QZ 8501: To Err Is Human - But It Could Be Deadly

20th Jan 2015

After the recovery of the plane's two flight recorders, the flight data recorder (FDR) and the cockpit voice recorder (CVR), investigation has been in full swing.

On the initial and official findings, investigators have already ruled out terrorism as the cause of the deadly crash. Their investigation is currently centered on the two flight recorders, which were both recovered on the same day, on January 12, just hours apart from each other.

Before the recovery of the flight recorders, many people suspected terrorists on board brought down the plane.

The flight departed Surabaya's Juanda International Airport at 5:35AM (local time) on December 28, 2014 on its way to Singapore.

Less than an hour later into its flight, at 6:12AM, the air traffic controller (ATC) received a request from its pilot asking permission to ascend to 38,000 feet citing storm clouds on its path. The ATC, however, delayed his permission to the aircraft citing heavy traffic at the requested altitude.

At 6:14AM, the ATC sent its permission to the pilot but could not establish contact any longer. The flight also disappeared from the radar screen 3 minutes later, indicating there was something wrong with the aircraft.

The Indonesian government has since formed a ten-man investigation team led by Andreas Hananto all of whom come from the National Transportation Safety Committee (NTSC).

During the preliminary investigation, the team found no evidence of a terrorist act as a cause of the tragedy. The team said that they heard no other voice in the cockpit aside from the pilots themselves who were audibly busy manning the plane and appeared to have not been threatened.

The investigating team said that a preliminary report on the initial findings will be released on January 28.

In their initial analysis, based primarily on the flight recorders, there was an indication that bad weather is more likely the cause of the aircraft's tragic crash.

The data on the radar also showed that the plane accelerated at an exceedingly high rate possibly to avoid the storm clouds on its path after it failed to receive a timely response from the ATC.

The plane carried a total of 162 people on board including the 7 crew members.