Investigators Say Downed AirAsia Flight Result of Rudder Problem, Pilot Error

Investigators announced this week that a technical malfunction coupled with pilot error led to the crash of the AirAsia flight that crashed into the Java Sea in December 2014.

Indonesian officials announced this week that the AirAsia Flight 8501 that disappeared en route from Indonesia to Singapore last year reportedly experienced a problem with its rudder control system.

The officials claimed that the plane's rudder control system had been fixed repeatedly in the year ahead of the fatal crash.

When the plane encountered rudder control problems, authorities then say pilots improperly handled the issue, reportedly resetting the plane's system in an attempt to solve the problem, but then failing to put the plane in auto-pilot.

There was also reportedly miscommunication between the plane's head pilot and co-pilot.

"Subsequent flight crew action resulted in inability to control the aircraft [...] causing the aircraft to depart from the normal flight envelope and enter a prolonged stall condition that was beyond the capability of the flight crew to recover," the report released by Indonesian authorities read.

"The degraded performance and ambiguous commands might have decreased the SIC's (co-pilot) situational awareness and he did not react appropriately in this complex emergency resulting in the aircraft becoming upset," the report added.

One of the women who lost her son in the crash, Sri Budi Siswardani, told BBC that she hopes the Indonesian government will ensure such an accident doesn't happen again.

"The report today brought back all the trauma, grief and loss [...] I don't want to be angry with AirAsia, what's the use of anger? In the end it will only hurt me and stop me from moving on," the mother told the media outlet.

"We accept Allah's plan for us. But I do want the government to make sure it doesn't happen again. Don't let the disaster of 28 December ever happen again," Siswardani added.