Report: Engine icing may have brought down AirAsia Flight 8501

Monday, January 5, 2015, 11:51 AM - As the search for the remains of missing AirAsia Flight 8501 continues in rough seas, the Indonesian authorities say a particular kind of icing may have been responsible for the plane's crash.

"The most probable weather phenomena is icing that can cause engine damage due to the cooling air," the report, released this week, reads, although its authors say it's not a final analysis of the accident. 

The report acknowledges that the aircraft, an Airbus A320-200, encountered severe weather and storms en route from Surabaya in Indonesia to Singapore.

The kind of icing blamed by the report for the plane's loss is rare (the Globe and Mail says around 200 instances of it have been reported over the past 25 years, out of countless thousands of flights).

In such cases, the core of the engine can become so thoroughly iced over that it slows or shuts down altogether, causing a loss of power.

The aircraft had 162 passengers and crew aboard when it went missing last weekend. The pilot had asked to raise the plane from 32,000 feet to 38,000 feet in a bid to avoid storm clouds, but permission wasn't granted before contact was lost.

Searchers have recovered 37 bodies so far, according to the Associated Press, some of which were still strapped into their seats.

The plane went down in an area of the Java Sea between Sumatra and Borneo, in waters that are relatively shallow. But the search, carried out by aircraft and ships from several nations, has been hampered by rough weather and stormy seas.

Debris has been recovered since the first days of the disaster, and on Monday, an Indonesian patrol craft captain told reporters the tail section of the aircraft has likely been located.

This is a crucial discovery, since the tail section houses the plane's black box recorder, which would allow investigators to piece together what caused the crash.

In the meantime, the disaster has sparked an aviation crackdown in Indonesia, to ensure all aircraft flying in the country are following the proper rules. That's after it emerged last week AirAsia Flight 8501 took off on a day it was not authorized to be flying.

With files from the Associated Press.