Air Asia crash that killed 162 passengers was the result of pilots turning off auto-pilot

Year-long investigation finds that a computer fault was the reason for the crash

The Air Asia passenger flight QZ8501 that crashed in bad weather on December 28 during a flight from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore was found to have been triggered by a faulty computer that led the crew to accidently turn off the jet’s autopilot system. As a result, the pilots lost control of the aircraft as it plunged into the Java  Sea.

Investigators believe that the plane began to roll to the left as the autopilot system failed. The pilots were unable to right the aircraft as it stalled, finally crashing.

An international search was sparked by the crash of the Airbus A320, with 56 victims bodies never recovered.

The reasoning for the crash came after a year-long investigation. It was also found that the computer glitch was the result of a pre-existing fault known to the Air Asia maintenance crew.