AirAsia QZ8501 black box cockpit recordings: No evidence of terrorism, say Indonesian officials

Indonesian investigators said on Monday they had found no evidence so far that terrorism played a part in the crash of an AirAsia passenger jet last month that killed all 162 people on board. Andreas Hananto told Reuters that his team of 10 investigators at the National Transportation Safety Committee (NTSC) had found “no threats” in the cockpit voice recordings to indicate foul play during AirAsia Flight QZ8501. The Airbus A320-200 vanished from radar screens on Dec. 28, less than halfway into a two-hour flight from Indonesia’s second-biggest city of Surabaya to Singapore. There were no survivors. [caption id=“attachment_2053905” align=“alignleft” width=“380” class=" “]  The recovered tail of AirAsia’s jet QZ8501. AP[/caption] When asked if there was any evidence from the recording that terrorism was involved, Mr Hananto said: “No. Because if there were terrorism, there would have been a threat of some kind.” “In that critical situation, the recording indicates that the pilot was busy with the handling of the plane.” Indonesian investigators said on Monday they had found no evidence so far that terrorism played a part in the crash of an AirAsia passenger jet last month that killed all 162 people on board. Andreas Hananto told Reuters that his team of 10 investigators at the National Transportation Safety Committee (NTSC) had found “no threats” in the cockpit voice recordings to indicate foul play during AirAsia Flight QZ8501. The Airbus A320-200 vanished from radar screens on 28 December, less than halfway into a two-hour flight from Indonesia’s second-biggest city of Surabaya to Singapore. There were no survivors. When asked if there was any evidence from the recording that terrorism was involved, Mr Hananto said: “No. Because if there were terrorism, there would have been a threat of some kind.” “In that critical situation, the recording indicates that the pilot was busy with the handling of the plane.” REUTERS