Update | AirAsia QZ8501 pilots cut power to airplane's 'safety' computer system before crash
Twin system designed to prevent human error may have been turned off when flight QZ8501 got into difficulty, causing loss of control
The pilots of AirAsia flight QZ8501 cut power to a critical computer system that normally prevents planes from going out of control shortly before it plunged into the Java Sea, two people with knowledge of the investigation said.
The development comes as France opened a formal criminal investigation after it was found the French co-pilot was at the controls.
The action appears to have helped trigger the events of December 28, when the Airbus climbed so abruptly it lost lift and it began falling with warnings blaring in the cockpit, the two said. All 162 aboard were killed and only 72 bodies have so far been recovered.
The pilots had been attempting to deal with alerts about the flight augmentation computers, which control the A320's rudder and also automatically prevent it from going too slow.
After initial attempts to address the alerts, the flight crew cut power to the entire system, which is comprised of two separate computers that back-up each other, the sources said.
While the information helps show how a normally functioning A320's flight-protection system could have been bypassed, it doesn't explain why the pilots pulled the plane into a steep climb, the two said. Even with the computers shut off, the pilots should have been able to fly the plane manually, they said.
