The aircraft crashed with its landing gear up, and all passengers had been prepared for an emergency, as they were strapped into their seats.[15] No distress calls were made prior to the crash.[2] Despite the struggles of both pilots to save the aircraft, it was later concluded that if they had just let go of the control column, the autopilot would have automatically taken action to prevent stalling, thus avoiding the accident.[16] There was no evidence of a technical failure in the plane.[4][17]