The French co-pilot of AirAsia Flight QZ8501 Resmi-Emmanuel Plesel was controlling the aircraft when it crashed into the sea, killing all 162 people on board, said chief investigator Mardjono Siswosuwarno on January 29.

Based on the collected date, the investigators from Indonesia’s National Transportation Safety Committee (NTSC) affirmed that the aircraft was in good condition and permitted weight when it took off from Surabaya and the flight crew had correct licenses and medical certificates.

They also said that the data stated that there was no abnormal signal recorded until the aircraft vanished from the radar screens.

Siswosuwarno revealed that NTSC successfully downloaded the recordings and hoped to conduct the detailed analysis within 12 months in line with the regulations from the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).

AirAsia Flight QZ8501 lost contact with an air traffic control station in the morning of December 28, only 42 minutes after taking off from Indonesia’s Surabaya airport for Singapore.

It carried 162 passengers and crew members, including 155 Indonesians, three Koreans, one Singaporean, one Malaysian, one French, and one British.

Only 72 bodies have so far been recovered.-VNA