Crash: AirAsia 'could have done more'

In this file photo taken on Jan 12, 2015, foreign investigators (left) examine the recovered tail of the AirAsia flight QZ8501 in Kumai. PHOTO: AFP

Aviation experts say that Air- Asia could have done more to prevent the crash of the ill-fated Flight QZ8501, which killed all 162 people on board.

The experts said that a recurring fault with the rudder system of the jet should have been rectified more proactively, a day after a report by Indonesia's National Transportation Safety Committee made public its investigations into the crash.

"Somebody should have monitored the trend of the fault recurring.

"Unfortunately, I don't think that is required by the manufacturer as well," said Mr Gerry Soejatman from Communicavia, an aviation consulting firm based in Jakarta.

The technical issue had surfaced at least 23 times in the 12 months before the Airbus A320-200 took off for its last flight from Surabaya to Singapore on Dec 28, 2014.

The report showed that the fault with the rudder system occurred four times within 40 minutes of take-off.

The pilots apparently tried to reboot the system manually, causing a power trip that disengaged the autopilot.

This sent the aircraft into a violent roll from which the pilots were unable to recover.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on December 03, 2015, with the headline Crash: AirAsia 'could have done more'. Subscribe