What the Wreckage of AirAsia Flight QZ 8501 Can Tell Us
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iStock Editorial/Thinkstock(SURABAYA, Indonesia) — The wreckage of missing AirAsia flight QZ 8501 will provide investigators with many clues to what happened to the flight as investigators study the size of the debris field, the condition of the plane’s metal, and data they recover from the jetliner’s black boxes.
The span of the debris field may be one of the most telling factors, aviation experts explain to ABC News.
If the debris field is rather narrow, and all of the evidence is found relatively close together, that would suggest that the plane was intact when it crashed into the Java Sea on Sunday with 162 people aboard.
Fog prevented a completely clear view of the scene Tuesday, but investigators have reported that there appears to be a shadow of the plane in the relatively shallow water which hints that it likely is largely intact.
If the plane is not intact and the debris is more spread out than originally expected, that would suggest that the plane began to break apart mid-air.
The pieces of the plane also will hold important clues, first in confirming the identity of the plane using the serial number that is put on every piece of metal used to build the aircraft. Investigators also will look for burn marks to determine if there was a fire on board or if there was an explosion.
The bodies have been recovered from the scene so far reportedly were not wearing life preservers. That could indicate that the catastrophe happened so suddenly that crew did not have time to communicate with the passengers about the impending emergency.
The most telling evidence will come from the plane’s black boxes which record a minute-by-minute account of what was going on both inside the engine and inside the cockpit, keeping track of what crew members were doing as well as what was happening mechanically.
Day four of the search will be underway when daylight hits Indonesia Wednesday.
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