AirAsia plane with 162 on board missing en route to Singapore

Animalize · Dec 29, 2014

Australian plane spots objects in sea in AirAsia search area

Dec. 29, 2014 2:45 AM EST

SURABAYA, Indonesia (AP) — An Indonesian official says objects have been spotted in the sea by a search plane hunting for the missing AirAsia jet.

Jakarta's Air Force base commander Rear Marshal Dwi Putranto says he was informed Monday that an Australian Orion aircraft had detected suspicious objects near Nangka island, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) southwest of Pangkalan Bun, near central Kalimantan, or 700 miles (1,120 kilometers) from the location where the plane lost contact.

"However, we cannot be sure whether it is part of the missing AirAsia plane," Putranto says, "We are now moving in that direction, which is in cloudy conditions."

Animalize · Dec 29, 2014

Family member claims receiving text message missing plane safe, says report

The Malaysian Insider – Sun, Dec 28, 2014

airasia_qz8501-indonesia-basarnas-surabaya-281214-afp.jpg

As authorities scramble to find out what happened to AirAsia flight QZ8501, so far believed to have crashed in the waters of Belitung, an Indonesian news portal Detik.com reported that there might still be hope.

It reported from Surabaya that a family of a missing passenger received a glimmer of hope via a Blackberry Messenger (BBM) text.

The portal quoted Intan, the sister of passenger Martinus Djomy as saying: "Kabarnya mendarat darurat di Belitung Timur, semua selamat. Tapi kita tetap butuh kepastian."

(We got word that that the plane made an emergency landing in Belitung Timur, everyone is safe. But we still need to be sure.)

Intan said she learned about this from a friend who sent her the text message via BBM.

Her brother Martinus was travelling to Singapore with his wife, child and babysitter.

Detik.com reported that the piece of information was passed on to the authorities at the crisis centre in Juanda.

The news portal added that unfortunately, there remains no confirmation from relevant authorities whether the information was accurate or otherwise.

In a separate story, Detik.com also quoted Nasional Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) Jakarta chief Sutrisno as saying that the agency's radar did not detect the flight's Emergency Locator Transmitter (ELT).

He said the ELT would go off if there was impact or if the plane had gone under water.

"If the plane landed smoothly on water, it wouldn't have gone off, unless the device was not working. It didn't go off so Basarnas doesn't know its position now," Detik quoted him as saying.

There are 155 passengers and seven crew members aboard the Singapore-bound jet, which had lost contact with the Surabaya air traffic control after it flew out of the east Java city at 5.20am Indonesian time. It was due to land at 8.30am Singapore time.

Indonesian nationals make up 156 of the 162 onboard, with the rest comprising three South Koreans, one Malaysian, one Singaporean and one French.

Earlier this afternoon, reports quoted a National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) official from Pangkalpinang, Supriandi, that the missing Airbus A320 was believed to have crashed at the location 03.22.46 South and 108.50.07 East, in waters around 80 to 100 nautical miles from Belitung.

Antara news agency reported that a rescue team had been despatched to Belitung.

It was reported that the missing flight had circled over the sea near Belitung to avoid a storm before it experienced severe turbulence and crashed into the ocean, reports said. – December 28, 2014.

Animalize · Dec 29, 2014

Debris in sea not related to missing jet

Following the press conference with the Indonesian vice president, Jusuf Kalla, the understanding is now that the debris spotted by an Australian search plane is unrelated to the missing AirAsia jet. This from AFP quotes him as saying:

“It has been checked and no sufficient evidence was found to confirm what was reported.”

Kalla said there were 15 ships and 30 aircraft searching the area. “It is not an easy operation in the sea, especially in bad weather like this,” he said.

Indonesian Air Force spokesman Hadi Tjahjanto told AFP the search was now focused on a patch of oil spotted off Belitung island in the Java Sea.

“We are making sure whether it was avtur (aviation fuel) from the AirAsia plane or from a vessel because that location is a shipping line,” he said.

Australia, Singapore and Malaysia have deployed planes and ships to assist in the Indonesian search for Flight QZ8501, which disappeared over the Java Sea on Sunday en route to Singapore.

Here is a updated map showing the area currently being searched by sea and by air.

Animalize · Dec 29, 2014

Indonesia says missing AirAsia plane could be at 'bottom of sea'

By Gayatri Suroyo and Fergus Jensen
SURABAYA, Indonesia/JAKARTA Mon Dec 29, 2014 7:49am EST

(Reuters) - A missing AirAsia jet carrying 162 people could be at the bottom of the sea after it was presumed to have crashed off the Indonesian coast, an official said on Monday, as countries around Asia sent ships and planes to help in the search.

The Indonesia AirAsia plane, an Airbus A320-200, disappeared after its pilot failed to get permission to fly higher to avoid bad weather during a flight from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore on Sunday.

Flight QZ8501 did not issue a distress signal and disappeared over the Java Sea five minutes after requesting the change of course, which was refused because of heavy air traffic, officials said.

"Based on our coordinates, we expect it is in the sea, so for now (we think) it is on the sea floor," Soelistyo, head of Indonesia's search and rescue agency, told reporters when asked about the missing plane's likely location.

A senior Indonesian civil aviation source told Reuters that authorities had the flight's radar data and were waiting for search and rescue teams to find debris before they started their investigation into the cause.

Transport Minister Ignasius Jonan said the search was focused on an area 70 nautical miles square between the island of Belitung, off Sumatra, and Borneo island.

He said the sea was only 50 to 100 meters deep in the area, which would be a help in finding the plane. Ships were hunting around the clock but aircraft would suspend their operations at dusk, he added.

Air force spokesman Hadi Tjahjanto said searchers were checking a report of an oil slick off Belitung. Searchers had picked up an emergency locator signal off the south of Borneo but no subsequent signal was found, he said.

On board Flight QZ8501 were 155 Indonesians, three South Koreans, and one person each from Singapore, Malaysia and Britain. The co-pilot was French.

The disappearance caps a disastrous year for Malaysia-affiliated airlines, with Indonesia AirAsia 49 percent owned by Malaysia-based budget carrier AirAsia.

Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 went missing on March 8 on a trip from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 passengers and crew and has not been found. On July 17, the same airline's Flight MH17 was shot down over Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board.

The AirAsia group, including affiliates in Thailand, the Philippines and India, had not suffered a crash since its Malaysian budget operations began in 2002. The group's shares in Kuala Lumpur closed 8.5 percent lower.

ANGER GROWING

Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla, visiting relatives of people on the flight in Surabaya, told reporters the search by 30 ships and 15 aircraft, about halfway between Surabaya and Singapore, was being hampered by bad weather.

Anger was growing among about 100 relatives at a crisis center at the airport in Indonesia's second-largest city.

"We only need clear information every hour on where they are going," said Franky Chandra, who has a sibling and three friends on the flight, referring to the search teams.

"We've been here for two days but the information is unclear. That's all we need."

Australia, Malaysia, Singapore and South Korea have sent ships and aircraft to join the search, and China offered to send planes and ships and any other help Indonesia needs.

Soelistyo said Indonesia might not have the best technology to search underwater and had accepted offers of help from the United States, Britain and France.

In 2007, it took Indonesia months to recover flight data recorders from a Boeing 737-400 operated by Indonesia's Adam Air which crashed off Sulawesi island, killing all 102 on board.

Flight QZ8501 was traveling at 32,000 feet (9,753 meters) and had asked to fly at 38,000 feet to avoid clouds.

Permission was not given at the time due to traffic in the area. Five minutes later, at 6.17 a.m. on Sunday (2317 GMT Saturday), the plane lost contact with air traffic control, transport officials said.

Data from Flightradar24.com, which tracks airline flights in real time, showed several nearby aircraft were at altitudes ranging from 34,000 to 36,000 feet at the time, levels that are not unusual for cruising aircraft.

Pilots and aviation experts said thunderstorms, and requests to gain altitude to avoid them, were not unusual in that area.

"The airplane's performance is directly related to the temperature outside and increasing altitude can lead to freezing of the static radar, giving pilots an erroneous radar reading," said a Qantas Airways pilot with 25 years' experience flying in the region.

The resulting danger is that pilots take incorrect action to control the aircraft, said the pilot, who requested anonymity.

WAS PLANE CLIMBING TOO SLOWLY?

Online discussions among pilots centered on unconfirmed secondary radar data from Malaysia that suggested the missing plane was climbing at a speed of 353 knots, about 100 knots too slow in such weather conditions.

"At that altitude, that speed is exceedingly dangerous," Sydney-based aviation expert Geoff Thomas told Reuters.

"At that altitude, the thin air, the wings won't support the aircraft at that speed and you get an aerodynamic stall."

Safety authorities say accidents involving a loss of control, such as might occur in bad weather, are rare but almost always catastrophic.

The Indonesian pilot was experienced and the plane last underwent maintenance in mid-November, the airline said. The aircraft had accumulated about 23,000 flight hours in some 13,600 flights, according to Airbus.

Malaysia AirAsia chief Tony Fernandes flew to Surabaya and, along with Indonesian officials, updated relatives at the crisis center at the airport.

"My heart bleeds for all the relatives of my crew and our passengers. Nothing is more important to us," he said on Twitter.

(Additional reporting by Chris Nusatya, Cindy Silviana, Kanupriya Kapoor, Michael Taylor and Siva Govindasamy in JAKARTA, Al-Zaquan Amer Hamzah and Praveen Menon in KUALA LUMPUR, Saeed Azhar, Rujun Shen and Anshuman Daga in SINGAPORE, Jane Wardell in SYDNEY, Ben Blanchard in BEIJING, and Tim Hepher in PARIS; Writing by Dean Yates and Paul Tait; Editing by Robert Birsel and Mike Collett-White)

Animalize · Dec 29, 2014

Family of 10 Misses ill-Fated AirAsia Flight

World | Agence France-Presse | Updated: December 29, 2014 16:50 IST

Christianawati with her family. (Photo credit: The Age )

Jakarta: An Indonesian family of 10 said on Monday that they had a miraculous escape when they arrived too late to catch AirAsia Flight QZ8501, which went missing shortly after take-off en route to Singapore.

Christianawati, 36, said the 10 of them, who included her family, her mother and her younger brother's family, were heading to Singapore to celebrate New Year.

The six adults and four children were originally booked on the 7:30 am flight but AirAsia moved them to Flight QZ8501 scheduled for two hours earlier.

"They emailed and called us on December 15 and 16 to inform us but we missed those calls," Christianawati said.

"So we arrived at the airport to check in for the 7:30am flight but were told our flights had been rescheduled to 5:30am and we were late. Of course we were angry," she said.

"While the new tickets were being reissued, we heard that the earlier plane had crashed so we cancelled our flights immediately," she said.

"I was shocked to hear about it and cried. Maybe it is all God's plan that my family and I were not on the flight. It was a blessing in disguise," she said.

"I hope that the plane is found and everyone is safe."

Christianawati said she would be switching airlines.

"We travel to Singapore twice a year and always by AirAsia. We consider it a safe airline ... but now our confidence in AirAsia is somewhat shaken and we shall just stick to Garuda Indonesia," she said.

Animalize · Dec 30, 2014

Viral: AirAsia Flight QZ8501 Pilot's Daughter Tweets Asking Father to Return Home

By Johnlee Varghese December 29, 2014 16:04 IST

A message posted by the daughter of the AirAsia pilot Captain Iriyanto urging her father to come home soon has gone viral.

airasia-pilot-captain-iriyantos-daughter-angela-ranastianis-posted-this-image-twitter-urging-her.jpg

AirAsia pilot Captain Iriyanto's daughter Angela Ranastianis posted this image on Twitter urging her dad to come home soon. Twitter

Angela Ranastianis, the teenaged daughter of Iriyanto, sent out a heartbreaking message on Twitter that reads: "My twins, my hero, my everything.Papa come back. I still need you. Return my papa to me. Papa come back, we have to meet."

Along with the message, Angela also posted a picture with him in happier days. Angela is Captain Iriyanto's older daughter. He also has a son, much younger than Angela.

Relatives of the pilot, who was flying the ill-fated AirAsia flight QZ8501, remember him as a "caring man."

Captain Iriyanto was the chief pilot, who along with a French pilot, First Officer Remi Emmanual Plesel, was flying the AirAsia flight QZ8501 when the air traffic control lost contact with the plane.

Captain Iriyanto's nephew Doni told Indonesian news portal Detik.com that the pilot was a very helpful person, The Malaysian Insider reports. "He is always ready to help people as he is a very caring person. If there is a sick relative who needed help and even money, my uncle would be there," he said. "If there are money problems in the family, he would surely help."

A BBC report citing a close friend of the pilot noted that he was a "very talented and very professional." As per the details released by AirAsia, Captain Iriyanto had clocked 6,100 hours of flying time, while his first officer Plesel had logged 2,275 hours.

The search for AirAsia Indonesia flight QZ8501 resumed early Monday morning. The Airbus A320-200 went missing with 162 people on board over the Java Sea early on Sunday en route to Singapore from Surabaya, Indonesia.

The pilots had requested a course change due to bad weather but were denied. The air traffic control soon lost contact with the plane and reports claim the plane had not sent any distress signal before disappearing.

There were 155 passengers on board, with 138 adults, 16 children and one infant. Also on board were the two pilots and five cabin crew members.

Animalize · Dec 30, 2014

'See you in the new year and goodbye forever': Chilling last call from missing AirAsia passenger to a friend who changed his flight two weeks ago

The man cancelled his booking on flight QZ8501 two weeks ago
But his two friends and their family members were on board
The devastated man broke down on live TV while waiting anxiously at Juanda International Airport
The AirAsia plane went missing after departing from Indonesia
The pilot contacted Jakarta Air Traffic Control at 6.12am to ask to deviate from the flight path due to 'bad weather' but lost contact at 6.17am

By Sarah Dean for Daily Mail Australia
Published: 00:07 GMT, 29 December 2014 | Updated: 09:53 GMT, 29 December 2014

The distraught friend of two passengers on board missing AirAsia flight QZ8501 has revealed his last chilling exchange with them before they boarded the plane.

The man, who did not give his name, told Channel News Asia he was also meant to be on the flight from Indonesia to Singapore but changed his booking just two weeks earlier.
‘I have two friends onboard and they went with five family members.

‘This morning before I went to pray, one of them called me and jokingly said: “See you in the new year and goodbye forever.” And now, there’s this bad news,’ he said.

The distraught friend of two passengers on board missing AirAsia flight QZ8501 broke down on TV

The devastated man broke down on live TV while waiting anxiously at Juanda International Airport in Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia, for any information about the plane.
AirAsia flight QZ8501 lost contact with air traffic control as it flew over Indonesia at about 6.17am local time, a short time after the pilot asked to deviate from the flight path due to 'bad weather'.

The flight departed Surabaya, in Indonesia, on Sunday at 5.30am local time, and was scheduled to land at Changi Airport, in Singapore, at 8.30am (Singapore local time).

'I hope for a miracle and that God may save them all. I should have gone with them but I cancelled it two weeks ago as I had something to do,’ he told Channel News Asia.

Relatives of missing Air Asia QZ8501 passengers cry at the crisis centre of Juanda International Airport in Surabaya

Indonesia called off the search until first light after the Airbus 320-200 carrying 155 passengers and seven crew, lost contact with Jakarta air traffic control at 6:17 a.m

AirAsia confirmed there were 155 passengers on board - including 138 adults, 16 children and one infant

Louise Sidharta's fiance was on board the missing AirAsia flight

Many family and friends have gathered at Juanda Airport to learn about their loved ones onboard the missing flight.

AirAsia confirmed there were 155 passengers on board - including 138 adults, 16 children and one infant - and also stated there were two pilots, four flight attendants and one engineer on board.

Nationalities of passengers and crew onboard are one Singaporean, one Malaysian, one British, one French, three South Koreans and 155 Indonesians.

The scenes of anguish were reminiscent of those in March 2014, when Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 lost contact with air traffic control several hundred miles north of Singapore. No trace of the aircraft has been found.

The pilot of QZ8501 has been named as Captain Iriyanto, while the co-pilot is believed to be Frenchman Remi Emmanual Plesel. A picture of Captain Iriyanto has been posted on social media by his daughter Angela Ranastianis and his nephew praised him as 'a very caring person'.

The last communication between QZ8501's pilot and air traffic control was when he requested to increase his altitude to 34,000 feet due to bad weather

The pilot of QZ8501 has been named as Captain Iriyanto

Animalize · Dec 30, 2014

2 SAJC BOYS ARE ON MISSING FLIGHT AIRASIA QZ8501

Post date: 29 Dec 2014 - 12:42pm

[photo credit: The Straits Times]

As news of the passengers on the missing flight AirAsia QZ8501 trickle out, more news of passengers with Singapore links are being told.

Nico Giovanni, 18, is a student at the St Andrew's Junior College (SAJC). He was flying with his family from Surabaya, Indonesia, to Singapore yesterday.

Nico, who is Indonesian, is currently on a Singapore Ministry of Education scholarship. He had also studied at Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) and was going into his second year at SAJC.

"The college is in contact with Nico’s relatives and our thoughts and prayers are with them. We are also providing support to our students," SAJC principal Mrs Lee Bee Yann told The Straits Times.

"Nico is very reserved. He is hard-working and respectful," a friend of Nico, who wanted to be known only as Michael, said.

Michael also said that Nico came to Singapore to study at the Secondary 3 level at ACS (I). He is good at maths and science.

Nico was travelling with his parents and a brother. His sister is believed to be waiting for news of them at Changi Airport's Terminal 2.

Another SAJC student, Malaysian Tony Tan Wei Chew, 19, who had graduated, was also on the missing flight. He was going on a holiday with his parents to Beijing.

A friend of another passenger is now in shock, after the latter had jokingly said, "Goodbye forever".

The friend, in his 20s, told Indonesia's TV One on Sunday, that he was initially supposed to join his friends for the holiday but cancelled it two weeks ago because he became busy.

"I have two friends who were with five family members. Yes, I planned to spend (New Year's Day) in Singapore actually. I hope for a miracle and may God save them all. I should have gone with them but I cancelled it two weeks ago as I had something to do," he said, as he broke down in tears.

"This morning, before I went to pray, one of them called me and jokingly said: 'See you in the new year and goodbye forever'. That's all and then the bad news came."

Animalize · Dec 30, 2014

AirAsia flight QZ8501: Biology teacher from Hwa Chong Institution among passengers

Published on Dec 29, 2014 2:48 PM

Ms Florentina Maria Widodo from Indonesia was listed No. 135 on the passenger list issued by the airline on Sunday. -- PHOTO: FLORENTINA WIDODO/FACEBOOK

Mr Andy Paul Chen, whose girlfriend Florentina Maria Widodo was on the missing plane. -- ST PHOTO: NG SOR LUAN

By Pearl Lee And Danson Cheong

SINGAPORE - A 26-year-old biology teacher from Hwa Chong Institution (HCI) is on board the missing AirAsia QZ8501 flight.

Ms Florentina Maria Widodo, from Indonesia, is affectionately known to family and friends as Tina. She teaches A-level biology at the school. Her name is listed as No. 135 on the passenger list issued by the airline on Sunday.

Her Singaporean boyfriend, Mr Andy Paul Chen, was at the Changi Airport on Monday afternoon to travel to Surabaya, Indonesia.

"She is my girlfriend. I'm going there now to meet her family members," he told reporters in Mandarin.

He was accompanied by his parents and looked to be in shock.

Ms Widodo and Mr Chen were both from the National University of Singapore, and were members in the university's guitar ensemble.

Ms Widodo reportedly graduated from the National Institute of Education last year.

Mr Chen took to Facebook on Sunday to inform friends and family members that Ms Widodo was among the passengers on board the aircraft.

Ms Widodo's father, who is named as FY Widodo on Facebook, also posted a photo of himself and his daughter on Facebook.

Animalize · Dec 30, 2014

AirAsia flight QZ8501: Maid had gone home to attend wedding

Published on Dec 29, 2014 1:03 PM

The middle-aged woman who told reporters at Changi Airport that she was Ms Yuni's agent. -- ST PHOTO: NG SOR LUAN

By Danson Cheong

SINGAPORE - She had gone home a month ago for the wedding of a family member and was supposed to return to Singapore on Sunday on Indonesia AirAsia Flight QZ8501.

Ms Yuni Astutik, 40, was an Indonesian domestic worker who had been working in Singapore for four years, said a middle-aged woman who told reporters at Changi Airport this morning that she was Ms Yuni's agent.

The domestic worker was one of the 162 crew and passengers on board the flight which went missing en-route to Singapore on Sunday morning. There were 155 Indonesians, one Singaporean, one Malaysian, one French, one British and three South Koreans on board.

The woman, who was clutching a stack of documents, including Ms Yuni's photocopied passport, said she was at the airport to pass immigration and employment documents to Ms Yuni's employer.

The woman was hurried away by auxiliary police officers and Ms Yuni's employer into the holding area before she could give her name or maid agency.

"She was married and she had children back in Indonesia," said the agent.

[email protected]

Animalize · Dec 30, 2014

Indonesia seeks U.S. help to find missing plane: U.S. State Department

WASHINGTON Mon Dec 29, 2014 7:22pm EST

(Reuters) - Indonesia has formally asked the United States for help in locating the AirAsia jet carrying 162 people that went missing on Sunday, the U.S. State Department said on Monday.

"Today we received a request for assistance locating the airplane, and we are reviewing that request to find out how best we can meet Indonesia's request for assistance," State Department spokesman Jeff Rathke told a regular news briefing.

The U.S. Defense Department said the details of the request were still being coordinated but "could include some air, surface and sub-surface detection capabilities."

"We stand ready to assist in any way possible," Pentagon spokesman Mark Wright said in a statement.

Rathke said the Indonesian request was made via a diplomatic note to the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta. He declined to give details of the request.

"Our embassy, of course, is focused on finding ... ways to be responsive. Of course, we've been in close contact with Indonesian officials since the disappearance of the plane," Rathke added.

The Indonesia AirAsia plane, an Airbus A320-200, disappeared after its pilot failed to get permission to fly higher to avoid bad weather during a flight from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore on Sunday.

The head of Indonesia's search and rescue agency said earlier on Monday the missing jet could be at the bottom of the sea after it was presumed to have crashed off the Indonesian coast.

(Reporting by David Brunnstrom, Lesley Wroughton and Peter Cooney; Editing by Susan Heavey and Christian Plumb)

Animalize · Dec 30, 2014

Indonesia expands search for missing AirAsia jet, U.S. sends warship

By Gayatri Suroyo and Fergus Jensen
SURABAYA, Indonesia/JAKARTA Mon Dec 29, 2014 7:54pm EST

Family members of passengers onboard AirAsia flight QZ8501 react at a waiting area in Juanda International Airport, Surabaya, Indonesia, December 28, 2014. REUTERS-Beawiharta

(Reuters) - Countries around Asia on Tuesday stepped up the search for an AirAsia plane carrying 162 people that is presumed to have crashed in shallow waters off the Indonesian coast, with Washington also sending a warship to help find the missing jet.

Soelistyo, head of Indonesia's search and rescue agency, told local television the search area between the islands of Sumatra and Borneo would be expanded. The air force said authorities would investigate an oil spill sighted on Monday.

Authorities would also begin scouring islands in the area as well as land on Indonesia's side of Borneo. So far the focus of the search has been the Java Sea.

The Airbus A320-200 operated by Indonesia AirAsia lost radar contact in poor weather on Sunday morning during a flight from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore. The plane could be at the bottom of the sea, Soelistyo said on Monday.

What happened to Flight QZ8501, which had sought permission from Indonesian air traffic control to ascend to avoid clouds, is still a mystery.

Online discussions among pilots have centered on unconfirmed secondary radar data from Malaysia that suggested the aircraft was climbing at a speed of 353 knots, about 100 knots too slow in poor weather, and that it might have stalled.

Around 30 ships and 21 aircraft from Indonesia, Australia, Malaysia, Singapore and South Korea would search around 10,000 square nautical miles on Tuesday, officials said.

They said the sea there was only 50 to 100 (150 to 300 feet) meters deep, which would be a help in finding the plane, which was carrying mainly Indonesians.

The U.S. military said the USS Sampson, a guided missile destroyer, would be on the scene later on Tuesday.

The U.S. Defense Department said assistance to Indonesia "could include some air, surface and sub-surface detection capabilities".

"We stand ready to assist in any way possible," Pentagon spokesman Mark Wright said.

China's Defence Ministry said it had sent a warship to the South China Sea and planes "have begun preparatory work" for search operations.

FALSE ALARMS

There have been no confirmed signs of wreckage so far.

Officials said one of the possible oil slicks seen on Monday turned out to be a reef and that while searchers had picked up an emergency locator signal off the south of Borneo no subsequent signal was found.

The plane, whose engines were made by CFM International, co-owned by General Electric and Safran of France, lacked real-time engine diagnostics or monitoring, a GE spokesman said. Such systems are mainly used on long-haul flights and can provide clues to airlines and investigators when things go wrong.

The plane's disappearance comes at a sensitive time for Jakarta's aviation authorities, as they strive to improve the country's safety reputation to match its status as one of the airline industry's fastest growing markets.

It also appears to be a third air disaster involving a Malaysian-affiliated carrier in less than a year, further denting confidence in that country's aviation industry and spooking air travelers across the region.

Indonesia AirAsia is 49 percent owned by Malaysia-based budget carrier AirAsia.

Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 went missing on March 8 on a trip from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 passengers and crew and has not been found. On July 17, the same airline's Flight MH17 was shot down over Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board.

NO SIGN OF FOUL PLAY

On board Flight QZ8501 were 155 Indonesians, three South Koreans, and one person each from Singapore, Malaysia and Britain. The co-pilot was French.

U.S. law enforcement and security officials said passenger and crew lists were being closely examined but so far nothing significant had turned up and that the incident was still regarded as an unexplained accident.

The plane, which did not issue a distress signal, disappeared after its pilot failed to get permission to fly higher because of heavy air traffic, officials said.

Pilots and aviation experts said thunderstorms, and requests to gain altitude to avoid them, were not unusual in that area.

"The airplane's performance is directly related to the temperature outside and increasing altitude can lead to freezing of the static radar, giving pilots an erroneous radar reading," said a Qantas Airways pilot with 25 years' experience flying in the region.

The resulting danger is that pilots take incorrect action to control the aircraft, said the pilot, who requested anonymity.

The Indonesian pilot was experienced and the plane last underwent maintenance in mid-November, the airline said.

The AirAsia group, including affiliates in Thailand, the Philippines and India, had not suffered a crash since its Malaysian budget operations began in 2002.

At a crisis center at the airport in Surabaya, Indonesia's second-largest city, anger grew among about 100 relatives.

"We only need clear information every hour on where they are going," said Franky Chandra, who has a sibling and three friends on the flight, referring to the search teams.

"We've been here for two days but the information is unclear. That's all we need."

(Additional reporting by Wilda Asmarini, Fransiska Nangoy, Cindy Silviana, Kanupriya Kapoor, Michael Taylor, Nilufar Rizki and Siva Govindasamy in JAKARTA, Al-Zaquan Amer Hamzah and Praveen Menon in KUALA LUMPUR, Saeed Azhar, Rujun Shen and Anshuman Daga in SINGAPORE, Jane Wardell in SYDNEY, Ben Blanchard in BEIJING, Tim Hepher in PARIS and Mark Hosenball, David Brunnstrom and Lesley Wroughton in WASHINGTON; Writing by Dean Yates; Editing by Michael Perry)

Animalize · Dec 30, 2014

AirAsia flight QZ8501: final communications from pilot of missing plane revealed

Date December 30, 2014 - 6:36AM

Michael Bachelard
Indonesia correspondent for Fairfax Media

Surabaya: The final communications between the pilot of ill-fated flight QZ8501 and air traffic control have been revealed as Indonesian naval vessels moved late last night to check new reports of an oil slick in the search zone.

The strain meanwhile has begun to show on some families, who expressed frustration with AirAsia's chief executive Tony Fernandes and the chief pilot in closed meetings on Monday.

Family members of QZ8501 passengers wait for news at the crisis centre in Surabaya. Photo: Getty Images

Indonesian state navigation operator AirNav said late on Monday that the Airbus 320-200 captain, Iriyanto, had requested permission at 6.12am local time on Sunday to turn left to avoid a storm.

The request was granted and the plane turned left seven miles. The captain then requested to be able to climb saying: "Request to higher level," according to AirNav standards and safety director Wisnu Darjono, as quoted by the Jakarta Post.

The air traffic controller responded: "Intended to what level?", to which Iriyanto indicated he wanted to go to 38,000 feet.

The search for the missing plane continues. Photo: Reuters

But there were six planes in the area at the time, another AirNav spokesman said, so, after consulting with the destination airport, Changi in Singapore, air traffic control told QZ8501 it could only go to 34,000 feet.

"But when we informed the pilot of the approval at 6.14am, we received no reply," Mr Wisnu said.

According to earlier timelines, all communication between the plane and Jakarta was lost three minutes later, and at 6.18am, it went off the radar entirely.

Iriyanto, captain of the missing AirAsia flight: Photo: Path

Indonesian search and rescue agency chief Henry Bambang Soelistyo said yesterday the plane was likely "at the bottom of the sea".

Indonesian navy vessel Pattimura was late last night making its way to a location near Bangka Belitung Island to check reports from an Indonesian air force plane of an oil slick on the ocean.

It was one of a number of leads in the search zone on Monday, one of which came from an Australian PC-3 Orion dispatched from Darwin in a different part of the rescue area, closer to Kalimantan.

Khairunisa Haidar Fauzi, a trainee flight attendant on the missing plane. Photo: AFP

Indonesian Transport Minister Ignasius Jonan said ships had checked that area out and had found nothing, and vice-president Jusuf Kalla said nothing conclusive had been drawn from the Australian aircraft's report. Australian Defence officials referred all queries to Indonesia.

A list released by the Indonesian search and rescue agency on Monday shows five helicopters, 10 fixed-wing aircraft (including two Australian Orions — one possibly on standby only), and 16 ships have joined the search.

At Surabaya airport, some of the relatives of the 162 people on the flight began to express anger at AirAsia executives over answers they considered inadequate. Relatives wanted to know why the departure time of QZ8501 had been brought forward from 7.20am to 5.20am on Sunday. They were told it was just a routine change.

Some were seen gesticulating during a closed meeting with Mr Fernandes, and parents said outside that they did not know why, in the face of such bad weather, the flight had not been delayed or cancelled.

"It seems like the answer to a lot of the questions asked is just repeating 'We lost contact'," said Z. Effendy the uncle of 20-year-old trainee flight assistant Khairunisa Haidar Fauzi.

"The replies were just to humour us," said the missing woman's father, Haidar Fauzi. "They give you the answer they think you want to hear just to keep you calm."

Both men said they still hoped for the best, but were realistic enough to expect the worst: "We knew the risk our daughter was taking with this job, so we're prepared," Mr Haidar told Fairfax Media.

Animalize · Dec 30, 2014

AirAsia Flight QZ8501: the people on board the missing plane

Date December 30, 2014 - 2:59PM
Misa Han and Megan Levy

Ruth Natalia Puspitasari and Bob Hartanto Wijaya, in a photo taken from Facebook. Photo: Facebook

A young couple in love, a passionate pilot, and a businessman travelling with his two-year-old daughter were among those on board on the ill-fated AirAsia flight QZ8501.

AirAsia confirmed the missing aircraft had 155 passengers on board, including 16 children and one infant. The aircraft also had seven crew: two pilots, four cabin crew and one engineer. The airline said there were 149 Indonesian passengers on board, three South Koreans, one Briton, one Singaporean, and one Malaysian.

British businessman Chi Man Choi, in a photo taken from his LinkedIn page. Photo: LinkedIn

The final communications between the pilot Captain Iriyanto and air traffic control have been revealed as Indonesian naval vessels moved late on Monday night to check new reports of an oil slick in the search zone.

Meanwhile, relatives of the passengers and crew on board the plane waited anxiously at the crisis centre that has been set up at Surabaya airport in Indonesia.

Ruth Natalia Puspitasari and Bob Hartanto Wijaya

Ruth Natalia Puspitasari and her boyfriend Bob Hartanto Wijaya were among 149 Indonesian nationals who were on ill-fated QZ8501.

The pair were on a flight to Singapore with Mr Wijaya's family to celebrate the New Year.

Ms Puspitasari and Mr Wijaya met at Petra Christian University in Surabaya, the city where the flight had taken off.

Chi Man Choi

The British businessman had been travelling with his two-year-old daughter Zoe. He was on the missing AirAsia plane because there was no room on an earlier flight. His wife Mei-yi Wee and his five-year-old son Luca had been waiting at Changi airport.

Mr Choi worked for a French electricity and transportation company Alstom Power. He lived in Singapore but he worked in Indonesia, where he is a managing director of thermal services.

South Korean missionaries

Seong-beom Park, 37, his wife Kyung-hwa Lee, 36, and baby Yuna were a missionary family living in Indonesia, but they were travelling to Singapore to renew their visas. They were originally from a fishing village 280 miles south of Seoul. Yuna, 11 months old, is believed to be the youngest passenger on board.

Rémi Emmanuel Plesel

French national Mr Plesel was a co-pilot on the missing AirAsia flight. By the time of the incident, AirAsia said he clocked up 2275 hours of flying with the airline.

His sister, Renee Plesel, told French radio station RTL that "aviation was his passion.

"Since he was very young, it was his dream to be a pilot and the dream came true. He had been in Indonesia for three years ... He was a very good pilot, an excellent one," she said.

Renee said she was realistic about her chances of seeing her brother alive.

"When a plane falls out of the sky, there are hardly any survivors."

The co-pilot's mother, Rolande Peronet-Plesel, told rolling news channel BFMTV that she received the call every parent dreads at 3am, from her son's girlfriend.

"She told us that the plane Remi was flying had gone down.

"I'm waiting but we're used [to planes going down] and not finding people. They have never found the last plane that went down in the same place," she said, in an apparent reference to missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, which disappeared in March.

Herumantu Tanus, Indahju Liangsih, Nico Giovanni, Justin Giovanni

Student Chiara Natasya Tanus had been eagerly awaiting the arrival of her family in Singapore so they could spend the holidays together.

Now, the 15-year-old is clinging to the hope that they could still be alive.

Her father, Herumantu Tanus, 46, mother Indahju Liangsih, 46, and brothers Nico Giovanni, 17, and Justin Giovanni, nine, were all on board missing AirAsia Flight QZ8501.

Chiara told Malaysia's The Star newspaper that she left Surabaya for Singapore two months ago to complete her high school studies.

"It was supposed to be the best time in Singapore as we were planning to spend the rest of the holidays together," she said.

"I was so excited. I was looking forward to showing my dormitory to my family and we were planning for a holiday in Singapore."

A woman at Surabaya who gave her name as Nana said she had worked for the family for 18 years.

"I took care of the children since they were babies," she said, sobbing.

Natalina Wuntarjo

Natalina Wuntarjo, 33, had been planning to fly to Singapore and on to Malaysia for a short holiday before returning home for New Year's Eve, which she planned to spend with her family.

Her mother, Djun Ik, told the Jakarta Post that Natalina worked in a restaurant in Surabaya and was a "good woman".

"My own instincts didn't give me a sense of foreboding, of something bad, when Natalina said goodbye," Ms Ik said.

"She left home in a rush saying that she had just been informed by the airline that her flight to Singapore had been moved forward to around 5am local time from the scheduled 7am.

"I will keep waiting for my daughter here, no matter what her condition is."

Alain Oktavianus

Louise Sidharta, 25, was on her way to the airport in Surabaya when she heard on the radio that an AirAsia plane had disappeared.

She knew her fiancé, Alain Oktavius, 27, his parents and three brothers were on an earlier flight that day. She was due to meet them in Singapore for a holiday in Singapore before their wedding next year.

When she landed in Changi airport later that afternoon, she learned her fiance and his family were on the missing flight.

"We had planned to marry in May next year," Ms Sidharta told Bloomberg. "We are not thinking negatively right now. We are only having positive thoughts."

Florentia Maria Widodo

The 26-year-old biology teacher was supposed to return to Singapore after visiting her family in Indonesia.

On Monday, her Singaporean boyfriend Andy Paul Chen was waiting at Changi Airport to travel to Surabaya to meet Ms Widodo's family.

The couple met at the National University of Singapore and both were members of the university's guitar ensemble, according to The Straits Times.

"She is my girlfriend. I'm going there now to meet her family members," Mr Chen said.

Sii Chung Huei

The only Malaysian national on board the missing AirAsia flight is the husband of a Malaysian university lecturer, reports Bernama news agency.

The Universiti Teknologi Mara in Sarawak said in a statement on Monday that the passenger, Sii Chung Huei, was the husband of Associate Professor Annie Wong Muk Ngiik, a senior lecturer at its faculty of business and management.

"My deepest sympathies are with Assoc Prof Annie Wong, and the families and friends of all other passengers and crew members on AirAsia Indonesia flight QZ8501 at this difficult time," the university's Professor Datuk Dr Jamil Hamali said.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with all the passengers and crew. May they all return home safely soon," he said.

Tour guide and 20 passengers

Bambang Andreas, the father of one of the missing Indonesian passengers, said his daughter was leading a tour group of 20 passengers, Malaysian Insider reported.

The group had been planning to fly to Singapore and then on to Malaysia, he said.

"I never had any bad feelings. She was always taking guests overseas," he said of his daughter, while waiting at Surabaya airport.

"We were here yesterday. We want to know the latest as updates come in."

Kevin Alexander Soetjipto, and family

Monash University student Kevin Alexander Soetjipto, originally from Malang in Indonesia, is listed on the flight manifest released by Indonesian authorities as having checked in to seat 6A on flight QZ8501 on Sunday.

Cindy Clarissa Soetjipto, who is listed as his sister on Facebook, is recorded on the manifest as sitting in seat 6C on the flight. Another person with the same surname, Rudy, was sitting in between the two in 6B.

Mr Soetjipto was living in Australia on a student visa.

His Facebook profile shows he was enrolled at the Clayton campus in a commerce course. It also shows pictures of him enjoying time out from his studies on a sightseeing trip to New Zealand.

With agencies

Animalize · Dec 30, 2014

'Wreckage' in sea from AirAsia flight QZ8501 : chief

Yahoo7 and Agencies
December 30, 2014, 6:23 pm
<object id="flashObj" classid="clsid :biggrin:

Hope in AirAsia search: 'Wreckage' spotted in sea

An AFP photographer on the search flight that spotted the possible debris said he had seen objects in the sea resembling a life raft, life jackets and long orange tubes.

Indonesian air force official Agus Dwi Putranto told reporters:

“We spotted about 10 big objects and many more small white-coloured objects which we could not photograph.”

“The position is 10 kilometres from the location the plane was last captured by radar," he said.

Putranto displayed 10 photos of objects resembling a plane door, emergency slide, and a square box-like object.

An AFP photographer said he "spotted about 10 big objects and many more small white-coloured objects which we could not photograph". Photo: AFP/Twitter

"It is not really clear... it could be the wall of the plane or the door of the plane," he said.

"Let’s pray that those objects are what we are really trying to find,” he said in Pangkalan Bun in Central Kalimantan on the island of Borneo.

AirAsia flight QZ8501 disappeared on Sunday morning over the Java Sea with 162 people on board.

The search is focused on waters around the islands of Bangka and Belitung in the Java Sea , across from Kalimantan.

More planes are in the air and more ships on the sea today hunting for AirAsia Flight 8501 in a widening search off Indonesia that has dragged into a third day without any solid leads.

Two small planes have been sent to an island within the search area where a fire was reportedly detected, according to CNN and CBS.

Animalize · Dec 30, 2014

Indonesia: Bodies found near site where plane disappeared

Indonesian officials say bodies spotted near site where AirAsia plane disappeared

Associated Press – 1 hour 17 minutes ago

SURABAYA, Indonesia (AP) -- Indonesian officials coming off a helicopter in Pangkalan Bun say they spotted several bodies floating in waters near where the missing AirAsia flight was last seen.

The bodies were brought to an Indonesian navy ship.

Animalize · Dec 30, 2014

Indonesia finds bodies, debris in search for missing jet - official

By Fergus Jensen | Reuters – 46 minutes ago

2014-12-30T084210Z_1_LYNXMPEABT07K_RTROPTP_2_INDONESIA-AIRPLANE.JPG

Navy soldiers check an helicopter on the deck of KRI Sultan Hasanuddin-366 warship before joining in search operations for AirAsia flight QZ8501 at Batuampar port in Batam, December 29, 2014 in this photo taken by Antara Foto. REUTERS/Joko Sulistyo/Antara Foto

By Fergus Jensen

JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesian rescuers saw bodies and luggage off the coast of Borneo island on Tuesday and officials said they were "95 percent sure" debris spotted in the sea was from a missing AirAsia plane with 162 people on board.

Indonesia AirAsia's Flight QZ8501, an Airbus AIR.PA A320-200, lost contact with air traffic control early on Sunday during bad weather on a flight from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore.

Pictures of floating bodies were broadcast on television and relatives of the missing gathered at the crisis centre in Surabaya were shown weeping, their heads in their hands.

Media quoted an air force official earlier as saying one suspected body, luggage and a life vest were among the debris in the Java Sea.

"As we approached, the body seemed bloated," said First Lieutenant Tri Wibowo, who was on board a Hercules aircraft, was quoted by the Kompas.com website as saying.

Search and Rescue Agency chief Soelistyo told reporters he was "95 percent sure" the debris was from the missing plane.

Djoko Murjatmodjo, acting director general of air transportation at the transportation ministry, told reporters some of the debris spotted was red and white, AirAsia's colours.

"It's probably from the aircraft," he said.

About 30 ships and 21 aircraft from Indonesia, Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea and the United States were searching up to 10,000 square nautical miles on Tuesday.

The plane, which did not issue a distress signal, disappeared after its pilot failed to get permission to fly higher to avoid bad weather because of heavy air traffic, officials said.

Pilots and aviation experts said thunderstorms, and requests to gain altitude to avoid them, were not unusual in that area.

The Indonesian pilot was experienced and the plane last underwent maintenance in mid-November, the airline said.

Online discussion among pilots has centred on unconfirmed secondary radar data from Malaysia that suggested the aircraft was climbing at a speed of 353 knots, about 100 knots too slow, and that it might have stalled.

DISASTERS

The plane, whose engines were made by CFM International, co-owned by General Electric GE.N and Safran SAF.PA of France, lacked real-time engine diagnostics or monitoring, a GE spokesman said.

Such systems are mainly used on long-haul flights and can provide clues to airlines and investigators when things go wrong.

Three airline disasters involving Malaysian-affiliated carriers in less than a year have dented confidence in the country's aviation industry and spooked travellers across the region.

Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370 went missing on March 8 on a trip from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 passengers and crew on board and has not been found. On July 17, the same airline's Flight MH17 was shot down over Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board.

On board Flight QZ8501 were 155 Indonesians, three South Koreans, and one person each from Singapore, Malaysia and Britain. The co-pilot was French.

U.S. law enforcement and security officials said passenger and crew lists were being examined but nothing significant had turned up and the incident was regarded as an unexplained accident.

Indonesia AirAsia is 49 percent owned by Malaysia-based budget carrier AirAsia AIRA.KL.

The AirAsia group, including affiliates in Thailand, the Philippines and India, had not suffered a crash since its Malaysian budget operations began in 2002.

India is waiting to know what went wrong with the missing plane and will investigate if AirAsia India is following all safety procedures, a senior Indian aviation ministry official told Reuters. AirAsia India, a joint venture of the Malaysian carrier, started flying this year and is expanding operations.

The plane's disappearance comes at a sensitive time for Indonesia's aviation authorities, as they strive to improve the country's safety reputation to match its status as one of the airline industry's fastest growing markets.

Animalize · Dec 30, 2014

Indonesia: Bodies found near site where plane disappeared

Dec. 30, 2014 3:26 AM EST

A relative of passengers of the missing AirAsia flight QZ8501 prays at the crisis center at Juanda... Read more

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesian officials on Tuesday spotted six bodies from the AirAsia flight that disappeared two days earlier, and recovered three of them, in a painful end to the aviation mystery off the coast of Borneo island.

The bodies were found in Java Sea waters about 10 kilometers (6 miles) from Flight 8501's last communications with air-traffic control. The plane with 162 people on board disappeared Sunday on its way from Surabaya, Indonesia to Singapore after encountering storm clouds.

The three recovered bodies, swollen but intact, were brought to an Indonesian navy ship, National Search and Rescue Director SB Supriyadi told reporters in the nearest town, Pangkalan Bun. The corpses did not have life jackets on.

Images on Indonesian television showed a half-naked bloated body bobbing in the sea. Search and rescue teams were lowered on ropes from a hovering helicopter to retrieve corpses.

As family members of the plane's passengers sat together in a waiting room at the Surabaya airport, they watched the graphic details on television. Many screamed and wailed uncontrollably, breaking down into tears while they squeezed each other. One middle-aged man collapsed and was rushed from the room on a stretcher.

The discovery came after several pieces of red, white and black debris were spotted in the Java Sea near Borneo island.

AirAsia group CEO Tony Fernandes tweeted, "My heart is filled with sadness for all the families involved in QZ 8501. On behalf of AirAsia my condolences to all. Words cannot express how sorry I am."

Animalize · Dec 30, 2014

More than 40 bodies retrieved in AirAsia search: Indonesian navy

AFP News – 33 minutes ago

An Indonesian warship recovered more than 40 bodies from the sea Tuesday in the search for the AirAsia jet, a navy spokesman told AFP.

"Based on the navy radio, it has been reported that the warship Bung Tomo has retrieved 40 bodies and the number is growing. They are very busy now," Manahan Simorangkir said.

Animalize · Dec 30, 2014

AirAsia plane with 162 on board missing en route to Singapore

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