After two failed attempts, Indonesian search personnel have resumed operations to bring up the fuselage for inspection.
Divers were able to enter the jet's hull for the first time. They reported finding wires floating like "spools of thread" and found bodies floating in the main part of the aircraft.
Questions are now being raised about the safe landings made by nearby claims. The Indonesian minister of Transportation is raising the question: "Why did AirAsia Flight QZ8501 crash into the sea while the seven other planes flying nearby eventually landed safely?"
In an interview with CNN, Ignasius Jonan asked why did the plane suddenly climb from 32,000 feet to almost 38,000 feet "without any information and any warning?" Human error was found to be a possibility in an earlier update provided by Indonesian authorities. The disappearance of the 8501 from the radar screen makes this question even tougher to answer.
One of the significant points raised by Mr. Jonan was that none of the planes flying near the Surabaya-Singapore route had requested a deviation due to bad weather. So, why did the QZ 8501 request for a higher altitude?
"Data provided by the Indonesian Transportation Ministry shows that less than three minutes after making that request, Flight QZ 8501 began climbing sharply, rising nearly 6,000 feet in less than a minute," CNN reported.
"The plane then fell rapidly and disappeared off radar in the middle of the Java Sea. That sequence of events is based on radar and transponder information, not on the contents of the plane's flight data recorder."