JAKARTA, Jan. 30 -- Indonesian fishermen and rescuers have recovered a total of six bodies from the crashed AirAsia flight QZ8501 in South and West Sulawesi waters over the past few days, about 1,000 kilometers away from the crashed location in Java Sea.
After more than a month, those bodies were found in forms of skeletons, and remnants of body parts were still with clothes on. Rescuers also recovered some of passengers'belongings including brief cases, wallets and cell phones.
Head of West Sulawesi Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) Muh. Rizal said on Friday that those findings would be transferred to Surabaya for further identification. As of Wednesday, a total of 70 bodies from AirAsia flight QZ8501 have been recovered by rescuers.
Despite the absence of the military, Indonesia's Basarnas will resume search for remaining bodies on Saturday after a two-day break. The search would continue for one week or longer.
Indonesia's National Transportation Safety Committee (NTSC) divulged compelling facts from its investigation into the jetliner ' s Flight Data Recorder (FDR) and Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) recovered on Jan. 12 and 13 at a press conference held on Thursday.
Chairman of investigators Mardjono Siswosumarno said that the crashed plane was piloted by the French co-pilot while the captain acted as the monitoring pilot when the calamity took place. "The second in command was the one sitting on the right seat. It was him who flies the plane. The pilot sitting in the left seat acts as the monitoring pilot,"Mardjono said.
Captain of the crashed plane was Irianto, a seasoned Indonesian pilot that has 6,100 flying hours. The co-pilot was French Remi Emanuel Plesel, who had 2,245 flying hours. Irianto was a former fighter jet pilot with Indonesian air force.
Mardjono said that the Airbus A320-200 plane operated by AirAsia that eventually crashed on Dec. 28 was in good condition and all the crews onboard had valid working license.
The Singapore-bound plane vanished from radar at 6.18 a.m. western Indonesian time , or about 40 minutes after it took off from Indonesian city of Surabaya. All 162 people onboard the plane were killed in the crash.
NTSC investigators also revealed that the pilots deactivated the plane's Flight Augmentation Computer (FAC) system that prevents the plane from uncontrolled flying. The pilots cut off power supply to the FAC, the sources who asked to remain anonymous were quoted as saying by local media on Thursday.
The measures taken by the pilots may contribute to the steep climb of the plane in such a rapid speed which eventually fell down, they said.
The NTSC has submitted preliminary report to International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).
Indonesian NTSC Chairman Tatang Kurniadi said that the agency would complete the final report within 10 months and distribute it to related agencies in several countries for further analysis. Results from the analysis would be released in two months, he added. "So final report over the crash would serve as inputs for the aviation world, particularly those using Airbus planes,"Tatang told the press conference.
Day|Week