Discovery of airplane tail could shed light on cause of AirAsia crash
Digital Reporter
Wednesday, January 7, 2015, 11:55 AM - After days of ongoing efforts by search and rescue crews, the tail of Air Asia flight QZ8501 has been found in the Java Sea.
It was located on Wednesday, roughly 30 kilometres from the initial search area established by officials.
This discovery brings new light to ongoing speculation in regards to what caused the plane to go down.
The tail of the aircraft houses its "black boxes". The boxes contain voice and flight data recordings, and have a lifespan of about 30 days.
Most importantly, these instruments may hold the information needed to determine what went wrong.
The tail of the missing #AirAsia plane has been found underwater in the Java Sea https://t.co/YM7aSPGTdM pic.twitter.com/Vupwdbrhch
— Sky News (@SkyNews) January 7, 2015
On December 28, 2014, all communications with the plane were lost while it traveled from Surabaya, Indonesia, to Singapore, with 162 people onboard.
AirAsia Indonesia regrets to confirm that QZ8501 from Surabaya to Singapore has lost contact at 07:24hrs this morning https://t.co/WomRQuzcPO
— AirAsia (@AirAsia) December 28, 2014
The search for the missing plane and any sign of survivors was impeded by strong winds and rough seas in the days following the disappearance.
The jet disappeared just moments after one of the pilots requested a change of course due to storm clouds. Earlier this week, Indonesian authorities stated that cooling air may have caused icing on the jet, which could have led to subsequent engine damage and possible power loss.
Despite relatively shallow waters, stormy weather has continued to slow the recovery process.
As of Wednesday, only 40 bodies have been recovered from the water. Officials believe that the majority of passengers may still be fastened in their seats in the main section of the craft, which is still underwater.
Seats, doors and other signs of wreckage originally led crews to the areas where they began their search last week. Five large parts of the plane have also been identified using sonar.
But removing the tail of the plane from the water will be no easy feat.
It is currently sitting 30 metres below the surface and appears to have landed upside down. The force of impact has embedded the tail deep in mud and sand on the sea floor.
The top priority is recovering the data recorders, which may have disconnected from the tail during the crash.
If still intact, data could be extracted from the devices and analyzed in a matter of days.
