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Two and a half days after AirAsia flight 8501 went missing en route from Surabaya to Singapore, search teams finally found the plane’s remains on Wednesday, pulling bodies and debris from Indonesia’s Karimata Strait between the islands of Belitung and Borneo. It will take weeks for a more thorough investigation, but here’s what the wreckage tells us right now.

This Was a Fast Discovery

In the age of universal connectedness, two and a half days sounds like a long time (If they can find a cell phone, how come they can’t find a plane?) In fact, that time frame represents speedy progress, especially considering that the crash area is beset by frequent intense thunderstorms this time of year. For comparison, consider the case of Adam Air 574, which went missing under similar circumstances on New Year’s Day 2007. That 737 took off from Surabaya and vanished en route to Sulawesi, but searchers didn’t find the first pieces of debris for 12 days.

The fast discovery of the AirAsia jet wasn’t just a matter of better luck. Back in 2007, Indonesia was mostly on its own as it hunted for Adam Air 574. This time around it got a massive influx of help from countries around the world. By the second day, ships and planes from seven nations, including the U.S., were taking part.

Indeed, the big difference between the two flights was context. People are paying a lot more attention, as CNN and other media outlets granted the crash wall-to-wall coverage. In the

Article source: http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/aviation/crashes/airasia-flight-qz8501-what-the-wreckage-means

Police carry debris from a boat believed to be from the AirAsia QZ8501 jet on January 1, 2015 in this photo taken by Antara Foto. ― Reuters picKUALA LUMPUR, Jan 1 ― The captain of the Indonesia AirAsia Flight QZ8501 that crashed into the sea during a thunderstorm likely knew the lessons from the 2009 Air France plane crash, a pilot has said amid increasing focus on human error in the comparisons of both disasters.

Bill Palmer, an Airbus A330 captain for an unnamed major airline, wrote on US news network CNN yesterday that many parallels have been drawn between Flight QZ8501 and Air France Flight AF447, both of which encountered stormy weather, and noted that the latter plane’s airspeed-sensing probes had iced up before the jet plunged into the Atlantic Ocean, killing all 228 on board.

“In the aftermath of the Air France crash, in addition to an improved design of the probes, significant emphasis has been placed on pilot training on the prevention and recovery from similar scenarios ― such as loss of airspeed indications and high altitude stall recovery,” Palmer said in a commentary titled “How AirAsia flight compares to Air France 447 crash”.

“I would say all pilots, especially of Airbus aircraft, would be aware of AF447’s lessons, including QZ8501’s captain, given his reported experience,” he added.

UK daily The Independent reported yesterday that investigators will consider if pilot error had caused the crash of the Airbus A320 jet that disappeared Sunday with

Article source: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/airbus-pilot-defends-flight-qz8501-captain-amid-finger-pointing-over-crash

After more than two days of anxious waiting, searchers finally found bodies and debris from AirAsia Flight 8501 floating in the Java Sea on Tuesday. But the jet itself was still missing, officials could only guess why it crashed, and grieving families were left to suffer through the uncertainty.

Needlessly.

Technology has long existed to stream real-time data from airliners’ black boxes. Had it been installed aboard the jet, authorities would now be deciphering clues about what went wrong, and they’d have position data indicating where the jet hit the ocean.

The same is true for the still unexplained disappearance in March of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, presumably over the Indian Ocean.

Had data been available then, authorities might even have been able to trace the jet before it crashed. It is believed to have stayed aloft until it ran out of fuel. Instead, they’re still searching the seabed off the Australian coast for the airliner’s remains.

At the very least, real-time data streaming would let safety investigators know whether an aircraft was brought down by an unsuspected design flaw or by pilot error, both of which can be remedied to prevent further crashes and loss of life. If someone deliberately sabotaged a plane — one of the theories about the Malaysia flight — there would be signs of that as well.

But relatively few airliners use the

Article source: http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2014/12/29/airasia-disappearance-crash-malaysia-flight-370-editorials-debates/21020095/