AirAsia tail section recovered

The tail section of the Airbus A320 was raised to the surface from a depth of about 30 meters (100 feet) on Saturday. Investigators used floating balloons attached to the rear of the plane and a crane to lift the wreckage onto a recovery vessel.

It was not immediately clear whether the flight data and cockpit voice recorders were still inside the tail where they are normally installed.

Ping-like sounds were detected on Friday about a kilometer (half a mile) from the area where the tail section was located. However, it is not known whether the sounds were from the recorders located within the rear section of the plane or another source. National Commission for Transportation Safety investigator Nurcahyo Utomo said Saturday that the sounds could not be confirmed.

The final contact pilots had with air traffic control an hour into their December 28 flight indicated that they were approaching stormy weather. The pilots requested permission to climb from 32,000 feet (9,753 meters) to 38,000 feet to avoid heavy clouds, but were denied due to congested air space above them. Four minutes later they no longer appeared on air traffic control radars.

Forty-eight bodies have been recovered from the ocean, several of them still strapped into their seats. Officials are hopeful the remaining bodies will be found within the fuselage, which divers have been unable to locate.

All AirAsia flights flying the Surbaya to Singapore route, the same flight path taken by Flight 8501 when it crashed have been suspended. It was revealed that the low-cost carrier was not permitted to fly on Sundays.

jlw/gb (AP, AFP)