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Downed AirAsia Flight Resulted From Unfixed Mechanical Problem

An AirAsia flight crash that killed all passengers was the direct result of an unresolved maintenance issue.

In December 2014, an Indonesia AirAsia flight—a subsidiary of Malaysian-owned AirAisa—crashed into the Java Sea, killing all 162 people on board. The flight was en route to Singapore from Surabaya, Indonesia, at the time of the crash. The plane stalled at high altitude after requesting a course change to avoid clouds.

Now, due to a study of the plane’s flight path for the 12 months prior to the crash, aviation experts in Australia are pushing to ban the airline from flying to the country. During the year before the flight went down, the plane made 78 trips between Perth, Australia and Bali, Indonesia  — and during that period, there had been a known mechanical issue, a defect with the rudder limiter, that went unresolved. The plane went down as a direct result of that defect and the crew’s reaction to a warning light for it.

“I believe there’s evidence around that some airlines that fly to Australia don’t meet international standards and they should be banned,” Geoffrey Thomas, an aviation expert in Perth, told Australia’s ABC Foreign Correspondent. “It’s simply not good enough that you’ve got airplanes flying around with potentially catastrophic faults with them.”

The aircraft was also not approved to fly its route on the day it crashed. Airlines in Indonesia are currently under scrutiny for reports of unskilled pilots. One Australian pilot told the ABC, as reported by the Daily Mail, that an Indonesian pilot failed a flight test with a major airline but instead came back to Australia and joined a local airline. There are also reports of an Indonesian pilot bribing officials for a job after failing a flight simulator.

[Photo: AP]

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4 Comments
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nwa330 May 5, 2016

Bubbly flew for Air Asia and his biggest complaint was flying around SE Asia in massive thunderstorm with inadequate radar coverage and improper weather reporting.

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CitizenWorld May 4, 2016

Yup. Never flying AirAsia. If this sort of malarcky is allowed to happen then no way Jose.

R
rick253 May 4, 2016

Just to be clear, the Indonesian pilot that failed his flight test for a major Indonesian airline, then came to Australia (for what reason I forget), but returned to Indonesia and joined a local Indonesian airline. He did not join an Australian airline.

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Fyd May 4, 2016

Based on the final crash report, this was a mix of mechanical issues and pilot error and I do think they should put pressure on AirAsia to improve maintenance and pilot training! The mechanical issue that caused the crash occurred 23 times over one year, yet maintenance didn't do anything. An experienced mechanic could have replaced the part in 10 minutes! If a plane can stay in service, while having the same issue repeat in ever shortening intervals, there is a serious maintenance management and oversight issue! And the crew didn't handle the issue well - they had no training in handling this manually, an issue that has since been addressed by AirAsia Indonesia. You can read more details on the crash report here:http://dreamtravelonpoints.com/2015/12/lessons-learned-from-airasia-qz8051-crash-report-how-to-travel-safely/ I have flown AirAsia since and will continue to do so where it makes sense to me, but maintenance and training need to improve!