another data point that high altitude stalls and computer failures are still with us
The Air Asia 8501 crash investigation report (flight QZ8501 from Surabaya to Singapore) was finally released today. (The local NTSB took one year to investigate.) The report is still being discussed, but it looks like Air Asia is in many aspects a direct replay of the Air France 447 loss a few years earlier. It started with a computer malfunction at high altitude (solder joint crack on circuit board), after which both pilots were overwhelmed with a cycle of error messages. The autopilot disconnected and pilots were unable to control the plane after unsuccessfully trying to reset computers. The report says both pilots were wrestling with the stick to fly the plane in its degraded, non-computer aided "alternate" mode. (Interestingly, "the right side stick input was mostly at maximum pitch up until the end of recording".)
The report is here:
http://kemhubri.dephub.go.id/knkt/ntsc_home/ntsc.htm
Last edited by Alex909; Dec 1, 2015 at 3:20 pm
Reason: Include link to report