Indonesian investigators say crew action caused a loss of control and the stalling of an AirAsia passenger jet that crashed into the Java Sea last year, killing all 162 aboard.

The plane's flight control computer had a cracked solder joint that malfunctioned repeatedly, including four times during the flight, and 23 times the previous year.

The Airbus A320 aircraft crashed less than halfway into a two-hour flight from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore on December 28 last year.