AS THE air and rescue search for
missing Air Asia flight QZ8501 intensifies, tumultuous weather has
caused problems for search and rescue operations.
An Indonesian Transport Ministry official said the search was called off for the evening due to dark, cloudy conditions.
No Australians were believed to be on board the flight that went missing shortly after takeoff from Indonesia yesterday morning.
MSNBC TV reported the plane had may have attempted to pass over a sixty-thousand foot, level five thunderstorm before it went missing.
According to airliners.net, entering a level five storm means you’re liable to “hurt yourself”.
Planes from Indonesia and Singapore had been scouring an area of sea between Kalimantan and Java earlier, according to theBBCas Prime Minister Tony Abbott offered Australia’s support.
There were 155 passengers and seven crew on board the flight when it lost contact with air traffic control just after taking off from Indonesia on Sunday morning.
It had been due to land in Singapore around 11.30am AEDT.
The flight lost contact three minutes after request to deviate from flight plan. Reports indicate there was no distress call from the flight.
It comes as the CEO of AirAsia, Tony Fernandes, thanked the Indonesia, Signapore and Malaysian governments for their support in the search and said he put his “hope in the SAR operation”.
“Our priority is looking after all the next of kin for my staff and passengers. We will do whatever we can,” he said.
FAA licenced commercial pilot Anthony Roman told MSNBC it is likely the plane would have tried to go above the storm.
“This particular aircraft was attempting to override the thunderstorm”, he said,
“These type of thunderstorms can exceed the aircraft’s capability, they can actually grow upwards much faster than the aircraft can climb.
Mr Roman said the storms as seen by the one encountered by the flight “can take down this kind of aircraft”.
“Catastrophic hail can cause damage to the structural integrity, you can have such severe turbulence it exceeds the design limits of the aircraft.”
He said the plane “can be detected by radar, however it’s not an exact science.
“If there is severe hail in a storm, or a thunderstorm behind the first thunderstorm, the radar can be messed,” he said.
Greg Feith, former NTSB Investigator told MSNBC the weather would likely be the focal point in the investigation.
“While they’re still waiting to find debris, and the cockpit voice recorder, and the flight data recorder, there’s a lot of behind the scenes work going on to gather as much information as they can from the airline.
“What the crew knew, what information they used for flight planning purposes and, then of course, was there any communication between the crew and their dispatcher with regard to the deviation around this weather,” he said.
On Sunday, Prime Minister Tony Abbott offered has phoned Indonesian President Joko Widodo and offered an Australian plane to join the search for AirAsia QZ8501.
Mr Abbott told the Indonesian President a P3 Orion and crew had been placed on standby to assist with the mission.
Mr Widodo said he would order his Defence Minister to speak with Australian Defence Minister Kevin Andrews to determine if Australia would be required to assist.
He told Mr Abbott he was aware how much work Australia had done in the region, particularly with MH370.
Mr Abbott said Australia would do whatever “we humanly could” to assist.
Singapore authorities had also offered to help with a major search and rescue operation for the missing flight.
Airbus released a statement offering its full co-operation with the ongoing investigation into the flight which was travelling from Surabaya, Indonesia, to Singapore when it disappeared off the radar.
There were 155 passengers and seven crew on-board.
Unconfirmed reports suggest debris of a crashed plane may have been spotted near East Belitung.
Channel News Asia and reports that the flight may have crashed in waters about 80 to 100 nautical miles from Belitung.
The International Business Times reports local fishermen heard a loud bang over the area between 7am and 8am local time.
However there is no news from Air Asia to confirm the citing is possibly the missing QZ8501 flight.
Indonesia Transport Ministry official Hadi Mustofa said the aircraft lost contact with the Jakarta air traffic control tower at 6.17am local time.
It vanished just 42 minutes into the three-and-half-hour flight to Singapore.
He said the plane, an Airbus A320-200, had asked for an unusual route before it lost contact.
The plane requested a flight path change due to bad weather just before contact was lost, Air Asia has confirmed.
The pilot reportedly asked to increase its altitude from 32,000ft to 38,000 ft to “avoid clouds”.
The flight was due in Singapore around 11.30am AEDT.
CNN reported AirAsia now classified the incident as a search and rescue operation.
“At this time, search and rescue operations are being conducted under the guidance of the Indonesian Civil Aviation Authority,” AirAsia told CNN.
But the plane is still yet to be located.
The Singapore Rescue Coordination Centre (RCC), a conglomerate of air agencies including the country’s air force and navy, has offered support to Indonesia to help search for and locate the missing flight.
In a statement, Airbus said it regretted to confirm the A320-200 had gone missing.
The manufacturer said the twin-engine single-aisle aircraft could seat up to 180 passengers and came off the 2008 production line and had done 23,000 flight hours on around 13,600 flights.
“Airbus will provide full assistance to the French safety investigation authority, BEA, and to the authorities in charge of the investigation,” the statement said.
“Airbus will make further factual information available as soon as the details have been confirmed and cleared by the authorities.”
According to the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore, the
plane was more than 200 nautical miles south east from Singaporean
airspace at the time.
An Air Asia statement late this afternoon said there were 156 Indonesians, three South Koreans, and one each from Malaysia, Singapore and France on the flight which included flight crew.
Indonesia Transport Minister Ignasius Jonan told a media conference the plane went missing not far from the shoreline between Tanjung Pandan and Pontianak.
The search would begin there and then widen, the Minister said, before going to meet with families of those on-board.
Before the confirmation of the nationalities Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop said the Australian government was urgently seeking more details about the Air Asia flight.
Speaking to the Herald Sun, Ms Bishop said she had been in touch with the Australian Embassy in Jakarta and the High Commission in Singapore and her office was attempting to confirm if there were any Australians on board.
She told a news conference tonight Australia had offered to
assist in the search and rescue operation but hadn’t had a response yet
from Indonesia or Singapore.
Ms Bishop had also requested the manifest to see if there were any dual citizens or permanent residents on the flight.
A spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade added anyone who had concerns about the welfare of their Australian family and friends should contact its 24 hour Consular Emergency Centre on 1 300 555 135 (or +61 2 6261 3305 if calling from overseas.
The Singapore Airforce has sent two C-130 aircraft to aircraft’s last reported site, near Belitung Island in the Java Sea, according to The Daily Telegraph.
Visit news.com.au for more info.
An Indonesian Transport Ministry official said the search was called off for the evening due to dark, cloudy conditions.
No Australians were believed to be on board the flight that went missing shortly after takeoff from Indonesia yesterday morning.
MSNBC TV reported the plane had may have attempted to pass over a sixty-thousand foot, level five thunderstorm before it went missing.
According to airliners.net, entering a level five storm means you’re liable to “hurt yourself”.
Relatives of missing Air Asia QZ8501
passengers gather during a meeting with officials at the crisis centre
of Juanda International Airport Surabaya on December 28. Picture:
Robertus Pudyanto
Source: Getty Images
There were 155 passengers and seven crew on board the flight when it lost contact with air traffic control just after taking off from Indonesia on Sunday morning.
It had been due to land in Singapore around 11.30am AEDT.
The flight lost contact three minutes after request to deviate from flight plan. Reports indicate there was no distress call from the flight.
It comes as the CEO of AirAsia, Tony Fernandes, thanked the Indonesia, Signapore and Malaysian governments for their support in the search and said he put his “hope in the SAR operation”.
“Our priority is looking after all the next of kin for my staff and passengers. We will do whatever we can,” he said.
FAA licenced commercial pilot Anthony Roman told MSNBC it is likely the plane would have tried to go above the storm.
“This particular aircraft was attempting to override the thunderstorm”, he said,
“These type of thunderstorms can exceed the aircraft’s capability, they can actually grow upwards much faster than the aircraft can climb.
Mr Roman said the storms as seen by the one encountered by the flight “can take down this kind of aircraft”.
“Catastrophic hail can cause damage to the structural integrity, you can have such severe turbulence it exceeds the design limits of the aircraft.”
He said the plane “can be detected by radar, however it’s not an exact science.
“If there is severe hail in a storm, or a thunderstorm behind the first thunderstorm, the radar can be messed,” he said.
Former NTSB Investigator Greg Feith.
Source: Supplied
FAA licenced commercial pilot Anthony Roman.
Source: Supplied
“While they’re still waiting to find debris, and the cockpit voice recorder, and the flight data recorder, there’s a lot of behind the scenes work going on to gather as much information as they can from the airline.
“What the crew knew, what information they used for flight planning purposes and, then of course, was there any communication between the crew and their dispatcher with regard to the deviation around this weather,” he said.
On Sunday, Prime Minister Tony Abbott offered has phoned Indonesian President Joko Widodo and offered an Australian plane to join the search for AirAsia QZ8501.
A relative of the passengers of
AirAsia flight QZ8501 weeps as she waits for the latest news on the
missing jetliner at a crisis centre set up by local authority at Juanda
International Airport in Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia. Pic: AP
Photo/Trisnadi.
Source: AP
Mr Widodo said he would order his Defence Minister to speak with Australian Defence Minister Kevin Andrews to determine if Australia would be required to assist.
He told Mr Abbott he was aware how much work Australia had done in the region, particularly with MH370.
Mr Abbott said Australia would do whatever “we humanly could” to assist.
A letter from Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s office to President Joko Widodo of Indonesia.
Source: Supplied
Airbus released a statement offering its full co-operation with the ongoing investigation into the flight which was travelling from Surabaya, Indonesia, to Singapore when it disappeared off the radar.
There were 155 passengers and seven crew on-board.
Air Asia A320-200, the same model plane which has gone missing in Indonesia. (AP Photo/Joshua Paul)
Source: AP
Channel News Asia and reports that the flight may have crashed in waters about 80 to 100 nautical miles from Belitung.
The International Business Times reports local fishermen heard a loud bang over the area between 7am and 8am local time.
However there is no news from Air Asia to confirm the citing is possibly the missing QZ8501 flight.
Indonesia Transport Ministry official Hadi Mustofa said the aircraft lost contact with the Jakarta air traffic control tower at 6.17am local time.
It vanished just 42 minutes into the three-and-half-hour flight to Singapore.
He said the plane, an Airbus A320-200, had asked for an unusual route before it lost contact.
The plane requested a flight path change due to bad weather just before contact was lost, Air Asia has confirmed.
The pilot reportedly asked to increase its altitude from 32,000ft to 38,000 ft to “avoid clouds”.
The flight was due in Singapore around 11.30am AEDT.
CNN reported AirAsia now classified the incident as a search and rescue operation.
“At this time, search and rescue operations are being conducted under the guidance of the Indonesian Civil Aviation Authority,” AirAsia told CNN.
But the plane is still yet to be located.
The Singapore Rescue Coordination Centre (RCC), a conglomerate of air agencies including the country’s air force and navy, has offered support to Indonesia to help search for and locate the missing flight.
In a statement, Airbus said it regretted to confirm the A320-200 had gone missing.
The manufacturer said the twin-engine single-aisle aircraft could seat up to 180 passengers and came off the 2008 production line and had done 23,000 flight hours on around 13,600 flights.
“Airbus will provide full assistance to the French safety investigation authority, BEA, and to the authorities in charge of the investigation,” the statement said.
“Airbus will make further factual information available as soon as the details have been confirmed and cleared by the authorities.”
Relatives of passengers of AirAsia flight QZ8501 comfort each other at Juanda International Airport in Surabaya, Indonesia.
Source: AP
A relative of an Air Asia flight
QZ8501 passenger weeps as she waits for the latest news on the missing
jetliner at Juanda International Airport in Surabaya, Indonesia.
Source: AP
An Air Asia statement late this afternoon said there were 156 Indonesians, three South Koreans, and one each from Malaysia, Singapore and France on the flight which included flight crew.
Indonesia Transport Minister Ignasius Jonan told a media conference the plane went missing not far from the shoreline between Tanjung Pandan and Pontianak.
The search would begin there and then widen, the Minister said, before going to meet with families of those on-board.
Before the confirmation of the nationalities Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop said the Australian government was urgently seeking more details about the Air Asia flight.
Speaking to the Herald Sun, Ms Bishop said she had been in touch with the Australian Embassy in Jakarta and the High Commission in Singapore and her office was attempting to confirm if there were any Australians on board.
Search underway for missing AirAsia flight
An electronic sign board shows
information for AirAsia flight QZ8501 bound for Singapore International
Airport on December 28, 2014. Panicked family members have arrived at
Surabaya Airport seeking information.
Source: AFP
Ms Bishop had also requested the manifest to see if there were any dual citizens or permanent residents on the flight.
A spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade added anyone who had concerns about the welfare of their Australian family and friends should contact its 24 hour Consular Emergency Centre on 1 300 555 135 (or +61 2 6261 3305 if calling from overseas.
The Singapore Airforce has sent two C-130 aircraft to aircraft’s last reported site, near Belitung Island in the Java Sea, according to The Daily Telegraph.
Visit news.com.au for more info.
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