Surabaya

Indonesia said Jan. 7 it had found the tail of AirAsia Flight 8501, potentially marking a major step towards locating the plane's black boxes and helping shed light on what caused it to crash into the sea ten days ago.
      

Indonesian search officials sent divers down to the bed of the Java Sea during a break in bad weather Jan. 6 in hopes of recovering more bodies from the wreckage of AirAsia Flight 8501.
      
Recovery teams, hampered by rough seas, have found fewer than 40 bodies since the plane crashed on December 28, carrying 162 people from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore.

Recovery teams expanded their search in the Java Sea on Jan. 5 as they raced to find bodies and wreckage from AirAsia Flight 8501, which authorities fear have drifted in rough weather that has hampered operations over the past week.

Weather was the "triggering factor" in the crash of AirAsia Flight 8501 with icing likely causing engine damage, Indonesian officials said, as rough seas Jan. 4 hampered the search for bodies and the sunken wreckage.

Indonesia's meteorological agency announced on Sunday that bad weather had been the triggering factor in the crash of AirAsia Flight 8501.

According to a preliminary report of the Indonesian meteorological agency, BMKG, as cited by the BBC News, icing may have caused the engine to stall.

BMKG claimed that the plane had probably flown into a storm.

Search teams hunting for the wreck of an AirAsia passenger jet that crashed with 162 people on board have found four large parts of the plane on the sea bed Search teams hunting for the wreck of an AirAsia passenger jet that crashed with 162 people on board have found four large parts of the plane on the sea bed, the head of Indonesia's search and rescue agency said on Jan. 3. 

Ships and aircraft criss-crossed the seas off Borneo on Jan. 2 hunting for the wreck of an Indonesia AirAsia passenger jet, but bad weather again hindered the search for the plane and the black box flight recorders that should reveal why it crashed.
   

Weather at the suspected site of the crash of AirAsia Indonesia's aircraft has improved enough on Friday to allow the deployment of two ships carrying acoustic equipment to detect the ‘pings' from the plane's cockpit voice and flight data recorders, international news outlets reported. 

Stormy weather forced Indonesian rescuers Dec. 31 to suspend their search for the bodies of 162 people aboard an ill-fated AirAsia plane, as investigators started trying to piece together why the flight plunged into the sea.

Indonesian search and rescue teams began recovering bodies of passengers from the disappeared AirAisa flight, reports The Guardian.

The operation started after officials confirmed the floating debris in the Java Sea was that of the missing flight QZ8501.