Ill-fated AirAsia QZ8501 Crash : Faulty Component and Improvised Crew Response

Chronic problems with a faulty rudder system and the way pilots tried to respond were major factors in the crash of an Indonesian AirAsia (AIRA.KL) jet last year that killed all 162 people on board, investigators said .

The Airbus (AIR.PA) A320 crashed into the Java Sea on Dec. 28, less than halfway into a two-hour flight from Indonesia's second-biggest city of Surabaya to Singapore.

In their first public report, Indonesian investigators did not pinpoint a single underlying reason why flight QZ8501 disappeared from the radar, but set out a sequence spotlighting the faulty component, maintenance lapses and crew actions.The pilots' failure to correctly respond to a recurring rudder problem led to the crash of an AirAsia commercial jet into the Java Sea a year ago.

The co-pilot, Rémi-Emmanuel Plesel, had 2,275 flying hours with AirAsia. Captain Iriyanto had more than 20,000 flying hours.

"There was a chain of events, starting with a broken (part), how it was handled and then after it was handled what the consequences were and how the pilot handled it. It's difficult for me to say what the main cause was," National Transportation Safety Committee (NTSC) investigator Nurcahyo Utomo said.

The report said the flaw caused an alarm to go off several times during the flight. That led the pilots to attempt to reset the system, prompting a series of events that led to the plane rolling out of control. Miscommunication between the pilot and second-in-command apparently added to problem, the report said.

Bad weather did not play a role.

The crash was part of a string of aviation disasters in Southeast Asia's biggest economy, where rapid growth in air travel has led to overcrowded airports and stirred safety concerns.

The NTSC said a system controlling rudder movement on the plane had cracked soldering that had malfunctioned repeatedly, including four times during the flight and 23 times over the previous year.

Officials told reporters there were indications from the black box data recorder that crew had tried to shut off power to the computer that controls the rudder system by resetting a circuit breaker, something not usually done during flight. Maintenance records indicated the rudder problem's frequency had been increasing, and the malfunction, caused by a cracked joint on a circuit board, occurred nine times in December.

They cautioned there was no proof of this but said they had recommended to Indonesia AirAsia and Airbus that they take steps to prevent pilots from "improvising" when faced with problems.

"The thing we recommend is to please provide some procedure to prevent the pilots from improvising. Today maybe they improvise by pulling the circuit breaker, tomorrow they may do something else," said Utomo.

Investigators confirmed that to reach the circuit breaker, the captain would have had to leave his seat. In February, the NTSC said there was no evidence for a Reuters report that the captain had left his seat or that the power was reset.

The temporary loss of power to the computer would have cancelled the autopilot and removed automated protections against an in-flight upset, handing manual control to the crew.

"Subsequent flight crew action resulted in inability to control the aircraft," the NTSC said in a statement.

Flown by the French co-pilot, the plane reared higher and entered a stall, a state in which the aircraft loses lift.

The captain was heard shouting "Pull Down," a command that investigators called "confusing" as a clearer instruction to point the nose lower and avoid a stall would be "Push Down".

Instructors and automated avoidance systems use "Pull Up" to mean pulling the stick back, which can cause or deepen a stall.

During this time, the rebooted computer was coming back to life and waiting for new instructions.

"The computer was back on but it wasn’t functioning to control (the aircraft). If they’d wanted it to control again there’s a button that must be pushed. If your Blackberry dies, you pull out the battery. When it comes back on you have to enter your PIN,” Utomo said.

The plane reached an altitude of 38,000 feet before falling at a maximum speed of 20,000 feet per minute. There were "about five minutes" from the time it stalled to the moment of impact.

Reuters first reported in January that investigators were examining maintenance records of the flight computer and how the crew responded to any technical fault.

The report is not intended to attribute blame and cannot be used in court but could influence a potential legal battle and sour relations between Airbus and its top Asian customer.

Lawyers for victims' families, airline and manufacturer are likely to debate whether the problem with the rudder system was solely a maintenance issue or whether its design was robust. Some relatives have begun action against the airline and Airbus.

Indonesia AirAsia said it had upgraded pilot training and enhanced safety standards following the crash, adding that the report showed "several factors" cased the crash.

"There is much to be learned here for AirAsia, the manufacturer and the aviation industry," AirAsia founder Tony Fernandez tweeted.

In Europe, Airbus (AIR.PA) declined immediate comment.

"Airbus has just received the final accident report. We are now carefully studying its content," a spokesman said by email.

Adel Termos: Who gave his life to save others!!

A marketplace erupted in Beirut as two suicide bombers tried to enter there. 43 lives were lost, and 239 were wounded due to the blasts. These figures might have been higher if a brave man weren’t there.

Adel Termos was with his daughter at the marketplace where he saw the first bomb go off.

Soon after it chaos and debris flew everywhere since people panicked to find shelter. There Termos noticed a second terrorist cum bomber preparing to attack.

Termos went straight to the man instead of running in the other direction, and got successful to tackle him. The bomb went off, killing both men. But with his brave act, Termos managed to save many lives.

She is his daughter, standing at her dad’s funeral, she was one of the lucky people who was saved by his dad’s heroic actions.

Aylan Kurdi

Aryan Kurdi

Little Aylan Kurdi, three, and Galip Kurdi, five, were on an overcrowded boat filled with refugees fleeing the war in Syria when it capsized shortly into the crossing to the Greek island of Kos. Both boys died in the sea alongside their mother, Rehan, while their father Abdullah survived. Today the shattered father watched as the coffins of the family he couldn't save left the morgue. Earlier he had described the horrific moment that his family slipped through his fingers as he screamed for help.

He told reporters: 'My kids were the most beautiful children in the world, wonderful. Now all I want to do is sit next to the grave of my wife and children.'

Aylan and Galip, who were not wearing life jackets, did not stand a chance when the boat overturned in the dead of night, some 30 minutes after it set off from the holiday resort of Bodrum in Turkey.  All 17 passengers were flung into the Mediterranean, and despite the calm water, Galip and Aylan drowned.

Aylan Kurdi found on Turkey Beach 

Their lifeless bodies, still clad in tiny T-shirts and shorts, washed up on Ali Hoca Point Beach in Bodrum yesterday.

Mr Kurdi has confirmed to reporters that he was on board the ship with his family but was unable to save them. He said the boat's captain panicked due to the high waves and jumped into the sea and fled, leaving him in control of the small craft.

'I took over and started steering,' he said. 'The waves were so high and the boat flipped.'
He told Turkey's Dogan News Agency: 'I was holding my wife's hand, but my children slipped through my hands. We tried to cling to the boat, but it was deflating.
'It was dark and everyone was screaming.' 
Mr Kurdi said his family were trying to get to Canada from Kobane after fleeing to Turkey last year to escape Islamic State extremists. According to Mr Kurdi's Facebook page, he was originally from Damascus in Syria. He told Dogan News Agency he had paid human traffickers to take his family to Kos twice before, but both attempts failed.

'In our first attempt, coastguards captured us in the sea and then they released us. In our second attempt, the organisers did not keep their word and did not bring the boat,' he said.
It is believed a smuggler told the journey would only take 10 minutes. Yesterday he identified the bodies of his wife and two sons and waited for their release from the morgue in Mugla, Turkey. Now he wants to return to Kobane now to bury his family. A hospital official in Bodrum said the bodies would be flown to Istanbul later today and taken to the Turkish border town of Suruc before reaching their final destination Kobane.

The boys' aunt has spoken of the moment Mr Kurdi called relatives after the tragedy. She revealed the family had been refused visas in June to join her in Canada, so instead had taken the fateful decision to risk their lives by paying smugglers to take them to Europe. 

'I heard the news at five o'clock in this morning,' Vancouver-based Teema Kurdi told. She said she learned of the tragedy through a telephone call from Ghuson Kurdi, the wife of another brother, Mohammad, who had spoken with the bereaved father.

'She had got a call from Abdullah, and all he said was, 'my wife and two boys are dead',' she explained. 
 

Aylan Kurdi

The aunt said an application to sponsor the family to go to Canada was rejected in June.

'I was trying to sponsor them, and I have my friends and my neighbours who helped me with the bank deposits, but we couldn't get them out, and that is why they went in the boat,' she added. 

Canadian legislator Fin Donnelly told The Canadian Press he had submitted a request on behalf on the boys' aunt. Canadian immigration authorities rejected the application, in part because the family did not have exit visas to ease their passage out of Turkey and because of their lack of internationally recognised refugee status, the aunt told the Ottawa Citizen. 

Textile worker Ferhat Alhan hired Mr Kundi three years ago after he first came to Turkey alone. He told how his friend decided to bring his family over after returning to Syria following the birth of Aylan and asked for help in finding a house.

'He had a very hard life and I helped in any way I could - Aylan slept in my kid's cradle for three to four months.

'Abdullah was the only one working and getting by was difficult and he couldn't stand Istanbul anymore and he sent his family back to Kobane.

'When ISIS attacked Kobane, one shell fell on their house causing the house to be totally destroyed. 'He had to bring the family back to Istanbul. One week they slept at my place, another week at other places, they even slept at the workplace because there was no rental house.  'In the end, they had no choice but to go to the [refugee] camp in Antep [newer name is Gaziantep] and you now the rest.' 

The Killings of Bangladesi Bloggers

 Bangladeshi bloggers who have been killed this year: Niloy Chakrabarti, Ananta Bijoy Das, Washiqur Rahman and Avijit Roy (clockwise from top left)

Niloy Chakrabarti, who used the pen name Niloy Neel, was hacked to death with machetes on Friday after a gang broke into his apartment in the Bangladeshi capital.

In an interview with the Guardian in May, Chakrabarti said he had filed reports with local police about continued harassment and was scared that he would be killed. However, his complaints were not taken seriously, he claimed.

Imran H Sarker, head of the Bangladesh Blogger and Activist Network, said Chakrabarti had been a “listed target”. “They entered his room on the fifth floor and shoved his friend aside and then hacked him to death,” Sarker told Agence France-Presse.

Chakrabarti is the fourth blogger to be killed in Bangladesh since February, when Bangladeshi-born US citizen Avijit Roy, a science writer and blog site moderator, was hacked to death in central Dhaka.

That killing prompted outrage around the world with more than 150 writers, including Margaret Atwood, Salman Rushdie, Yann Martel and Colm Tóibín, signing a letter condemning the series of fatal attacks and calling on the country’s government “to ensure that the tragic events … are not repeated”.

The other victims of recent attacks include Ananta Bijoy Das, who was murdered by a group wielding machetes on 13 May as he headed to work in Sylhet, northern Bangladesh, and 27-year-old Washiqur Rahman, killed in Dhaka in March.

All had been active on social media, criticising the extremist Muslim ideologies that have gained strength in Bangladesh in recent years or arguing in favour of progressive causes. On his Facebook account, Chakrabarti frequently wrote in favour of women’s rights.

Bangladesh is an officially secular country, but more than 90% of its 160 million people are Muslim.

Police confirmed Chakrabarti had been murdered by a group of half a dozen people in the capital’s Goran neighbourhood, although they had no details on the motive for the killing.

“There were six people who knocked on his door, saying that they were looking to rent a flat. Two of them then took him to a room and slaughtered him there,” Muntashirul Islam, a deputy police commissioner, said.



Police did not comment on charges that they had failed to act on Chakrabarti’s requests for protection.

Al-Qaida in the Indian Subcontinent claimed responsibility for Roy’s killing on 26 February, in which his wife was badly injured. An Islamist has been arrested over his murder. Two students at religious schools were arrested over the killing of Washiqur Rahman.

Authorities in the politically unstable south Asian state have been repeatedly criticised for not acting to protect free speech, though the Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT), a hardline Islamist group, was banned following Das’s murder.

Police believe the ABT may be behind the three attacks. Members of the group have already been charged with the 2013 murder of blogger Ahmed Rajib Haider.

One hardline group, Hefazat-e-Islam, has publicly sought the execution of atheists who organised mass protests against the rise of political Islam.

Hefazat, led by Islamic seminary teachers, also staged a massive counter-protest against the bloggers in May 2013 that unleashed violence and left nearly 50 people dead.

Active bloggers in Bangladesh told the Guardian earlier this year they received death threats “so frequently” they could not be counted. They also risk jail terms of up to 14 years for publishing material that authorities deem to be false or defamatory.

In 2013, atheist blogger Asif Mohiuddin was stabbed in the street by religious extremists. A month later, he was arrested and held in prison for making derogatory remarks about religion and his blog was banned.

Marilyn Monroe (1926-1962)

Marilyn Monroe, in those days, was an extremely famous actress and socialite, much like Paris Hilton, but from an older era, to an even larger scale. She was the biggest name in Hollywood, having a star role in numerous critically and commercially successful films throughout the 1950s and the early 1960s. She had a very difficult childhood, living in foster homes and constantly moving. Her mother had psychological problems, and her father was nowhere to be seen. She was able to overcome her past, however, and become one of the most iconic and recognizable women in history. She became a sex symbol, and a relatable, vulnerable person for the world to adore.

She was married at a young age, but when her new husband went overseas for the United States Navy, she was offered a modeling gig and started to pursue a career in acting. When her husband got back, he asked her to choose between marriage and acting, and shortly after the couple divorced. She then changed her name to Marilyn Monroe (she was born as Norma Jean Mortensen), dyed her hair blonde, and became a movie star. She was hooked up with Joe DiMaggio, the New York Yankee great, for a dinner date, and the two fell in love. She was the ideal Hollywood celebrity. She was young, beautiful, and married to a famous athlete. But she had a rough past and was relatable to the general public. Everyone wanted to be like her, and teenage girls around the world dyed their hair blonde and tried to be like her. To this day, Marilyn Monroe is still someone who is looked up to. She was the ideal celebrity, but unfortunately her life didn’t end the way most would have expected.

With her enchanting voice and perfect body, Monroe became a star who everyone wanted to be, even thoughmarilyn-monroe-then she personally had self-esteem issues. She had a serious mental condition where she would get anxiety attacks before appearing on set. This would cause her to show up late a lot, which made the casts and directors of the movies she was in angry and confused, but it also became one of her trademarks. Monroe would star in many films, but she was commonly displayed as a dumb blonde, which she didn’t like.

Monroe moved to New York City to escape the usual roles thrown at her and also to study the art of acting more. She acted in many more movies in different roles than she had before, gaining more critical success than she ever had.

What happened to Marilyn Monroe?
She died August 5, 1962 in the bedroom of her Brentwood, Los Angeles, home. The actress was found dead by housekeeper Eunice Murray, who called Monroe’s psychiatrist, Ralph Greenson, before alerting authorities. She was 36 years old at the time of her death.At the young age of 36, she died of a drug overdose. However there were speculations of sucide or the murder.Police broke into her home after family and friends had been unable to contact her for days. They found a bottle of sleeping pills next to her still body, empty. Her death had become an interesting study. It is unknown if her death was intentional, by herself or someone else, or accidental. Michael Jackson, the iconic singer and dancer, died in a similar fashion. Both died of drug overdose, but no one knows why.

Some say that she was murdered. At the time, she was close with President of the United States John F. Kennedy as well as his brother Bobby Kennedy, and many think that her relationship with them made her a target, and someone poisoned her pills. Others suggest that she committed suicide, and that while on the outside she was a fun loving, wild, and happy young girl, she was still haunted by her past on the inside and had demons no one knew about. There are other theories that suggest that she accidentally took too many sleeping pills, and simply died accidentally. Some conspiracy theories are really out there, saying that the CIA or Mafia had a hand in the murder. Most likely, however, the high life of being a celebrity, her publicly stated anxiety and self-esteem problems, and her past demons took a hold of her, and when she was unable to escape from these; she took her own life in a painless, fast way.



marilyn-monroe-primeAfter her death, she was lowered into a casket (which was a Cadillac casket, one of the most expensive caskets one could possibly buy, but it was fitting for such a revolutionary and iconic star) and buried, while wearing a dress she often said was her favorite. The funeral was small, as only friends and family were there. But the whole world was in shock. Their beloved actress, Mrs. Hollywood, the most relatable yet vulnerable celebrity there was, was no more. However, one could argue that she still did exist, as she continued to live on as inspiration for the next wave of actresses and Hollywood stars, and all the movies she played a part in continue to be re-mastered and watched to this very day. Her former husband, Joe DiMaggio, would go to her grave with red roses for the next twenty years following her death, and it goes to show just how impactful she was as a person.

Monroe’s films made over $200 million dollars, and her impact still looms largely over cinema. Even to this very day, Monroe is considered to be the world’s most popular symbol of beauty and sex. She is remembered for her conniving nature and wittiness. Popular celebrities Madonna, Gwen Stefani, and Lady Gaga all model their looks and personality off of Monroe, and they try to replicate her charm. Many books and films have been created based on her life, as well as countless documentaries on her life and mysterious death. The world hasn’t been the same since she died, as the sad event shook it to its core; however she has inspired a whole new generation and will continue to. Marilyn Monroe was everything cinema wanted, and then some. Her charming, carefree personality was a great one that surely won’t be forgotten for as long as civilization stands.