Indonesia appears to be closer to solving the mystery of AirAsia Flight 8501, which crashed into the Java Sea in late December, killing all 162 people on board. On Tuesday, Transportation Minister Ignasius Jonan said that according to data from the radar, "the plane, during the last minutes, went up faster than normal speed" — as fast as 6,000 feet per minute — and "after then, it stalled."
The pilots had requested permission to increase their elevation in their final message to flight control, but 6,000 feet per minute is an insane rate of elevation change for a commercial aircraft. It probably wasn't voluntary, aviation expert Mary Schiavo tells CNN. The night was stormy, and if the plane got caught in a strong updraft, the pilots would have been in nominal control of the plane "but may not have even realized what was occurring because of the confusing readings from the aircraft," she said. Watch Reuters' recap of Jonan's press conference below. —Peter Weber
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