The Indonesia AirAsia plane that crashed last month was climbing at an abnormally high rate of speed before plunging into the Java Sea, an analysis of radar data shows.
Indonesian Transport Minister Ignasius Jonan told parliament that data indicated Flight 8501 was climbing about 6,000 feet a minute before it disappeared on Dec. 28 with 162 passengers and crew on board, the Associated Press reported.
“It is not normal to climb like that, it's very rare for commercial planes, which normally climb just 1,000 to 2,000 feet per minute,” he said. “It can only be done by a fighter jet.”
Jonan did not say what caused the plane to climb so rapidly.
The flight crew had requested permission to climb from 32,000 feet to 38,000 feet to avoid storm clouds moments before the crash, but were told by ground controllers to limit their climb to 34,000 feet because there were other aircraft in the area.
Earlier Tuesday investigators said that an initial analysis of cockpit voice recordings has found no evidence that terrorism, hijacking or another crime caused the crash, investigators said Tuesday.
“There are no indications of terrorism,” said Nurcahyo Utomo, an investigator from Indonesia’s National Transport Safety Committee. “There were no voices of other people apart from those of the pilots.”
The transport safety committee has been analyzing the aircraft’s "black box" recorders, which search crews pulled last week from the floor of the Java Sea. All aboard the filight are presumed dead.
Investigators did not detail what was said in the aircraft’s final moments but said that a full transcript of the cockpit recordings was not yet completed.
“The rule is that if we find indications of a crime, we will hand over the investigation to the police,” Nurcahyo said.
The committee’s lab in Jakarta is also examining the flight data recorder, which collects information on the aircraft’s electronic systems during a flight.
Investigators said a preliminary report into the crash would be released Jan. 28. Weather is believed to have played a role but analysts were also looking into whether a mechanical or other failure caused the 6-year-old Airbus A320 to go down after it encountered storm clouds midway through a two-hour flight from Surabaya, Indonesia, to Singapore.
Pathoni is a special correspondent. Times staff writer Shashank Bengali contributed to this report from Mumbai, India.
Copyright © 2015, Los Angeles Times
10;45 a.m.: This article has been updated with reports that the jet climbed rapidly just before crashing.
This article was originally posted at 9:43 p.m. on Jan. 19.
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