Faulty component, crew action caused AirAsia flight QZ8501 crash

The AirAsia passenger jet crash that claimed 162 lives last year was because of a faulty component and the crew's subsequent attempts to fix it.

The crew tried to find a solution for problems arising with the system controlling the aircraft's rudder.

It was found that the soldering on the rudder control system was cracked and the system sent four warning alerts to the pilots, in response to which, they reset the system hoping to fix it, The Independent reports.

This action caused the aircraft's autopilot to disengage, causing the loss of control of the plane.

According to reports, the faulty component had malfunctioned four times during the flight and 23 times the previous year.

AirAsia flight QZ8501 disappeared from radar during bad weather on 28 December last year, less than halfway into a two-hour flight from Surabaya, Indonesia, to Singapore.

The investigators had previously confirmed that co-pilot Remi Plesel was in control of the flight when it crashed.

The plane is known to have risen sharply upwards to 37,400ft in the space of 30 seconds, before dropping back to 32,000ft in a three-minute stretch.