AirAsia 8501 Captain Iriyanto Reportedly Left His Seat When Airbus A320 Crashed? ‘No indication That Captain Left Seat'

While investigators say there is no evidence to suggest that the AirAsia QZ 8501 pilot was not in his seat before the Airbus A320-200 plunged into the Java Sea, other reports said the pilot may have been looking into malfunctioning computer systems while the plane spiraled out of control after climbing at rapid speeds.

The AirAsia 8501 crash investigators also said there is no indication that the pilots turned the power off to computer devices ahead of the crash.

Rumors stating Captain Iriyanto was presumably not in his seat ahead of the crash began when two people familiar with the investigation told Reuters about the speculation.

"Up until today, there is no indication yet that the captain left his seat" as insinuated by reports. Up until today, there is no indication or evidence yet that the circuit breaker was pulled," National Transportation Safety Committee (NTSC) investigator Ertata Lananggalih said.

Bloomberg News also reported that pilots tried to reset the Flight Augmentation Computer (FAC) during the course of the flight. The report also suggested that the pilots may have pulled a circuit-breaker to stop power to the FAC.

According to the rakyatpost.com, there were more than 30 items on the agenda for the investigators to backtrack and the “FAC engagement and failure understanding” was one of the issues mentioned in a documented detailing the probe. Among the more general matters of interests were “wreckage recovery” and maintenance review. Another item on the list was linked to “pulling the circuit breaker.”

“This is .. just inventory. It is to make the investigation easier. There are maybe 40 or 35 things that have to be discussed.” “It is not just circuit breakers. This is the first plan…it could change again because of developments. This was prepared in the first week of the investigation.” NTSC Chief Tatang Kurniadi said.