AirAsia flight 'made unbelievably steep climb before crash'

Radar data being examined by investigators appears to show the doomed AirAsia plane made an "unbelievably" steep climb before it crashed - possibly pushing it beyond the Airbus A320-200's limits, according to a source.

The data was transmitted before flight QZ8501 disappeared from the screens of air traffic controllers in Jakarta on Sunday, according to the unnamed source.

"So far, the numbers taken by the radar are unbelievably high. This rate of climb is very high, too high. It appears to be beyond the performance envelope of the aircraft," he said.

It comes as conflicting reports emerged yesterday over whether one of the bodies recovered from the sea was wearing a life jacket.

Tatang Zaenudin, an official with Indonesia's search and rescue agency, had initially said one of the bodies found had been wearing a life jacket.

But he later said no victim had been recovered with a life jacket on.

Rescuers believe they have found the plane on the ocean floor off Borneo, after sonar detected a large, dark object beneath waters near where debris and some bodies were found on the surface.