AS the recovery mission for AirAsia flight QZ8501 continues in the Java Sea, the crash site investigation has raised many questions which we answer here.
Searchers found several bodies, a life jacket, a suitcase, an emergency door, but where is the rest of the plane?
It could take days or longer to find the bulk of the wreckage. The bodies and items found on Tuesday may have floated miles from the other wreckage. Experts will study currents to try to pinpoint possible locations and listen for transmitters attached to the flight-data and cockpit-voice recorders, the so-called black boxes that are designed to emit signals for at least 30 days.
What will the location of the wreckage tell us?
If the plane hit the water intact, most of the debris should rest in one spot, says James E. Hall, former chairman of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board. But if the plane broke up in flight, the wreckage could be spread among several fields, miles apart.
What is the most important evidence in the wreckage?
The black boxes, which are actually orange. The flight-data and cockpit-voice recorders will reveal the plane’s speed, altitude, direction and the pilots’ actions during the flight. The cockpit recorder will capture the pilots’ final words, which helped investigators understand why Air France Flight 447 crashed into the Atlantic in 2009.
What happens when the boxes are found?
They are put in coolers filled with saltwater and sent to a lab for data to be downloaded. If Indonesia doesn’t have a lab capable of handling the data, the boxes will probably be sent to Australia or France, where the plane was built. Investigators will use the information to build a timeline of what happened and why.
What other parts of the plane can hold important clues to the cause of the accident?
Engines, flaps, rudders and other controls are all important. Searchers will use sonar to map the debris field. Then, based on information gleaned from the black boxes, they will know which parts of the plane they’re most interested to recover, says Ray “Chip” McCord, a former US Navy supervisor of salvage and now an instructor at MIT.
