Published on 12:00 AM, January 30, 2015

Co-pilot was flying jet when it crashed

Co-pilot was flying jet when it crashed

The French first officer and co-pilot of AirAsia flight QZ8501 was controlling the plane in the last moments before it crashed into the sea off Indonesia, killing all 162 on board.
Captain Remi Plesel, 46, is believed to have been in charge from take-off until the cockpit voice recording, recovered from the Java Sea earlier this month, ends.
Plesel had 2,247 hours experience, according to a Bloomberg report last month, in comparison to his co-pilot captain Iriyanto, 53, who had clocked up more than 20,000.
Only 70 bodies have been recovered from the wreckage as divers have struggled to bring the fuselage to the surface, hampered by adverse weather conditions. Divers entered the wreckage last week but believe there are no more bodies to be found in the carcass of the plane.