After recovering flight data recorder and locating the cockpit voice recorder of AirAsia flight QZ8501, Indonesian officials are beginning to piece together potential causes of the deadly crash. While it remains too early to definitively say what caused the crash, a common belief is that the Singapore-bound aircraft stalled in midair.

Airplanes stall in midair when there is no longer a difference in air pressure above and below the plane. For a plane’s wings to produce lift, the airflow over the wings of the plane must be smoother and faster than the airflow beneath the wings. Smooth airflow above the wings allows for lower air pressure above the plane than under the plane, and it is this difference in air pressure that keeps the aircraft in the air.

The AirAsia jet climbed upwards midway through its flight. It is likely that the plane increased its altitude too quickly, and the severe incline of the plane as it moved upwards increased the plane’s angle of attack and hindered airflow over the top of the wing. Citing leaked evidence of some of the flight’s available data, Indonesian aviation analyst Gerry Soejatman told Fairfax Media that the AirAsia jet was climbing at baffling speeds of approximately 2,700 metres per minute prior to its apparent crash.

Other available flight data from the QZ8501 flight also suggest that as the plane rapidly ascended, it was not moving fast enough horizontally to counter the thin airflow at high altitudes. When a plane is traveling at high altitudes, it needs to move forward faster to generate enough airflow over its wings and create the low air pressure above its wings necessary to keep the plane in the air. Records demonstrate that the plane was only flying at an altitude of 11,000 metres at 353 knots, which according to aviation analysts is 100 knots too slow.

Pilots are trained on how to react when an aircraft stalls. However, even the best pilots have trouble remembering some of the plane’s manual procedures during a crisis situation. Classic stall training calls for pilots to push the stick forward and ease the nose of the plane downwards so that the angle of attack can decrease and air can then travel smoothly over the top of the wings.

Severe weather conditions may have prevented the pilot of the AirAsia jet from nosing the plane forward. QZ8501 was traveling through the Intertropical Convergence Zone, an area characterized by strong storms caused by the abnormally high stratosphere at this latitude. Analysts believe that the tremendous speeds at which the plane ascended could have been caused by weather patterns and strong winds. Harsh weather conditions may have also frozen important instruments on the plane. While the Airbus A320 has angle of attack probes on the side of the aircraft that can detect the angle at which an aircraft is flying and notify the pilot when the angle of attack has been maximized, it is possible that the probes were frozen at a certain altitude and unable to respond correctly.

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