Authorities are now officially declaring the crash of AirAsia flight 8501 an accident. Although there is still information to be discovered, and bodies of lost passengers remain unaccounted for, this represents a step forward for the investigation after weeks of searching.
Some of the new details about the plane come from the black box recorders found and successfully retrieved from the crash site. Although the plane was clearly acting erratically in the moments before the crash, CBS News reports that the Indonesian team conducting the investigation believes that there was no sabotage involved.
Judging from the latest reports, the pilots in the cockpit of the plane may have deactivated their craft's flight augmentation computer, leading to the sudden change in its trajectory. Bloomberg Business quotes Indonesian National Transportation Safety Committee member Ertata Lananggalih on the possible reason for the accident. He refused to confirm anything in particular, although he did say that the pilots were definitely aware of what they were doing, as far as we know.
"About the flight augmentation computer, I can't deny, nor confirm it," he said. "It's technical and it's in investigation territory. Currently, flight augmentation computer is still being further investigated."
So far, 70 of the bodies previously onboard have been found, and underwater operations are continuing. One of the targets of the recovery is the fuselage of the plane, which was scheduled to be lifted but is reportedly still on the floor of the Java Sea.
To encourage proper procedure in intensive recovery missions, businesses should work with marine insurers that will account for potential damages to crew, crafts and any remote access tools being used. These aspects of a search need to stay consistent as an investigation takes on multiple actions and plays out over several different occasions.