JAKARTA, Jan. 20 (UPI) -- The AirAsia flight that crashed into the Java Sea with 162 aboard appears to have stalled during an unusually steep climb and then disappeared from radar, Indonesia's transportation minister said Tuesday.
"The plane may have climbed in the last minutes at a speed beyond normal limits. After that, it stalled. Why did it stall? I don't know," Transportation Minister Ignasius Jonan said.
Jonas said the Airbus A320 climbed at a rate of 6,000 feet per minute, which is faster than most passenger and fighter jets. Investigators think the plane encountered severe weather on its path from Surabaya, Indonesia to Singapore on Dec. 28.
"It is unlikely that a fighter jet would increase its flight level at a speed of 6,000 feet per minute," Jonan said."The average speed of a commercial aircraft is probably between 1,000 and 2,000 feet per minute, because the aircraft is not designed to soar so fast."
Earlier this week, officials said preliminary cockpit voice recorder data shows there was no evidence of terrorism or foul play.
So far, only 53 bodies have been recovered from the wreckage. Officials think many are trapped in the main body of the aircraft, but bad weather has hampered efforts to recover the fuselage. The initial investigative report from the crash is expected to be completed next week.
