Sources close to the AirAsia Flight QZ8501 investigation reported this week that the pilots disabled critical computer systems moments before the plane plummeted into the Java Sea.
The Airbus A320 disappeared about one hour into its flight to Singapore from Surabaya, Indonesia on December 28 with 162 people on board. The newest evidence finds that the pilots shut off the computer to silence alarms within the cockpit.
The plane's flight augmentation computers were sounding off, indicating problems with the rudder and possibly the mechanisms that prevent the plane from travelling too slowly, Bloomberg reported.
After attempting to correct the problem, the pilots shut the entire system down. Former A320 pilot-turned-consultant John Cox questioned the decision.
"Particularly with an Airbus you don't do that," he said. The loss of one computer system on the plane could have affected others.
Indonesian National Transportation Safety Committee investigator Ertata Lananggalih said that Flight QZ8501 climbed more than 5,000 feet in less then 30 seconds.
Researchers believe the pilots were trying to get above the storm, and the dramatic climb may have caused the plane to stall.
From 37,400 feet, the plane descended for three minutes before losing contact.
"The pilots were conscious when the maneuver happened," Lananggalih said. "They were trying to control the airplane."
The plane's black box reportedly recorded "screaming" warning alarms inside Flight QZ8501 before the plane crashed.
A crash investigator, under condition of anonymity, reported that several alarms could be heard going off "for some time," including one alarm indicating that the plane was stalling.
