Plane crash killed 162 after pilot accidentally turnoff Autopilot

AN Air Asia passenger jet that killed 162 people was triggered by a faulty computer - which led crew to accidently turn off the jet's autopilot system.

The pilots then lost control of the aircraft which plunged in to the Jave sea.

Flight QZ8501 crashed in bad weather on December 28 during a flight from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore.

The Airbus A320 crash sparked an international search.

The bodies of 56 victims were never recovered.

The report is the result of a year-long investigation.

Officials said the fault to the plane's rudder control system made it send warning alerts to the pilots repeatedly.

It was a pre-existing fault known to AirAsia maintenance crew.

The pilots responded to the warning alerts by resetting the system - a method used previously to address the fault.

This however caused the autopilot system to disengage, and the plane began to roll to the left.

The pilots were unable to right the aircraft, which stalled and then crashed.