Australians flew on AirAsia plane with fault for one year before deadly crash

An Indonesia AirAsia plane that crashed into the Java Sea in 2014 killing all on board had carried thousands of Australian passengers while flying with a mechanical fault for the 12 months before the tragedy. Aviation experts were asked by Foreign Correspondent to track the plane 12 months before the crash while it had the mechanical fault. The details of the aircraft's flight path over that period have been uncovered with disturbing questions raised about the role of Indonesia's aviation regulator, including allegations of corruption. There are now calls for the Indonesian arms of AirAsia to be suspended from flying to Australia until they pass an international safety audit. Perth-based aviation expert Geoffrey Thomas said airlines like Qantas would never a fly a plane with that sort of defect. "I believe there's evidence around that some airlines that fly to Australia don't meet international standards and they should be banned," he said. "It's simply not good enough that you've got aeroplanes flying around with potentially catastrophic faults with them."<br/>