It's Rare For Planes To Crash When AirAsia's Did
Malyasia Arlines MH370, which vanished without a trace earlier this year, also went down well after it had left the runway and entered the "cruise" phase of flight.
Another Malaysia Arlines flight, MH17, was lost over Ukraine in July, presumable shot down by a missile. It, too, was at cruise altitude, but obviously the circumstances of the disaster were far different from those of QZ8501 and MH370.
Crashes when jetliners are at cruising altitude are rare. The riskiest times of any commercial airline flight are during takeoff and landing. Typically, the worst passengers can expect when cruising is some turbulence.
This is from Boeing's own FAQ on the topic of safety (AirAsia flight was actually an Airbus A320, but the safety statistics apply to all jumbo jet manufacturers):
From the perspective of aviation experts, this is what's most perplexing about both the MH 370 and QZ 8501 incidents: they happened when accidents aren't supposed to occur.