Indonesian AirAsia QZ8501 crash in 2014 which killed 162 due to ‘faulty solder’
Flight system computer malfunctioned repeatedly, including four times during fatal journey
Indonesian investigators said on Tuesday a chronically faulty component and the crew’s attempt to fix the problem were among the factors that contributed to the crash of an AirAsia passenger jet last year, killing all 162 aboard.
A consistently malfunctioning rudder control system has been blamed for the crash in a final report from Indonesia’s National Transportation Safety Committee, the official investigators into the cause of the crash.
Cracked solder joint
The plane’s flight control computer had a cracked solder joint that malfunctioned repeatedly, including four times during the flight, sending shrieking warnings through the cockpit.
When they received the fourth warning, the pilots tried to reset a computer system by pulling out circuit breakers in a desperate attempt to fix the flight control system problem.
But the move also turned off the plane’s autopilot, sending it into a sharp roll from which they were unable to recover.
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“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.
