Transport Minister Ignasius Jonan Released Timeline In Media Interview

A final report from the AirAsia accident December 28th will be released sometime in August, according to Indonesian Transport Minister Ignasius Jonan.

The Economic Times of India reports that Jonan said in an interview with the French news service AFP that the National Transportation Safety Committee (NTSC) has promised the final report by summer. The NTSC coordinates with the transport minister and reports to the President of Indonesia.

Jonan said that he has instructed the NTSC to be sure that the report is "as independent as possible." He said he will not read anything more about the investigation until the final report is published.

Among the preliminary findings are that the flight's French co-pilot Remi Plesel was the pilot flying the airplane at the time of the accident. For a reason not yet determined, the plane climbed from FL320 to FL370 in 30 seconds, then quickly returned to FL320 before "gradually" losing altitude until it impacted the ocean. The pilot may have been trying to avoid a storm in the area.

Full or partial remains of about 100 of the people on board have been recovered from the ocean, according to the Economic Times.

(Image from file)

FMI: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Transportation_Safety_Committee