Experts believe the ill-fated AirAsia flight QZ8501 may have made an emergency landing on water only to be overwhelmed by high seas before sinking.
Evidence found so far pointing to this theory includes the discovery of an emergency exit door and an inflatable slide, which may suggest the evacuation process had started.
The main fuselage, resting on the seabed, is also thought to be largely intact.
Passengers may have been waiting for flight crew to inflate a life raft when the plane was hit by high waves, says former transport minister Jusman Syafii Djamal.
"High waves may have hit the plane, the nose, and sunk the plane," he said.
Another aviation expert says the experienced captain, a former air force fighter pilot, brought the plane down onto the water which did not have a destructive impact.
"The pilot managed to land it on the sea’s surface," said Dudi Sudibyo, a senior editor of aviation magazine Angkasa.
"The emergency locator transmitter would work on impact, be that land or sea, and my analysis is it didn’t work because there was no major impact during landing,"
The plane which departed from Surabaya carrying 162 people to Singapore disappeared en route and so far 9 bodies have been recovered
Full details and the cause of the crash will remain a mystery until the black box flight recorder is recovered, which investigators said could take a week.
