Indonesian authorities state that it was a computer failure of the rudder control systems that caused the crash of the Air Asia flight that crashed into the Java Sea in December last year, killing all 162 people on board.
Authorities in Indonesia announced on Tuesday that the resetting of a circuit breaker in the plane’s computer system is what caused the crash of an Air Asia passenger plane in December 2014, killing all 162 passengers and crew that were on board.
Investigators stated that the pilot of the Airbus A320 had reset a circuit breaker in the computer system that controlled the rudder functions of the airplane, reports The Wall Street Journal. This resetting set off a string of computer and electronic failures that caused the plane to crash into the Java Sea near Borneo shortly after takeoff from Surabaya. Investigators pointed to a solder joint that was cracked.
The damaged joint caused the flow of electronic information to cease so that the pilot was not warned of the impending malfunction of the rudder system. The data interruption happened four times, and the final time it caused the automatic pilot function to engage. The pilots attempted to reset the computer and disengage the autopilot but lost control of the aircraft as Flight 8501 dived into the Java Sea.
Investigators speculate that it was the two pilots who reset the circuit breaker and attempted to regain control of the aircraft. There is no audio or video evidence to support their speculation, however. The flight recorder examination did indicate that the circuit breaker had been removed and then reset into the system.
The Air Asia flight crashed barely an hour out of Surabaya. The plane was headed for Singapore. Investigators noted that the pilot of the plane had encountered the problem prior to the flight. The pilot had, three days before the flight was scheduled to leave, the same exact problem with the same exact plane while it was on the ground. The pilot noticed that the maintenance crew had removed and then reinserted the circuit breaker to resolve the problem.
Airbus stated that they have received the full report and intend to examine its contents quite carefully. For years, world air safety authorities have warned of planes stalling out while in flight. Airbus stated that the resetting of circuit breakers on their A320 was considered by the company to be dangerous and was not an overall part of their pilot training programs.
