of Visual Identification commissioner stated that the victims were identified by the means of post-mortem results, thumb prints and their personal belongings.

Investigation

The events leading to the crash were investigated by Indonesia's National Transportation Safety Committee (KNKT or NTSC). Assistance was provided by Australia, France, Singapore, and Malaysia.

Data from the flight data recorder were downloaded. One-hundred and twenty-four minutes of cockpit dialogue was successfully extracted from the cockpit voice recorder. The sound of many alarms from the flight system can be heard in the final minutes, almost drowning out the voices of the pilots. The investigators ruled out a terrorist attack as the cause and then examined the possibility of human error or aircraft malfunction. The aircraft altitude recorded by ATC radar increased from to between 06:17:00 and 06:17:54 WIB, at an initial rate of up to . At 06:17:54, the aircraft descended from to in six seconds, and to in 31 seconds.

The Indonesian Agency for Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics had reported that bad weather was believed to be the major factor to triggering the incident, specifically a weather phenomenon called atmospheric icing, "which can cause engine damage due to a cooling process".

Acting director of Air Transportation, Djoko Murjatmodjo, clearly stated that the investigation of the flight route and the investigation of the crash itself are separate. Murjatmodjo said that "AirAsia is clearly wrong because they didn’t fly at a time and schedule that was already determined." Both Singapore’s civil aviation authority and the Changi Airport Group stated that Air Asia was allowed daily flights between Surabaya and Singapore. Tatang Kurniadi, head of Indonesia’s national transportation safety committee, stated that sabotage was ruled out as a cause of the incident by the black boxes, and a preliminary report was supposedly submitted to the International Civil Aviation Organisation by early February.

Final NTSC report

FDR data at the time of the stall showing sidesticks dual input. The captain is pushing down (Left, +10), the co-pilot is pulling up (Right, -10), which resulted in no movement of the elevator control surfaces (= 0) and the plane kept stalling until the end of the blackbox recording.

After studying the wreckage of the Airbus A320-216 as well as the two black boxes and the cockpit recorder, Indonesia's National Transportation Safety Committee issued a report with their conclusions from the investigation on 1 December 2015. The report stated that the sequence of events that led to the crash started with a malfunction in two of the plane’s rudder travel limiter units. A tiny soldered electrical connection in the rudder-travel limiter unit was found to be cracked, causing it to send four amber master caution warnings to the electronic centralised aircraft monitor (ECAM) system. The ECAM system gave the warning "Auto Flight Rudder Travel Limiter System", and the pilot in command followed the instruction book for ECAM procedures, by toggling the flight augmentation computer (FAC) 1 and 2 buttons on the cockpit's overhead panel to off and then on. The crew repeated the procedure for the first three warnings.

Specifics in the report indicate that French First Officer Rémi Emmanuel Plesel was at the controls just before the stall warning sounded in the cockpit indicating that the jet had lost lift. The final step of the attempted fix consisted of one of the pilots pulling out and then pushing in the circuit breaker of the Flight Augmentation Computer (FAC), which disengaged the autopilot and the system did not start up again after the circuit breakers were reset. This circuit breaker is not on the list of circuit breakers that are allowed to be reset in flight, and disabling both FAC computers places the aircraft in alternate law mode, disengaging the autopilot and stopping the automatic stall protection. The FAC is the part of the fly-by-wire system in A320 aircraft responsible for controlling flight surfaces including the rudder. Without the FAC's computerized flight augmentation, pilots would have to "rely on manual flying skills that are often stretched during a sudden airborne emergency". When the crew was required to fly the Airbus A320 manually, there was an unexplained nine-second delay between the start of the roll and a pilot attempting to take control. After nine seconds, the aircraft was banking at a 54° angle.

The report did not specifically conclude that pilot error caused the crash while detailing the chain of events leading to the loss of Flight 8501. However, one of the investigators, the NTSC's Nurcahyo Utomo, referred to an apparent miscommunication between the pilots (based on the recordings on the cockpit voice recorder) and said that the malfunction should not have led to a total loss of control had they followed the recommended procedure.

The example of miscommunication between the pilots was when the plane was in a critical stalling condition, the co-pilot misunderstood the captain's command "pull down"; instead of pulling the airplane's nose down (pushing up the stick, to regain speed and escape stall), he pulled the stick down. Because the captain was also pushing up the stick and because Airbus has dual input system, the plane doesn't change its condition and keeps stalling until the end of black box recording.

Specifically, the report stated, "Subsequent flight crew action resulted in inability to control the aircraft... causing the aircraft to depart from the normal flight envelope and enter a prolonged stall condition that was beyond the capability of the flight crew to recover". CNN's aviation correspondent Richard Quest summarized the chain of events as follows: "it's a series of technical failures, but it's the pilot response that leads to the plane crashing."

On 3 December 2015, Indonesia's air transportation director general Suprasetyo said that the National Safety Transportation Board (KNKT) had provided recommendations as to tightened controls on aircraft maintenance and flight crew competence. He added that the government had implemented "... a series of corrective actions as a preventive measure so that the same accident will not happen again in the future." Suprasetyo also confirmed that the suspension of Indonesia AirAsia’s Surabaya–Singapore route would not be lifted until the carrier had completed the steps recommended by the KNKT.

• 

  Chronological ATC radar data of aircraft track obtained from the Indonesian Ministry of Transportation.

• 

  Infrared satellite imagery (taken at 7:32 WIB) with flight path superimposed on the right. On this false-colour, water-vapour-band image, blue represents warmer temperatures, while red and ultimately black represent the cold tops of high-altitude clouds.

• QZ8501 secondary radar image.jpg

  Secondary radar image shows Flight 8501 (circled in yellow) at an altitude of 36,300 ft (11,100 m) and climbing, travelling at 353 kn (654 km/h; 406 mph) ground speed.

Aftermath

AirAsia

Following the disappearance, all AirAsia subsidiaries changed their website and social media branding to greyscale images, in mourning for the presumed deaths of the passengers; Changi Airport's Facebook page was similarly changed as well. An emergency call center has also been established by the airline, for family of those who were on board the aircraft, and an emergency information center was set up at Juanda International Airport, providing hourly updates and lodging for relatives. Smaller posts were also opened at Soekarno–Hatta International Airport and Sultan Hasanuddin International Airport.

On 31 December 2014, Indonesia AirAsia retired the flight number QZ8501, changing it to QZ678. The return flight number was also changed, from QZ8502 to QZ679.

Subsequent to the 1 December 2015 NTSC report as to the causes of the crash, the airline said it had already implemented improved pilot training. The founder of Indonesia AirAsia, Tony Fernandes, posted the following tweets on Twitter: "These are scars that are left on me forever but I remain committed to make Airasia the very best" and "We owe it to the families and my crew. My heart and deep sorrow goes out to all the families involved in QZ8501." In another tweet, Fernandes wrote: "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."

Airbus

Immediately after the NTSC report on the crash was released on 1 December 2015, the manufacturer of the A320 aircraft was not ready to provide a comment, stating in an e-mail that “Airbus has just received the final accident report. We are now carefully studying its content.”

Indonesia

AirAsia did not have any official permission to fly the Surabaya–Singapore route on Sunday – the day of the crash – but was licensed on four other days of the week, and, according to an Indonesian Ministry of Transport statement, "The Indonesian authorities are suspending the company's flights on this route with immediate effect pending an investigation." In response on the same day, the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) and the Changi Airport Group (CAG) made a clarification that AirAsia QZ8501 "has been given approval at Singapore's end to operate a daily flight for the Northern Winter Season from Oct 26, 2014 to Mar 28, 2015".

On 6 January 2015, Indonesian Ministry of Transport representative Djoko Murjatmojo stated that "officials at the airport operator in Surabaya and [the] air traffic control agency who had allowed the flight to take off had been moved to other duties", and an immediate air transport directive had been issued "making it mandatory for pilots to go through a face-to-face briefing by an airline flight operations officer on weather conditions and other operational issues prior to every flight".

The loss of Flight 8501 also brought attention to the lack of weather radar at Indonesian air traffic control centres. According to the Toronto Star, "Indonesia’s aviation industry has been plagued with problems ... pilot shortages, shoddy maintenance and poor oversight have all been blamed following a string of deadly accidents in recent years."

The West Kotawaringin administration in Pangkalan Bun, Central Kalimantan planned to build a memorial for the Air Asia flight which also doubles as a monument for aviation safety. Cental Kalimantan deputy governor Achmad Diran also stated that the monument is also going to be the symbol of gratitude and appreciation for the efforts of the National Search and Rescue Agency. The cornerstone ceremony took place on Wednesday, and was attended by local and state officials and representatives from Australia and Singapore. West Kotawaringin regent Ujang Iskandar stated that “With this monument, we hope that the families and the government will lay flowers every Dec. 28, and continue the dialogue on aviation safety in Indonesia." On March 22, there was a gathering of people near the site of the crash and the crowd laid flowers around.

Family members of crew members and passengers

Air Asia has reportedly offered US$32,000 or Rp300 million to each of the grieving family members of the victims of the incident as 'initial compensation from an overall part of compensation, Wall Street Journal claimed from a letter on Air Asia stationary dated January 2 grieving family member David Thejakusuma received; who had 7 family members on the flight, the amount for each family member he lost.

On Monday, the 16 of March, Monash University awarded in the form of posthumous title (award of posthumous degree) the Bachelor of Commerce to one of the late crash victims, Kevin Alexander Sujipto. Professor Colm Kearney, Dean of the Faculty of Business and Economics presented it to a member of his family. A memorial service was held alongside the presentation of the award, and was attended by the Consul General of Indonesia for Victoria and Tasmania Dewi Savitri Wahab, 40 of the deceased's friends and representatives from the Indonesian Student Association in Australia (PPIA) Monash University branch.

Legal proceedings

France opened a criminal investigation to investigate possible manslaughter charges. The family of the first officer, a French national, have filed a lawsuit against AirAsia in connection to the lack of permission to fly on that day, claiming the airline was "endangering the life of others".

Surabaya Mayor Tri Rismaharini says her administration is ready to sue AirAsia should it ignore the rights of the families of passengers on flight QZ8501, following the suspension of the airline’s flight permit from the East Java city to Singapore. Risma said her administration had also consulted with legal experts from Airlangga University on the fears of most families regarding the difficulties in disbursing insurance funds, after the Transportation Ministry regarded the Surabaya-Singapore flight on Dec. 28 as illegitimate. She said her administration continued to collect data on the victims, including their valuable belongings. The data would later be used for insurance purposes and matters related to the beneficiary rights of the affected families.

A US-based aviation lawyer was planning to sue AirAsia claiming that they are "representing" 10 families over an aircraft malfunction following the crash of Flight QZ8501. Principal of Chicago-based Wisner Law Firm Floyd Wisner said that although preliminary investigations found that weather was a factor, the Airbus A320-200 suffered a malfunction of the fly-by-wire system. According to the statement, the lawsuit, which was filed in the US state of Illinois, states that “at the time the accident aircraft left the control of defendant Airbus, it was defectively and unreasonably dangerous,” and names Honeywell International, Motorola Inc and other suppliers along with Airbus as defendants.

The case is Aris Siswanto et al. v Airbus, SAS et al., 1:15-cv-05486. U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois (Chicago). As of 30 June 2015, the suit had still named only Airbus and its suppliers but AirAsia was to be added as a defendant, according to Floyd Wisner of the Wisner law firm.

Air transport industry

Following the recovery of the flight recorders, on 12 and 13 January, an anonymous International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) representative said, "The time has come that deployable recorders are going to get a serious look." Unlike military recorders, which jettison away from an aircraft and float on the water, signalling their location to search and rescue bodies, recorders on commercial aircraft sink. A second ICAO official said that public attention had "galvanized momentum in favour of ejectable recorders on commercial aircraft".

Indonesian tourism

Indonesia's tourism was badly affected by the incident. According to the head of Indonesia’s Central Statistics Agency (CSA) Suryamin in a press conference at his office on the 1st of April, the accident has caused the number of foreign visitors to decline. Figures from the Indonesian Ministry of Tourism has shown that the number of incoming foreign tourists at Surabaya’s Juanda Airport has declined by 5.33 percent, Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport by 15.01 percent, and Bandung’s Husein Sastranegara Airport by 10.66 percent.

See also

• Air France Flight 447
• American Airlines Flight 587
• Pulkovo Aviation Enterprise Flight 612
• Accidents and incidents involving the Airbus A320 family
• List of aircraft accidents and incidents resulting in at least 50 fatalities

External links

News related to Indonesia AirAsia Flight 8501 at Wikinews

Media related to at Wikimedia Commons

• AirAsia Flight 8501 – AirAsia's official webpage for information about Flight 8501
• Accident description at the Aviation Safety Network
• Passenger list (PDF) – From the Indonesian Ministry of Transportation
• "Flight QZ8501 on 28 December – Airbus A320-200 – registered PK-AXC." – Accident investigation by France's aviation accident investigation agency BEA (representing the state of manufacture of the aircraft)
• Weather analysis (in Indonesian) – Detailed analysis of weather in the vicinity and time of the crash and its possible implications, by the Indonesian Central Office of Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics (BMKG)
• Flight 8501 Final Report Final accident report from KNKT (Indonesian's National Transportation Safety Committee)
• Cockpit Voice Recorder transcript and accident summary