CREW action and a malfunctioning joint were responsible for an AirAsia passenger jet crashing into the Java Sea in 2014, Indonesian investigators have revealed.
The investigators say crew action caused the loss of control and stalling of AirAsia flight #QZ8501 that crashed and killed all 162 people on board on December 28 last year.
It was found the Airbus A320 aircraft’s flight control computer had a cracked solder joint that malfunctioned repeatedly, including four times during the time and 23 times the previous year.
Soldering on the Rudder Travel Limiter System, which helps control the rudder’s movement, was cracked. The damage led to it sending repeated warning systems to the pilots.
After receiving a fourth warning, the pilots pulled circuit breakers on part of the control system in an attempt to reset the system.
Unfortunately, it turned off the autopilot and caused the plane to start to roll.
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,” the national transport safety committee said in a statement on Tuesday.
The plane crashed less than halfway into a two-hour flight from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore.
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/investigators-crew-action-blamed-for-airasia-crash/news-story/9f5b3d2ab211bb8a86f2665f18dbadc1