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AirAsia jet rose too quickly and stalled

The AirAsia's A320-200 aircraft that crashed into the Java Sea last month was climbing at a faster speed than normal and stalled, according to Indonesia's transport minister.

The AirAsia’s A320-200 aircraft that crashed into the Java Sea last month was climbing at a faster speed than normal and stalled, according to Indonesia’s transport minister.

Flight QZ8501 was 42 minutes into a flight between Surabaya to Singapore when it lost contact with ground control on 28 December.

Indonesia’s Transport Minister Ignasius Jonan said in the final minutes before losing contact, the plane had climbed at a ‘beyond normal’ speed before it shut down.

“The plane suddenly went up at a speed above the normal limit that it was able to climb to. Then it stalled.”

Transport Minister Ignasius Jonan 

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Moments before the plane lost contact, pilots had asked ground control for permission to fly higher in order to avoid a storm. Permission wasn’t immediately granted due to heavy air traffic, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.

The Transport Minister said at one point radar data suggested the plane was climbing at a rate of 1,800 metres – a speed he said is even rare for fighter jets.

“For a commercial flight, climbing around 1000 to 2000 (feet, 305 to 610 metres) is maybe already considered extraordinary, because it is not meant to climb that fast.”

Transport Minister Ignasius Jonan

Investigators are now looking into the contents recorded on the black box, which was located on 12 January, to determine what was said in the cockpit. A preliminary report is then expected to confirm why the plane shot up at such a fast speed before crashing.

As well as locating parts of the downed plane, investigators have been working tirelessly to locate and recover passengers’ bodies from the sea.

So far 53 remains have been removed from the ocean. 46 remains have been identified and seven are still being identified.

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