Following the recovery of the two “black boxes” aboard the crashed AirAsia Flight QZ8501, a story on Yahoo! News reports that “Allahuakhbar, Allahuakhbar were the last words [the pilots] said before they died.” AirAsia Flight QZ8501, a flight out of Surabaya, Indonesia and bound for Singapore, took off early Sunday December 28, 2014 in what can only be described as violent weather. The pilots, amidst the storm, radioed in, asking air traffic control for permission to turn left and climb to a higher altitude to avert the storm. A little while later, the plane crashed into the Java Sea, taking the lives of all 162 of its crew and passengers on board.
Search teams began looking for traces of the aircraft upon discovering that it was missing, only to find debris and several bodies floating 60 to 120 miles from the aircraft’s last known location over the Java Sea. Of the 162 people on board, only 48 bodies have been recovered so far.
Soon after, the international search efforts continued, and according to Fox News, “three Indonesian ships detected two strong pings being emitted from their beacons, about 22 yards apart.” The strong currents and large waves hindered divers' efforts throughout the 17-day search, “but they took advantage of calmer early morning conditions on both days to extract the instruments.”
Nurcahyo Utomo, a two decade old investigator who knew the pilot personally, had this to say about the recordings that were recovered from the wreckage:
“Listening to the playback of a black box involved in a crash is not like listening to music or a discussion.
“We are listening to a recording that represents the last moments before the crash and it is disturbing. There are times where the investigators would get unnerved listening to the recording.”
In analyzing the recordings and listening to the last words of the pilots, words like “Allahuakhbar” being repeatedly stated, the investigators got goose bumps.
“It is as if we can feel them... Allahuakhbar, Allahuakhbar were the last words said before they died,” said Nucahyo.
As of this moment, it is unclear what the pilots intended when uttering a phrase often associated with radical Islamic terrorists, many of whom have uttered the phrase before committing their heinous acts of terror: “Allahuakhbar, Allahuakhbar.”
Perhaps, in repeating “Allahuakhbar,” a phrase that literally means “god is the greatest,” the pilots were merely calling out to their god in a time of great peril – a moment that they believed would be their last.
One thing is for sure, hearing these final words, this last conversation, is key to revealing what caused the AirAsia flight to crash.
"We will know what really happened from the conversations between pilot and co- pilot prior to the crash,” said Nucahyo.
And certainly, listening to and analyzing the recordings of the last moments of Flight QZ8501 will be a tough thing to do for Captain Iriyanto, a junior to the pilot who died on board the downed plane.
