An AirAsia A320 with 162 on board reported missing

[KiwiElf]

Not much info available yet - just breaking on global News channels, An AirAsia (Indonesian) Airbus A320 aircraft with 162 on board has been reported missing on the way from Indonesia to Singapore. Apparently, it requested an unusual flight path change just before radio contact was lost.

Search & Rescue operation is in progress.

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/659978/...missing-report

[Flash]

Wow, not another one! and this time it will not be possible to blame it on Russia.

[cursichella1]

Would you believe, AirAsia is a budget Malaysian airline, of all things...

They were recently in the news for cancelling flights on their new route from Melbourne to Bali:

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/ho...27-12eac5.html

Holidaymakers have had travel plans thrown into disarray after budget airline AirAsia X cancelled direct flights from Melbourne to Bali with only days' notice.

The Malaysian budget airline was forced to cancel the flights after it failed to gain approval for the new route, which was due to start on December 26, from Australian and Indonesian aviation authorities.

This is despite the airline advertising and taking bookings for the direct flight as recently as this month.

Passengers received text messages on Christmas Day notifying them that flights from Boxing Day onwards had been cancelled and they would instead be flown to Bali via Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on a later flight.

[KiwiElf]

Yes, AirAsia (hence the name) includes other Asian affiliates (including Malaysian Airlines), operating from several Asian locations. (This particular one is based in Indonesia). Earlier this year (April) they were severely reprimanded for claiming "Our Pilots will never lose an airplane", in their Inflight magazine - (MH370 disappeared at around that time) - talk about bad Timing!

AirAsia X is their long distance "arm". This was a relatively short flight (no pun intended).

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/wo...e-9240760.html

[crosby]

keep the updates coming.....thank you so much....
warmest,
crosby

¤=[Post Update]=¤

Posted by Flash (here)
Wow, not another one! and this time it will not be possible to blame it on Russia.

Why would that not be a possibility Flash?
All information is relevant here, just curious......(not that I do not agree with you)

[amor]

Go to www cheniere.org/books/analysis/history.htm and read about scalar EM waves being used to down flying craft among other uses. Exmouth Tx Australia. scalar experimental station is close to Indonesia, first Flight 370, now this?

[Tesseract]

This is unconfirmed, but the below image shows the reported last known location of the aircraft:





This website gives a summary of previous A320 accidents including one that evidently involved the plane plunging into the sea:

http://www.airsafe.com/events/models/a320.htm

[cursichella1]

Flight was from Indonesia to Changi, Singapore. According to RT, contact was lost in between Kalimantan and Java

Some news reports are stating that it is an Indonesian airline, but according to RT, it is a "budget Malaysian airline". This below is from Wikipedia:

AirAsia Berhad (MYX: 5099) is a Malaysian low-cost airline headquartered near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. AirAsia group operates scheduled domestic and international flights to 100 destinations spanning 22 countries. Its main hub is klia2 at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA). Its affiliate airlines Thai AirAsia, Indonesia AirAsia, Philippines AirAsia, AirAsia Zest and AirAsia India have hubs in Don Mueang International Airport, Soekarno–Hatta International Airport, Ninoy Aquino International Airport and Kempegowda International Airport respectively. While its subsidiary, AirAsia X focusing on long-haul routes. AirAsia's registered office is in Petaling Jaya, Selangor while its head office is at Kuala Lumpur International Airport.



So, a regional carrier like American Eagle is to American Airlines...

[cursichella1]

An interesting tweet from someone called "FlightRadar24":

There were several aircraft nearby the area where signal from #QZ8501 was lost

Map showing nearby aircraft

(worth a visit...unable to upload pics lately...)

[Tesseract]

RT have published unconfirmed claims wreckage has been found east of Belitung Island:

Airplane wreckage has reportedly been found east of Belitung Island in Indonesia, according to CCTV. The information has not yet been confirmed by Air Asia.

http://rt.com/news/218155-missing-ai...light-updates/

[KiwiElf]

Yep, weather wasn't too good when they departed either... would be unusual to cause a crash tho, as it would have been at cruising altitude at that stage (ie somewhere between 35 - 40,000 ft). Flights are often rerouted due to bad weather - especially in the last few years. Nearby Malaysia has just experienced the worst flooding there in decades.

Am just retracing the weather at the time and location - there would have been some pretty massive & turbulent storms near that location, and the tops of the thunderheads would have been above their cruising altitude...

[naste.de.lumina]

QZ8501 flight history
Full flights and codeshare flights list of Indonesia AirAsia

http://www.flightradar24.com/data/fl...z8501/#5240449

[Tesseract]

Some proximal lightning strikes reported by WeatherBug (twitter)

Posted by KiwiElf (here)
Yep, weather wasn't too good when they departed either... would be unusual to cause a crash tho, as it would have been at cruising altitude at that stage (ie somewhere between 35 - 40,000 ft). Flights are often rerouted due to bad weather - especially in the last few years. Nearby Malaysia has just experienced the worst flooding there in decades.

Am just retracing the weather at the time and location - there would have been some pretty massive & turbulent storms near that location, and the tops of the thunderheads would have been above their cruising altitude...

[KiwiElf]

Confirmed... they would have begun experiencing severe storms & lightening approx 20-30 min into the flight (roughly halfway on their known flight track), mostly below and to the East of their flight path, right up to the point where they lost contact. Shortly after that, weather still bad but not so severe.

[Ellisa]

It's odd, but the weather sounds dangerous---- on the other hand I wonder who was aboard. The passenger list for the Malaysian plane that disappeared (forgotten the number!) made for interesting reading and was quietly ignored I felt. There were allegedly DOD personnel aboard. Also the second flight, presumed shot down, had prominent AIDS researchers on board.

I wonder- who will have been on board this time? There are still so many unanswered questions.

[KiwiElf]

Broad update:

https://nz.news.yahoo.com/a/-/top-st...plane-missing/

AirAsia confirms plane missing
Updated December 28, 2014, 6:44 pm

An AirAsia flight from Indonesia to Singapore has gone missing, the airline has confirmed.

AirAsia Indonesia said in a statement that flight QZ8501 from Surabaya to Singapore lost contact with air traffic control at 07:24hrs this morning.

"At the present time we unfortunately have no further information regarding the status of the passengers and crew members on board, but we will keep all parties informed as more information becomes available," it said.

The aircraft was an Airbus A320-200 with the registration number PK-AXC.

The flight took off from Juanda International Airport in Surabaya at 0535hours, an updated statement from AirAsia said.

There were two pilots, four flight attendants and one engineer on board.

The captain in command had a total of 6100 flying hours and the first officer a total of 2275 flying hours.

There were 155 passengers on board, including 138 adults, 16 children and 1 infant. Also on board were two pilots and five cabin crew.

Nationalities of passengers include 156 people from Indonesia, three people from South Korea, one person each from France, Malaysia and Singapore.

According to Aviation expert Geoffrey Thomas, flights such as QZ8501 must check-in with Air Traffic Control about five or six times during the flight.

AirAsia said in its statement that the aircraft was on the correct flight plan route and was requesting deviation [increase in altitude] due to weather conditions before communication with the aircraft was lost.

The aircraft had undergone its last scheduled maintenance on 16 November 2014, according to the statement.

AirAsia is working with search and rescue operations in a bid to find the plane.

The plane was due to land in Singapore at 8.30am.

The flight distance from Surabaya to Singapore is 1379km. It normally takes 1 hour and 50 minutes.

The flight had been due in Singapore at 8:30am Singapore time. The Singapore airport said on its website the status of the flight was "delayed".

The Australian Embassy in Jakarta and the Australian High Commission in Singapore are making urgent inquiries with local authorities and the airline to determine whether any Australians may have been on Air Asia flight QZ850 from Surabaya to Singapore, a spokesperson for Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) said.

Those concerned about the welfare of their Australian family and friends who were known to be travelling on this flight should contact the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s 24 hour Consular Emergency Centre on 1 300 555 135 or +61 2 6261 3305 (if calling from overseas).

The incident comes at the end of a disastrous year for Malaysia's airlines.

National flag carrier Malaysia Airlines lost two aircraft this year.

Its flight MH370 went missing on March 8th on a trip from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 passengers and crew on board.

On July 17, Flight MH17 was shot down over Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board.

AirAsia received backlash this year for publishing an article claiming their planes would "never get lost" after the disappearance of flight MH370 in March.

"Pilot training in AirAsia is continuous and very thorough. Rest assured that your captain is well prepared to ensure your plane will never get lost," the article read.

AirAsia insisted the article was written and published well before the disappearance of flight MH370.

"It truly saddens me that this article was released at such an inopportune moment," AirAsia Executive Chairman Kamarudin Meranun said at the time.

AirAsia has established an Emergency Call Centre that is available for family or friends of those who may have been on board the aircraft. The number is: +622129850801.

The airline will release further information as it becomes available.

AirAsia was formed in 2001 and encompasses Thai AirAsia, AirAsia Malaysia and Indonesia AirAsia.

[KiwiElf]

Posted by Ellisa (here)
It's odd, but the weather sounds dangerous---- on the other hand I wonder who was aboard. The passenger list for the Malaysian plane that disappeared (forgotten the number!) made for interesting reading and was quietly ignored I felt. There were allegedly DOD personnel aboard. Also the second flight, presumed shot down, had prominent AIDS researchers on board.

I wonder- who will have been on board this time? There are still so many unanswered questions.

At this stage Ellisa, the uncanny circumstances are similar to the disappearing MH370 (I think that's the one you mean): the plane has effectively and suddenly "disappeared" off radar, without a mayday or distress call. This one does however, show some very large and dangerous storms in the area. Such severe storm cells can reach right up to 65,000 feet, well above the aircraft's maximum altitude (which is around 41,000 ft). The Radar track indicated it was flying at 32,000 feet when the pilot requested an altitude increase. This wouldn't have been enough to get it over the storm cells at the time. Typically, that being the case, the pilots would deviate around the weather if they can't climb over it. This is largely for passenger comfort rather than a storm's ability to catastrophically damage the airplane (airplanes are tested for some pretty harsh treatment at the design stages to the point of destruction). It would have to be a really strong and rare storm which could destroy a modern aircraft like the Airbus A320.

Until the black boxes are found, it's largely speculation at this point. The bad weather is hampering the search and rescue efforts at the time, and the bad weather is extending right up to and beyond Singapore.

[Cidersomerset]

First media reports are echoing bad weather in the area, but early days yet
and planes fly thru or over bad weather all the time , so I hope they can
find the black box's on this plane if it has crashed as it seems.
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Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=uWJp2QfI5CY

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Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=3ffux6oTAsk

Published on 28 Dec 2014


AirAsia Flight QZ 8501 Goes MISSING SURABAYA - SINGAPORE INDONESIA.

AirAsia flight QZ8501 from Indonesia to Singapore missing

The BBC's Karishma Vaswani: "Some Indonesian transport officials
have been saying it requested a different route"
Continue reading the main story
Related Stories AirAsia airliner missing Live Plane 'wanted route change
' Watch 'Search mission launched' Watch

An AirAsia flight travelling from Indonesia to Singapore has lost contact with
air traffic control with 162 people on board.

Flight QZ8501 lost contact at 07:24 (23:24 GMT), Malaysia-based AirAsia tweeted.

Search and rescue operations are under way.

Malaysia's national carrier Malaysia Airlines has suffered two disasters this
year - flights MH370 and MH17 - but AirAsia has never lost a plane.

Flight MH370 disappeared on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in March
with 239 passengers and crew, and MH17 was shot down over Ukraine in
July, killing all 298 on board.

The AirAsia flight had been due to arrive in Singapore at 08:30 (00:30GMT).



===========================================================







28 December 2014 Last updated at 08:30

AirAsia flight QZ8501 from Indonesia to Singapore missing

The BBC's Karishma Vaswani: "Some Indonesian transport
officials have been saying it requested a different route"


An AirAsia airliner flying from Indonesia to Singapore with 162 people
on board has lost contact with air traffic control.

Flight QZ8501, an Airbus plane, went missing at 07:24 (23:24 GMT),
Malaysia-based AirAsia tweeted.

Indonesian military planes are searching an area of the Java Sea.

AirAsia, a budget airline, has never lost a plane, but Malaysia's national
carrier Malaysia Airlines has suffered two this year - flights MH370 and MH17.

The AirAsia plane disappeared about two hours into a three-hour flight.

It left the Indonesian city of Surabaya in eastern Java at 05:20 local time
(21:20 GMT) and was due to arrive in Singapore at 08:30 (00:30 GMT).

The missing jet had requested a "deviation" from the flight path due to
bad weather, the company said.

Indonesia's transport ministry said the pilot had asked permission to climb
to 38,000 ft (11,000m) to avoid thick cloud. No distress call is reported to
have been issued by the crew.

read more.......




http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-30614627

=================================================



AirAsia FLIGHT QZ8501 wreckage found off Belitung Island - reports

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=A9df3cOlxE8

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ALERT AirAsia Airbus A320 200 Flight QZ8501 Asked For Unusual Rout Before Losing Contact

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=1GvQQ6QFrOY

[KiwiElf]

Update: (Reverse Chronology - important findings so far in bold type, purple type are my comments)

http://rt.com/news/218155-missing-ai...light-updates/

11:42 GMT:

The search for the AirAsia plane has been suspended for the night and will be resumed tomorrow, Indonesian officials say.

11:40 GMT:

AirAsia Indonesia has updated information on the nationality of passengers and crew of the missing plane, adding a UK citizen to the list and confirming a Frenchman was part of the crew. AirAsia estimates there were 162 people on board, despite the transport ministry having said earlier there were 161.

11:10 GMT:

Flight QZ5801 dispatch information has been made public. It shows the plane took off with 8,296 kg of fuel, substantially more than the planned consumption for the flight - 5211 kg. (NOTE: This is the MS Media getting its facts wrong - again!: all aircraft must legally carry a minimum "reserve" of 45 mins additional fuel OR enough fuel to get to a planned diversionary airport over and above what will be used to get to the destination, which may include returning to the point of origin - KE)

10:22 GMT:

Singapore, Malaysia and Australia have offered Indonesia help in the search for missing flight QZ8501. Malaysia is sending vessels and a C130 aircraft while Singapore is also sending a C130, officials said, as cited by Reuters.

10:01 GMT:

No wreckage of flight QZ5801 has been found, an Indonesian Navy official told the BBC. He added weather conditions were poor in the search area.

09:58 GMT:

A British national was on board missing AirAsia flight QZ8501, according to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO).

"We have been informed by the local authorities that one British national was on board. Their next of kin has been informed, and we stand ready to provide consular assistance," an FCO official said.


09:44 GMT:

Malaysia Airlines, which lost two of its Boeing jumbo jets earlier this year, empathizes with AirAsia.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with all family and friends of those on board QZ8501,” Malaysia airlines said on Twitter.

09:30 GMT:

The missing aircraft, an A320-200, was delivered to AirAsia in October 2008 and had since “accumulated approximately 23,000 flight hours during some 13,600 flights,” says an official statement by Airbus. The company has promised to assist in the investigation of the plane’s disappearance.

09:00 GMT:

It’s been more than eight hours since contact was lost with AirAsia flight QZ8501. The plane only had fuel for 4.5 hours.

08:57 GMT:

Indonesian national search and rescue radars haven’t detected signals from the emergency location transmitter, says Sutrisno, the head of Basarnas, the national agency in Jakarta, as cited by Detik.com. The transmitter becomes operational once a plane is struck from outside or falls into the water. Either the plane managed to land smoothly or the transmitter was defective, the official says.

[Debra]

Dutchsinse offers evidence that the plane landed! ????

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=mzTrwbUOhhg