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Weather was the “triggering factor” in the crash of AirAsia Flight 8501 into the Java Sea a week ago with 162 people on board, according to Indonesia’s meteorological agency.
The Airbus A320-200 crashed during a storm en route from Indonesia’s second city Surabaya to Singapore.
While search teams hunt for the aircraft's black boxes that will tell what happened to the plane in its last minutes, an initial report on the website of BMKG, Indonesia’s meteorological  agency, suggests the weather at the time the plane went down sparked the disaster.
“Based on the available data received on the location of the aircraft’s last contact, the weather was the triggering factor behind the accident,” said a report on the agency’s website.
The report said the aircraft appeared to have flown into storm clouds.

“The most probable weather phenomenon was icing which can cause engine damage due to a cooling process. This is just one of the possibilities that  occurred based on the analysis of existing meteorological data,” it said.
The statement comes as a fifth large part of what is believed to be the plane was found on the seabed, and as Indonesia pledged to investigate flight violations by AirAsia.
Divers sent to investigate the objects were this morning told not to enter the water due to the rain and heavy seas that have dogged the recovery operation all week.
The country's transport ministry said the ill-fated aircraft had been flying on an unauthorised schedule when it crashed, and the airline has now been suspended from flying the route from the city of Surabaya to Singapore.
"It violated the route permit given, the schedule given, that's the problem," director general of air transport, Djoko Murjatmodjo, said.
He said AirAsia's permit for the route would be suspended until investigations were completed, while other airlines in the country would also be examined.

"We will carry out an audit or an evaluation on all airlines in Indonesia over whether there are any violations related to route, time and schedule," he said.
Major parts of the Airbus A320-200 were found in the Java Sea off the island of Borneo late Friday and yesterday, raising hopes that the remaining bodies and the black box recorders, crucial to determining the cause of the crash, would soon be located.
One body was found on Sunday by Singaporean navy vessel RSS Persistence, while three others were retrieved by the Japanese Maritime Self-Defence Force destroyer Onami and evacuated by a US Skyhawk helicopter, National Search and Rescue Agency Chief Vice-Marshall Bambang Soelistyo said, adding that the number of recovered bodies has risen to 34.
”Now fewer bodies are being found so we suppose they are still in the plane’s wreckage on the ocean floor,” Soelistyo said.

Toos Sanitioso, an investigator from Indonesia's KNKT (National Transportation Safety Committee), said he was hopeful they would find the all-important black boxes within a few days. "It seems that they have found the major [plane] parts," he said.
A presentation described one of the debris pieces as the "suspected tail" of the plane, but strong currents were making it difficult to operate a remotely operated underwater vehicle to get a picture of the objects that are 30 metres underwater.
The huge relief operation has been assisted by several countries, including the United States and Russia, but rough weather throughout the week has hampered the recovery of Flight QZ8501, which went down a week ago today during a storm.

A statement from the Indonesian transport ministry aid AirAsia Indonesia had not been permitted to fly the Surabaya-Singapore route on Sundays and had not asked to change its schedule.
But the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore said it had granted permission for the airline's Sunday flight.It was unclear how the airline, a unit of Malaysia-based AirAsia, had been able to fly without the necessary authorisation from its starting point.
AirAsia Indonesia chief Sunu Widyatmoko said the company would not comment until the results of the investigation were known, adding that the airline would "fully cooperate with the government in that evaluation process".
Before take-off, the pilot had asked for permission to fly at a higher altitude to avoid a storm, but the request was not approved due to other planes above him on the popular route, according to AirNav, Indonesia's air traffic control. Then all contact was lost, about 40 minutes after the plane had taken off.


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AirAsia flight QZ8501

Weather blamed for AirAsia crash, as Indonesia says jet flying unauthorised route

Bodies found at sea are flown to Surabaya yesterday. Photo: Reuters

Search and rescue personnel carry a body bag containing a victim of the crashed AirAsia flight QZ8501 at Iskandar Air Base, Pangkalan Bun on Sunday. Photo: Xinhua

Relatives of Juanita Limantara, one of the victims of the crashed AirAsia airplane, arrive for a handover ceremony of the mortal remains to the family in Surabaya on Sunday. Photo: EPA

The Singaporean warship RSS Valour's recovery mission continues in the Java Sea. Photo: EPA

Debris thought to be an aircraft window panel recovered by the Singapore Navy from the ocean off Pangkalan Bun on Sunday. Photo: EPA

AirAsia flight has parallels with 2009 French jet crash into ocean

A press conference presenting the Safety Investigation report of Air France flight AF447, which crashed in mid Atlantic on June 1, 2009. Photo: EPA

Countries struggling to implement new rules for safer skies since MH370, says aviation chief

Andrew Herdman, head of Asia-Pacific's airline body, says the ability of airlines and governments to make the changes needed to ensure safer skies "varies from country to country".

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Asia

New revelations emerge that crashed plane's flight path was unauthorised as recovery teams find more bodies and significant parts of wreckage in the ocean


Weather was the 'triggering factor' in the crash of AirAsia Flight 8501 into the Java Sea a week ago with 162 people on board, according to Indonesia’s meteorological agency.


.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}New revelations emerge that crashed plane's flight path was unauthorised as recovery teams find more bodies and significant parts of wreckage in the ocean

New revelations emerge that crashed plane's flight path was unauthorised as recovery teams find more bodies and significant parts of wreckage in the ocean