AirAsia plane with 162 on board missing en route to Singapore

[Animalize]

Indonesian navy locates AirAsia tail section likely to contain black boxes

Patrol vessel locates what the captain said could be the tail of the missing AirAsia jet, the section where the crucial black box voice and flight data recorders are located

PUBLISHED : Monday, 05 January, 2015, 6:05pm
UPDATED : Monday, 05 January, 2015, 6:47pm

Reuters in Pangkalan Bun

A piece believed to be part of the tailplane from AirAsia Flight 8501 is shown at the Indonesian Navy's Eastern Fleet Naval Base in Surabaya. Photo: AP

An Indonesian naval patrol vessel found on Monday what the captain said could be the tail of the missing AirAsia jet, the section where the crucial black box voice and flight data recorders are located.

Ships and aircraft seeking debris and bodies from the Airbus A320-200 widened their search area to allow for currents eight days after Flight QZ8501 plunged into the water en route from Indonesia’s second-biggest city Surabaya to Singapore with 162 people on board.

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“We found what has a high probability of being the tail of the plane,” Yayan Sofyan, captain of the patrol vessel, told reporters. However, the Indonesian search and rescue agency is yet to confirm the discovery.

Indonesia’s meteorological agency has said seasonal tropical storms probably contributed to the December 28 crash and the weather has persistently hampered efforts to recover bodies and find the cockpit voice and flight data recorders that should explain why the plane crashed into the sea.

The main focus of the search is about 90 nautical miles off the coast of Borneo island, where five large objects believed to be parts of the plane - the largest about 18 metres long – have been pinpointed in shallow waters by ships using sonar.

Peter Marosszeky, a senior aviation research fellow at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, said the weather was squarely to blame for the delay in finding the black box recorders, which are designed to emit pings that can be detected by sonar for a month after a crash.

Parts of AirAsia QZ8501 recovered from the Java Sea are offloaded from a US Navy helicopter in Pangkalan Bun. Photo: Reuters

“The seas haven’t been very friendly, but the black boxes have a 30-day life and they will be able to find them, particularly in the shallow waters,” he said. “It’s the weather that is causing the delay.”

Indonesia AirAsia, which is 49 per cent owned by Malaysia-based budget carrier AirAsia, has come under pressure from authorities who have suspended its Surabaya-Singapore licence, saying the carrier only had permission to fly the route on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

Flight QZ8501 took off on a Sunday.

It was not immediately clear what difference, if any, the day of the week had on the December 28 flight, and Djoko Murjatmodjo, acting director general of air transportation, made clear that the investigations of the route and the crash were separate.

“Please differentiate between the probe into flight licenses and the air crash investigation,” he said, adding, however, that any other airline that flew on a day it did not have permission to do so would have its licence frozen.

“AirAsia is clearly wrong because they didn’t fly at a time and schedule that was already determined,” Murjatmodjo told reporters. “...we hope to finish investigation soon on whether anything went wrong.”

A joint statement from Singapore’s civil aviation authority and Changi Airport Group said that AirAsia had the necessary approvals to operate a daily flight between Surabaya and Singapore.

Nine ships from four countries have converged on the crash site area, with teams of divers including seven Russian experts standing ready, but strong winds and four-metre high waves have kept progress agonisingly slow.

Rescue crews carry a body bag containing victim of the AirAsia crash at Iskandar Air Force Base, Pangkalan Bun. Photo: Xinhua

Thirty-four bodies of the mostly Indonesian passengers and crew have so far been recovered, including some still strapped in their seats. Many more may be still trapped in the body of the aircraft.

The crash was the first fatal accident suffered by the AirAsia budget group, whose Indonesian affiliate flies from at least 15 destinations across the sprawling archipelago.

 

[Animalize]

Indonesia AirAsia violated flight route rules: Transportation Ministry

Senin, 5 Januari 2015 20:47 WIB

Photo document of Indonesia AirAsia flight QZ 8501 registered code PK-AXC. (indoflyer.net)

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Director General of Air Transportation confirmed that Indonesia AirAsia had violated flight route rules agreed by both parties.

"Based on the foreign airlines permit for the winter period 2014-2015 for the Surabaya to Singapore route communicated to AirAsia via letter number AU/008/30/6/DRJU/DAU on October 24, 2014, AirAsia had proposed flights on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays (day code: 1,2,4, 6)," Djoko Murdjatmodjo, Indonesias acting director general of air transportation, remarked in a press conference here on Monday.

However, Djoko noted that AirAsia flight QZ8501 was operated on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays (day code: 1,3,5,7).

"Based on our identification, Indonesia AirAsia has violated flight path rules because the airline did not have a license to fly the Surabaya to Singapore route on Sundays. Therefore, the ministry has suspended Indonesia AirAsia flights on the Surabaya-to-Singapore route," he emphasized.

Djoko confirmed that AirAsia had submitted a request to operate on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.

"We had agreed to AirAsias request," he said.

He explained that AirAsia should submit an official schedule, which was given to the origin and destination airports, and should be immediately adjusted to the slot accordingly.

If the days are not suitable, then the airline must apply for a revision regarding its operations with the directorate general of air transportation, he added.

"But, until now, the revised petition has yet to be submitted to us. So, the schedule was not considered a problem," he stated.

During the summer period, Djoko admitted that AirAsia had followed a daily schedule by operating on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays on the Surabaya-Singapore route

"Has the revised schedule for the winter period been reported to Singapore? AirAsia should also be questioned about it," he noted.

Regarding the flight slots, Djoko clarified that Indonesia and Singapore had already provided seven days for AirAsia through the information given by the Indonesian Slot Coordinator (IDSC) for domestic slots and Garuda Indonesia for international slots.

However, he explained that Indonesia AirAsia had permission to fly the Surabaya-Singapore route on four days a week, and the provision was determined based on the request submitted by the airline.

"Before applying for the permit, the airline must have slot permission, and it must fit between the departure and arrival times. Then, the license is issued. This must be agreed by both parties," he remarked.

Djoko explained that the conveyance rights are stipulated in the agreement of bilateral relations, and Singapore Air did not require the authorization of the Indonesian civil aviation authorities.

Regarding surveillance of airport authorities on the operator, Djoko will conduct an audit of the related parties involved in the negligence.

"We will investigate the negligence and check the role of the airport authority," he said.

Earlier, a Japanese ship and helicopter that joined the Indonesian search and rescue operations for the AirAsia QZ8501 flight will move to the search area on Tuesday.

The Japanese Embassy stated in a press statement here on Monday that the helicopter belonging to the Japanese Self Defense Forces (JSDF) will depart from Pangkalan Bun, Central Kalimantan, to the JSDF ship already deployed in the waters of Karimata Strait.

The search and rescue operations have entered the ninth day on Monday. On Sunday, the rescuers found four dead victims of the ill-fated AirAsia flight QZ8501.

As of Sunday evening, the number of bodies already retrieved from the crash site had reached 34. All of them have been flown to Surabaya, East Java, for the identification process by the Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) team.

(Uu.A063/INE/KR-BSR/A014)

 

[Animalize]

AirAsia QZ8501 victims` families offered visit to search site: Moeldoko

Senin, 5 Januari 2015 20:52 WIB

Surabaya, E Java (ANTARA News) - Indonesian Military Commander General Moeldoko has offered the families of AirAsia flight QZ8501 crash victims an opportunity to visit the search and evacuation site in a bid to provide solace to the grieving kin.

"I offer and welcome them if they want to visit the location. This is what we can do to help the families to help allay their grief," General Moeldoko remarked here on Monday.

Military Commander General Moeldoko visited the crisis center at the East Java Police headquarters in Surabaya, East Java, to meet and offer his condolences to the families of AirAsia flight QZ8501 crashs victims.

He explained that his decision to offer the families a view of the search site was purely based on humanitarian grounds, and he had no intentions to impose it on them.

General Moeldoko said the Indonesian Military will provide Hercules C-190 and CN-295 aircraft to carry the families from Juanda Airport, East Java, to Pangkalan Bun, Central Kalimantan.

From Pangkalan Bun, they will visit the central search site of AirAsia flight QZ8501 on board a marine military vessel.

"We welcome all the families to visit, and we will prepare the departure soon. One more time, maybe we can ease their grief through this way," he affirmed.

Moeldoko also confirmed that his personnel will partake in the search and evacuation operations of AirAsia flight QZ8501 in accordance with the National SAR Agency (Basarnas) as the coordinator.

The Indonesian Military has currently deployed seven marine vessels: Bung Tomo-357, Yos Sudarso-353, Rengat-711, Sultan Hasanuddin-366, Sungai Gerong-906, Usman Harun-359, and Frans Kaisiepo-368.

The Usman Harun-359 and Frans Kaisiepo-368 vessels were deployed in the search location on Sunday (Jan. 4) to reinforce the operations team and also to replace the Bung Tomo-357 vessel, which had joined the operations since December 29, 2014.

Besides the marine vessels, the Indonesian Air Force has also deployed two C-130 Hercules aircraft, a Boeing 737 Surveillance aircraft, and two Super Puma helicopters to search for the missing AirAsia flight QZ8501.

 

[Area51]

AirAsia QZ8501 victim family learnt of fate through 'selfie' taken aboard doomed flight

Haunting image taken aboard flight QZ8501 as it prepared for takeoff emerges as Indonesia's navy says it has found an object that is "probably" the tail of the missing plane

A picture on a mobile phone shows Hendra Gunawan Sawal onboard AirAsia flight QZ8501 Photo: AFP/Getty

By Andrew Marszal, and Jonathan Pearlman, Jakarta
2:27PM GMT 05 Jan 2015

The family of a victim of the AirAsia crash learnt of their loved one’s fate after being sent a “selfie” he had taken on board the doomed flight.

The haunting image, taken aboard flight QZ8501 as it prepared for takeoff, emerged as Indonesia’s navy said it has found an object that is “probably” the tail of the missing plane, raising hopes that the remaining bodies and the plane’s black box will soon be recovered.

A cheerful-looking Hendra Gunawan Syawal, 23, had taken the photograph with three friends aboard the Airbus A320 just an hour before it plunged into the Java Sea, killing all 162 people on board.

Yunita Syawal, who had already heard news of the flight’s disappearance when she was sent the image of her brother, had not known he was due to fly that day. But a call to her parents confirmed her worst fears.

“I immediately flew to Surabaya,” she said. Six days later, she helped to identify his body.

“Even after days, we still kept thinking he’s alive, but now that we have seen his body, we know he’s gone for sure,” said Yunita. “There is a void left in my heart, but I hope in time I will heal.”

So far, only 37 bodies have been found, including three located by searchers on Monday.

Colonel Yayan Sofyan, a patrol boat captain, said the navy had found a section of the aircraft that resembled the tail.

“We found what has a high probability of being the tail of the plane,” he said.

Hendra Gunawan Sawal

Fransiskus Bambang Soelistyo, the head of Indonesia’s search and rescue agency, said the object was “suspected” of being the tail but was yet to be confirmed.

“I am not saying it’s the tail yet,” he said. “That is suspected. Now we are trying to confirm it.”

Indonesia’s government has suspended the air traffic controllers who oversaw the flight and ordered all pilots to undergo pre-flight briefings on handling emergencies.

Djoko Murjatmodjo, the acting head of air transport in Indonesia’s transportation ministry, said he has suspended all officials from air-traffic control, the airport operator and the airport aviation office who were on duty in the city of Surabaya when the doomed flight departed eight days ago.

The flight from Surabaya to Singapore lost contact with air traffic control shortly after the pilot requested permission to ascend from 32,000 feet to 38,000 feet to avoid a storm.

Ignatius Jonan, Indonesia’s transport minister, has accused AirAsia of operating the flight without permission to fly the route on Sundays, while Mr Murjatmodjo has indicated that airport officials may have acted illegally.

An internal review of Indonesia’s aviation agency is seeking to identify who approved the flight.

“A circular has been signed by the transport ministry on December 31, stating that pilots must have a face-to-face briefing with a flight operation officer so the briefing officer will know the pilot is in a healthy condition and so on,” Mr Murjatmodjo said.

Indonesian pilots criticised the proposed briefings, saying they would be unworkable.

The search for the plane has been hampered by continued heavy weather off the southern coast of Borneo.

The recovery of three further bodies brought the total to 37. Thirteen have been identified.

Five large objects have been picked up by sonar scans of the ocean floor in the search zone but the largest has now been found to be a shipwreck. No pings have yet been detected from the plane’s black box locator beacon.

However, authorities remain hopeful of finding the wreckage of the plane – believed to contain many of the remaining bodies – as the weather is due to ease in the coming days. More than 100 Indonesian and Russian divers are in the search zone, waiting to identify the objects picked up by scans but underwater visibility has been one feet or less.

Indonesia’s weather agency has blamed the crash on the heavy weather which caused icing and damaged the engines. However, numerous aviation experts have suggested this is an unlikely standalone cause of the crash because the Airbus A320 has effective anti-icing devices.

 

[Animalize]

AirAsia search heads underwater

Date January 6, 2015 - 4:21PM

Michael Bachelard
Indonesia correspondent for Fairfax Media

Indonesian Sea and Coast Guard officers on Tuesday carry remains of seats from the AirAsia flight. Photo: Getty

Jakarta: The focus of the search for AirAsia QZ8501 has turned underwater, as rescue crews now believe there is less chance of finding bodies floating free of the plane's wreckage.

Bambang Soelistyo, the chief of Indonesia's search and rescue agency Basarnas, said on Tuesday the weather on the 10th morning of the search was "quite friendly to us", which marks a break from a run of bad weather.

It means dive teams and underwater robotic vehicles may be able to descend to where the wreckage is believed to be.
Remains of seats from the AirAsia QZ8501 crash, recovered from Indonesian waters.

Remains of seats from the AirAsia QZ8501 crash, recovered from Indonesian waters. Photo: Getty

Mr Soelistyo said five ships, some with divers on board, had been dispatched to a smaller search area, known as the "second additional area", where sonar earlier in the week spotted objects up to 18 metres long, believed to be part of the wreckage.

They will look again for fuselage parts and the black box flight recorder.

No bodies were found overnight in the open ocean, so the tally stands at 37.

"We believe some of the victims are still trapped inside the plane's body," Mr Soelistyo said.

"We evacuated the bodies that popped up and were floating on the waters earlier because we were afraid that they might be carried out further by the current and we would miss them. But now, if we are just searching for victims trapped inside the plane, the job will be easier."

Reports emerged from Surabaya that AirAsia was offering a 300 million rupiah ($29,000) initial compensation package to the families of crash victims, but people contacted by Fairfax Media said money had not been discussed with them.

AirAsia has not so far issued any comment.

 

[Animalize]

AirAsia QZ8501 victim's family haunted by final birthday wish

The Meiji Thejakusuma joked to her family she would "spend time alone at sea" on her birthday as she said goodbye to relatives before boarding AirAsia's Flight QZ8501

A relative of Meiji Thejakusuma shows a photo of the woman with her family Photo: Robertus Pudyanto/Getty Images

Meiji Thejakusuma with her family Photo: Robertus Pudyanto/Getty Images

Workers carry the coffin of Meiji Thejakusuma Photo: Robertus Pudyanto/Getty Images

By AFP
8:59AM GMT 06 Jan 2015

When fashion store owner The Meiji Thejakusuma bid goodbye to relatives before boarding AirAsia's Flight 8501, she light-heartedly quipped she would "spend time alone at sea" on her birthday, which she planned to mark with a New Year's cruise.

Soon after the plane crashed into waters off the island of Borneo and her body was recovered from the Java Sea.

On January 3, when Thejakusuma would have turned 45 on the celebratory cruise visiting Malaysia and Thailand, instead her body was returned to her extended family in Surabaya.

Her nephew Eric Edi Santo, a café owner, relayed his aunt's haunting last words to him as he spoke to AFP at the funeral parlour where a vigil was being held, attended by abound 100 friends and relatives.

"We asked her how are you going to celebrate your birthday. She said jokingly: 'I'll spend time alone at sea'," Santo said.

"Maybe God was trying to be good to her, and didn't want her to spend her birthday alone at sea, so he brought her back."

Thejakusuma got on the plane in her home city of Surabaya on December 28 with her husband, mother, three children and prospective son-in-law.

They were headed for Singapore where they would start their cruise, but 40 minutes later disaster struck and the aircraft crashed into the water.

The bodies of Thejakusuma and her 10-year-old daughter Stevie are among the 37 that have so far been recovered, with teams still searching for the remains of the other 125 passengers, most of them Indonesian.

They included Thejakusuma's 48-year-old husband Jie Charly Gunawan, her mother Jo Indri, 82, and her two other children, 19-year-old Steven and Stephanie, 28.

Stephanie's fiancé Christanto Leoma Hutama was also with them.

"We hope for a survivor ... at least just one of them. I hope that one of them can come back alive," Santo said.

"If not, we hope that all of their bodies at least will be here, we don't want any missing bodies. They died so tragically, at least I want them to have a proper burial."

Thejakusuma was the owner of clothes store "Planet One" in Surabaya, and was known for being hard-working and humble despite her own affluence, said another of her nephews, Agus Panjaya.

A devout Buddhist, she regularly made financial contributions to her local temple as well as to orphanages, and she was always quick to help her relatives.

Panjaya recalled when he was still at high school and living in a dormitory in the East Java city of Malang, when his aunt and uncle would take turns to drive two hours at weekends to visit him and take him sightseeing around the city.

"They did not want me to feel lonely," he said.

"It was in my aunt's character to just help people whenever she could, poor people, her own family, anyone. That's why everyone feels a deep sense of loss."

 

[Animalize]

What is still not known about the AirAsia QZ8501 crash

Dozens of bodies have been recovered from AirAsia QZ8501, and search teams have detected what is believed to be the plane's wreckage, but many questions remain unanswered

An Indonesian officer shows a safety instruction card recovered during search operations in the Java sea Photo: Xinhua News/Rex

By AP
11:00AM GMT 06 Jan 2015

What caused the plane to go down?

The pilot told air traffic control he was approaching threatening clouds and asked to climb above them, from 9,750 meters (32,000 feet) to 11,580 meters (38,000 feet). But with six other planes in the same airspace, permission was denied. When the tower tried to make contact four minutes later, there was no response, and the Airbus A320 was gone from the radar. The investigation will hinge on the discovery of the black boxes and the wreckage itself.

Where are the black boxes?

With high surf preventing the deployment of ships that drag "ping" locators, no signals have been detected from the aircraft's all-important cockpit voice and flight data recorders. Both will provide essential information, including the plane's vertical and horizontal speeds along with engine temperature and final conversations between the captain and co-pilot. The black boxes' ping-emitting beacons still have around 20 days before their batteries go dead.

Where are the bodies and debris?

A massive international search effort involving planes, ships and helicopters continues despite heavy rain, high waves and strong currents. So far, only around three dozen bodies have been recovered, some still strapped into their seats. Sonar has identified what is believed to be five large parts of the plane on the seabed, but rough conditions along with m&d and silt have kept divers from getting a clear visual on it.

Was the plane authorised to fly?

Indonesia has launched an investigation into AirAsia's operating practices after alleging the low-cost carrier did not have permits to fly from Surabaya to Singapore on Sundays, the day the plane crashed. All of the carrier's flights on that route have since been canceled. The Transportation Ministry also has suspended officials who allowed the plane to fly without authorization, including the Surabaya airport's operator and officials in the control tower. AirAsia has declined to comment until the evaluation is completed.

 

[Animalize]

Family haunted by AirAsia victim’s last quip that she would spend birthday ‘alone at sea’

Relative says the family is haunted by Meiji Thejakusuma's last words before boarding the plane with her husband and children

PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 06 January, 2015, 3:51pm
UPDATED : Tuesday, 06 January, 2015, 6:10pm

Agence France-Presse in Surabaya

Extended family in Surabaya mourn for Meiji Thejakusama, who joked she would spend her birthday alone at sea. Photo: EPA

When fashion store owner The Meiji Thejakusuma bid goodbye to relatives before boarding AirAsia Flight 8501, she light-heartedly quipped she would “spend time alone at sea” on her birthday, which she planned to mark with a New Year cruise.

Soon after, the plane crashed into waters off the island of Borneo. Her body was recovered from the Java Sea days later.

Her nephew Eric Edi Santo, a cafe owner, recalled his aunt’s haunting last words during Thejakusuma’s vigil at a funeral home, attended by abound 100 friends and relatives.

“We asked her how are you going to celebrate your birthday. She said jokingly: ‘I’ll spend time alone at sea’,” Santo said.

“Maybe God was trying to be good to her, and didn’t want her to spend her birthday alone at sea, so he brought her back.”

On January 3, when Thejakusuma would have turned 45 on the celebratory cruise visiting Malaysia and Thailand, her body was instead returned to her extended family in Surabaya.

Thejakusuma got on the plane in her home city of Surabaya on December 28 with her husband, mother, three children and prospective son-in-law.

They were headed for Singapore where they would start their cruise, but 40 minutes later disaster struck and the aircraft crashed into the water.

Stephanie Gunawan (above), Thejakusuma's daughter, was on the same flight with her fiance. Photo: Facebook

The bodies of Thejakusuma and her 10-year-old daughter Stevie are among the 37 that have so far been recovered, with teams still searching for the remains of the other 125 passengers, most of them Indonesian.

They included Thejakusuma’s 48-year-old husband Jie Charly Gunawan; her mother Jo Indri, 82; and two other children, 19-year-old Steven and Stephanie, 28.

Stephanie’s fiancé Christanto Leoma Hutama was also with them.

“We hope for a survivor… at least just one of them. I hope that one of them can come back alive,” Santo said.

“If not, we hope that all of their bodies at least will be here, we don’t want any missing bodies. They died so tragically, at least I want them to have a proper burial.”

Thejakusuma was the owner of clothes store Planet One in Surabaya, and was known for being hard-working and humble despite her own affluence, said another of her nephews, Agus Panjaya.

A devout Buddhist, she regularly made financial contributions to her local temple as well as to orphanages, and she was always quick to help her relatives.

Panjaya recalled when he was still at high school and living in a dormitory in the East Java city of Malang, when his aunt and uncle would take turns to drive two hours at weekends to visit him and take him sightseeing around the city.

“They did not want me to feel lonely,” he said. “It was in my aunt¡¦s character to just help people whenever she could, poor people, her own family, anyone. That’s why everyone feels a deep sense of loss.”

 

[Area51]

AirAsia QZ8501: 4 air traffic control workers sacked after flight schedule blunder

Jan 06, 2015 08:39
By David Raven

Staff who failed to sport the doomed plane was flying the wrong schedule have reportedly been dismissed following an official review into safety proceedings

Four air traffic controllers have been sacked after a review found they were responsible for 'failing to check the approved flight schedule' for AirAsia QZ8501.

The doomed plane, on which 162 people lost their lives, was flying an unauthorised route, Indonesia's transport ministry said on Saturday.

Pilots were travelling from Surabaya to Singapore but were using the summer schedule - as opposed to the winter one - which allows them to fly on different days.

Wisnu Darjono, Indonesia AirNav's Director for Safety and Standard, said four officers at Surabaya Airport's air traffic control were removed from their positions because they were 'directly responsible for failing to check the approved flight schedule.'

There has so far been no suggestion the blunder had a direct impact on the safety of the plane, however, the full reason behind the crash will only be revealed once the black box is recovered.

Search and rescue teams are currently scouring an area of 45 by 35 nautical miles in the Java Sea with sonar for the remains of the plane and any flight data that is still intact.

So far the remains of 37 bodies have been recovered but the rest of the victims are thought to still be inside the plane.

Bad weather initially hampered search attempts but earlier today divers were able to go down to the wreckage as the weather had cleared.

The fatal flight's pilot had asked before for permission to fly at a higher altitude to avoid a storm but the request was denied due to other planes above him on the route.

It was another bad weekend for AirAsia after passengers refused to get back on board after an engine 'died'.

 

[Animalize]

First pictures of AirAsia wreckage taken after tail is found on seabed

Breakthrough in search for AirAsia flight QZ8501 as rescue teams locate the tail section expected to contain its 'black box' recorders, which could explain the cause of the crash

PUBLISHED : Wednesday, 07 January, 2015, 2:08pm
UPDATED : Wednesday, 07 January, 2015, 4:26pm

Agence France-Presse in Jakarta

This section of the plane wreckage shows the "A" and dotted "i" of AirAsia's distinctive logo. Photo: EPA

Recovery teams have found the tail of the crashed AirAsia flight QZ8501 in the Java Sea, the Indonesian search chief said on Wednesday, the eleventh day of relief operations.

“We have successfully obtained part of the plane that has been our target. The tail portion has been confirmed found,” search and rescue agency chief Bambang Soelistyo told reporters in Jakarta.

"I can confirm that what we found was the tail part from the pictures," he said, adding that the team "now is still desperately trying to locate the black box," he said.

The discovery on the seabed could mark a breakthrough in the search as the tail of a plane usually houses the “black box” flight data recorders, crucial to determining the cause of a crash.

No pings have been detected from the plane’s all-important cockpit voice and flight data recorders. That’s because high waves have prevented the deployment of ships that drag ping locators.

The batteries in the pingers on the black boxes are likely to go dead in about 20 more days.

A photo released by Indonesian authorities shows what appears to be the interior of the plane's rear. The tail is where commercial aircraft keep the black boxes. Photo: EPA

"The location of the tail is relatively far from the point of last contact, about 30 kilometres," search and rescue agency coordinator Supriyadi said.

"The black box is [typically] located behind the door, to the right of the tail. There is a possibility that the tail and the back of the plane are broken up."

Soelistyo said a total of 12 objects had now been found, but he did not confirm whether all were parts of the aircraft. The wreckage is thought to also include parts of the fuselage, where many of the bodies of victims may still be trapped.

The plane vanished from radar screens during a storm on December 28 when it was flying from the city of Surabaya to Singapore with 162 people on board, most of them Indonesian.

Despite a huge recovery operation assisted by various countries, progress has been patchy with poor weather conditions hampering the search. So far 39 bodies have been found, all of them floating on the sea.

Even during a rare break in bad weather, divers could only go into the muddy waters of the Java for minutes at a time.

"We couldn’t dive for long, only five or 10 minutes and then go up," navy diving supervisor Sergeant Major Rudi Hartanto said.

"The sea bed is mostly m&d and sand, and the current is strong - four to five knots - so the m&d comes up and the visibility reduces to zero."

A torn part of the Airbus A320-200 shows what appear to be airplane decals. Dents and scratches are also seen on the surface, providing clues about what happened when the jet crashed. Photo: EPA

Search chiefs earlier said five large parts of the plane had been detected but had not confirmed which parts of the aircraft. Discovery of the tail section may allow rescue teams to recover more of the bodies, they said.

Indonesia alleges the plane was flying on an unauthorised schedule when it crashed and AirAsia has since been suspended from flying the Surabaya-Singapore route.

Just before losing contact, the pilot told air traffic control he was approaching threatening clouds, but was denied permission to climb to a higher altitude because of heavy air traffic. No distress signal was issued.

“We are confident that rescuers would be able to locate them in time,” said Nurcahyo Utomo, an investigator for Indonesia’s National Committee on Transportation Safety.

For relatives of those aboard the flight, the slow pace of the search has been agonising. "I’m still looking for my younger sibling," said a woman, who did not give her name, at the crisis centre set up for relatives in Surabaya.

Indonesia AirAsia, 49 percent owned by the Malaysia-based AirAsia budget group, has faced criticism from authorities in Jakarta in the 10 days since the crash.

Indonesian navy ship KRI Sultan Hasanudin is seen froom a Super Puma helicopter during the search operation for passengers onboard AirAsia Flight QZ8501 off the Java sea on Monday. Photo: Reuters

The transport ministry has suspended the carrier’s Surabaya-Singapore licence, saying it only had permission to fly the route on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

Unauthorised, Flight QZ8501 took off on a Sunday, though the ministry said this had no bearing on the accident.

AirAsia has said it is cooperating fully with the ministry’s investigations.

Indonesia has also reassigned some airport and air traffic control officials who allowed the flight to take off and tightened rules on pre-flight procedures in a country with a patchy reputation for air safety.

With additional reporting from Reuters and Associated Press

 

[Animalize]

What happens next in the recovery of AirAsia QZ8501?

As Indonesian authorities confirm they have found the tail of the crashed AirAsia plane, the operation will face a series of challenges as it seeks to recover the remaining bodies of the 162 passengers and explain the cause of the disaster

Indonesian rescuers from the National Search and Rescue Agency carry a bodybag following a search and rescue operation Photo: EPA/ADI WEDA

By Jonathan Pearlman, Jakarta
8:51AM GMT 07 Jan 2015

Finding the black box

With the confirmed discovery of the tail section of AirAsia QZ8501, hopes are high that the discovery of the black box is imminent.

This is the section of the plane in which the black box would have been installed, along with flight data recorders.

Some 95 divers will be dispatched to the wreck, most likely on Thursday, to begin efforts to retrieve it.

As yet, the pings from the black box’s locator beacon have not been detected, possibly due to muddy waters obstructing the signal.

The beacons should not stop pinging for 30 days.

Five ships have been deployed with equipment capable of detecting the black box, including vessels assisted by Britain and France.

Authorities said Russian amphibious aircraft have detected some signals but these are believed to be from the vessels in the search zone.

The next step after finding the black box will be to obtain its data.

This is usually a fairly quick process and can be completed almost instantly, as long as the flight data recorders have not been damaged by water or fire.

Decoding and interpreting the data can take days or weeks, though the results may not be made public for some time.

Divers to recover bodies from plane

The next phase of the operation will involve more than 100 divers – about 90 from Indonesia and 25 from Russia. They have been deployed to recover the remaining bodies and the black box.

But terrible weather conditions have made the task almost impossible.

On Sunday, for the first time, divers were able to enter the water and reach the bottom of the ocean floor, which is about 108 feet deep. Currents are so strong that the divers are tethered to the boat to avoid drifting away. But the divers reported that, even with the aid of specialised flashlights, they were able to see almost nothing. Visibility was reported at somewhere between zero and three feet, and is particularly poor at the bottom due to m&d on the ocean floor.

Many of the remaining 128 bodies of the 162 passengers are believed to be with the wreckage of the Airbus A320. But recovering them will be a difficult task. The bodies now weigh approximately 200 kilograms each. It will take two divers to recover each body. The divers can only dive to the ocean floor once a day, so the recovery of the bodies could take days even when the plane is located.

Identification of bodies

The process of identifying the bodies is proving slow, partly because the bodies being recovered are increasingly disfigured. So far, only nine bodies of the 34 passengers recovered have been identified.

Indonesia’s disaster victims identification unit has opted for a slow, but methodical process to ensure complete certainty for each body. The unit is not using physical identification but has instead collected ante-mortem data from families and will rely on fingerprints, DNA, dental records and physical signs. The head of the unit, Anton Castilani, told The Telegraph it could take up to two weeks to identify all the passengers after their bodies are recovered.

Crash Investigation

Indonesia will have responsibility for the investigation into the crash because it occurred in Indonesian territory. This procedure is set by the International Civil Aviation Organization’s Convention on International Air Transportation. Other nations will have rights to be involved, including France, where Airbus is manufactured.

Other agencies are likely to conduct separate investigations. Indonesia’s Transport Minister has already flagged a review into safety procedures adopted by all airlines that fly in the nation.

Recovering the plane

The Indonesian search and rescue authority says recovering the body of the plane is not a priority for the current operation.

The main focus is to recover bodies and then to find the black box, which should allow authorities to identify the cause of the crash.

But Suryadi Supriyadi, Indonesia's national search and rescue director of operations, told The Telegraph that authorities are indeed planning to recover the body of the plane. He said this will not be conducted by Basarnas, the search authority, but by Indonesia's national transportation safety committee. Naval vessels will be able to recover some parts of the plane but larger parts would need a ship equipped with a large-scale crane.

 

[Animalize]

AirAsia crash makes stronger case for using ‘ejectable, floating’ black boxes

PUBLISHED : Thursday, 08 January, 2015, 5:38pm
UPDATED : Thursday, 08 January, 2015, 6:35pm

Reuters in Montreal

Indonesia's National Search And Rescue Agency chief Henry Bambang Soelistyo gives a briefing on the downed aircraft. He says the wrecked tail section will be lifted once the black boxes are found. Photo: AP

Sources say a long-delayed proposal to outfit commercial airplanes with ejectable “black box” recorders may have a better chance of being adopted after the crash of AirAsia Flight QZ8501, as Indonesian rescuers struggled to find the crucial recorders from a piece of wreckage on on Thursday.

National Search and Rescue Agency Chief Vice Marshal Bambang Soelistyo said divers began searching the downed plane’s tail section, which should contain the black boxes, at 6.54am.

Conditions that have hampered the entire search in the past 12 days – poor visibility, strong sea currents and rain – again forced the divers to suspend the search for the flight data and cockpit voice recorders.

The tail, sitting on the seabed at a depth of around 30 metres, was discovered yesterday near where the Airbus 320-200 carrying 162 passengers and crew disappeared off radar on December 28 en route to Singapore from Surabaya.

The pilots wanted to avoid bad weather but weren’t given permission to fly higher in time due to traffic in the airspace.

Three sources at the UN global aviation body ICAO said the tragedy has spurred more discussion about adopting ejectable black boxes, which may cost more but can float on the surface of the water, theoretically making it easier to find in the event of an accident.

The idea has bounced around the International Civil Aviation Organisation committees for years and is back on the agenda at its High-Level Safety Conference in February, the first of its kind in five years.

ICAO wants to develop a global system to improve plane tracking and ensure accident sites are found quickly as part of its response to the disappearance of a Malaysian airliner last year.

“The time has come that deployable recorders are going to get a serious look,” said an ICAO representative who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue. Deployable is the industry term for black boxes that detach from the plane when it crashes.

A second ICAO official familiar with the discussions said that public attention has galvanised momentum in favour of ejectable recorders on commercial aircraft.

“I think there’s a more positive attitude now because of the last few accidents,” he said in reference to AirAsia and an Air France flight that crashed in 2009 in the Atlantic. The Air France black boxes weren’t found until 2011.

Montreal-based ICAO, established in 1947, sets standards followed on most international flights, as the guidelines it develops typically become regulatory requirements in its 191 member states.

According to recently released documents, ICAO’s powerful Air Navigation Commission rejected the proposals for ejectable black boxes, and only approved changes including longer battery life for conventional models.

Ejectable recorders were invented by the Canadian government’s National Research Council in the 1960s and thousands are installed on fighter jets, including the US Navy’s F/A-18 jets, and small aircraft, like helicopters.

A national search and rescue helicopter departs Indonesian navy vessel KRI Banda Aceh, carrying a dead body close to an area where the tail of AirAsia QZ8501 was found. Photo: EPA

Unlike military recorders which jettison away from a plane and float on water, signaling their location to search and rescue satellites, recorders on commercial flights sink. Underwater, they can only be detected over short distances.

But a detachable recorder such as that made by Italian firm Finmeccanica subsidiary DRS Technologies costs about US30,000.

“This has been the pushback by (planemakers) and regulators - that deployables cost more,” said Blake van den Heuvel, director for air programmes at DRS.

The technology is also untested on large, commercial aircraft because of cost concerns and the lack of political will to require them.

A spokesman for Honeywell International, one of the largest makers of black boxes, said the company doesn’t manufacture ejectable recorders because it has not been required to do so by regulators or by its customers. Honeywell’s widely used, non-ejectable recorders cost about US$13,000 to US$16,000 each.

Mike Poole, a former expert on flight recorders with the Transportation Safety Board of Canada, said transmitting data in real time would be a better solution.

“The current fixed recorders are highly reliable and cost effective and it is rare to not recover them,” said Poole, who now heads an Ottawa-based aviation consulting company.

Asked about ejectable black boxes, airline industry group the International Air Transport Association said: “There has not yet emerged an industry consensus on a mandate for ejectable flight data recorders.”

With additional reporting from Kyodo

 

[Animalize]

AirAsia crash: Search for black box recorders from found plane tail disrupted by bad weather

The black box recorders would hold clues to what brought down the plane

Lamiat Sabin
Thursday 08 January 2015

Severe weather conditions have thwarted an attempt by divers to find and pull out AirAsia Flight 8501’s black boxes from the sea bed today, which are believed to still be located in the recently discovered tail of the plane.

The flight data and cockpit voice recorders, which would help determine the cause of what brought the plane down with 162 people on board on 28 December, are located in the rear of the aircraft but strong currents and blinding silt have slowed down the mission. Bad weather is already believed to have been a contributing factor in the crash.

A day after an unmanned underwater vehicle spotted the plane’s tail, lying upside down and partially buried in the Java Sea floor, divers were unable to make it past choppy waters and visibility of one-meter (three-foot), said National Search and Rescue chief Henry Bambang Soelistyo.

He said expert teams from Indonesia and France were looking at other options, including using a crane to lift the tail out after the discovery was confirmed yesterday about six miles (nine kilometres) from where the Airbus A320 lost contact with the control tower halfway between Singapore and Indonesian city Surabaya.

The pings will still be emitted from the black boxes for about 20 more days before the batteries go dead, but high waves had prevented the deployment of ping locators, which were dragged by six ships according to Nurcahyo Utomo, an investigator of the National Commission for Transportation Safety.

An image believed to be of wreckage of ill-fated AirAsia flight QZ8501 photographed by divers working in the Java Sea

He said that based on pictures taken by the divers, he believed that the black boxes were still attached to their original location amid the wreckage of the tail that has been identified by the aircraft operator’s logo and the plane registration number.

“Once detected, we will try to find and lift up the black boxes as soon as possible,” he said.

Tony Fernandes, AirAsia's chief executive officer, said that the airline’s priority was still is to recover all the bodies “to ease the pain of our families.” Families of the victims are set to receive £66,000 ($100,000) in compensation each after they were initially offered £16,000, it was confirmed today by AirAsia Indonesia president Sunu Widyatmoko.

The total number of bodies recovered from the sea so far stands at 41 after another was found today. Officials are hopeful many of the 121 bodies still unaccounted for will be found inside the fuselage, which is thought to be lying near the tail.

Just before losing contact, the pilot told air traffic control he was approaching threatening clouds, but was denied permission to climb to a higher altitude because of heavy air traffic. No distress signal was issued.

 

[Animalize]

AirAsia crash: Victims’ families to get £66,000 compensation

Some families had initially refused a lower amount

Jon Stone
Thursday 08 January 2015

Families of the victims of the AirAsia crash are set to get around £66,000 ($100,000) compensation each, the airline has said.

Airline officials had initially offered families just under £16,000, an amount which some next of kin had refused.

A spokesperson for AirAsia told the CNN news channel that the airline would follow the Indonesian Transport Ministry's regulations on air crashes.

The country’s rules set compensation at 1.25 billion Indonesian rupiah for deaths caused by aviation accidents.

File: An AirAsia flight from Indonesia to Singapore has gone missing with a British national on board

In previous air accidents relatives have often secured larger compensation claims through the courts, an option which could be open to the families.

It is unclear whether the new offer includes a clause not to sue for additional compensation.

AirAsia flight QZ8501 from the Indonesian city of Surbaya to the city-state of Singapore crashed into the Java sea with 162 passengers and crew on board.

Salvage experts are exploring how to recover the plane’s black boxes, which are believed to be in the aircraft’s partially buried tail section.

The tail section was found on the ocean floor early this week and was confirmed yesterday.

It also emerged last weekend that the plane did not have the authorisation to fly the route it was taking between the two cities on the day it crashed, leading to a suspension of AirAsia services between the two cities.

 

[Animalize]

Indonesia says pings detected in search for AirAsia jet's black box

By Charlotte Greenfield and Kanupriya Kapoor
JAKARTA/PANGKALAN BUN Thu Jan 8, 2015 10:39pm EST

(Reuters) - Indonesia search and rescue teams hunting for the wreck of an AirAsia passenger jet detected pings in their efforts to find the black box recorders on Friday, 12 days after the plane went missing with 162 people on board, an official said.

Indonesia AirAsia Flight QZ8501 vanished from radar screens on Dec. 28, less than half way into a two-hour flight from Indonesia's second-biggest city of Surabaya to Singapore. There were no survivors.

The Airbus A320-200 carries the black box cockpit voice and flight data recorders near the tail section. Officials had warned, however, that they could have become separated from the tail.

Santoso Sayogo, an investigator at the National Transportation Safety Committee, said it appeared that the black box was no longer in the tail.

"We received an update from the field that the pinger locator already detected pings," he told Reuters.

"We have our fingers crossed it is the black box. Divers need to confirm. Unfortunately it seems it's off from the tail. But the divers need to confirm the position."

The tail was found on Wednesday, upturned on the sea bed about 30 km (20 miles) from the plane's last known location at a depth of around 30 meters.

Indonesian search teams loaded lifting balloons on to helicopters on Friday ahead of an operation to raise the tail.

Relatives of the victims have urged authorities to make finding the remains of their loved ones the priority.

Forty-six bodies and debris from the plane have been plucked from the surface of the waters off Borneo, but strong winds and high waves have hampered efforts to reach larger pieces of suspected wreckage detected by sonar on the sea floor.

Indonesia AirAsia, 49 percent owned by the Malaysia-based AirAsia budget group, has come under pressure from the authorities in Jakarta since the crash.

The transport ministry has suspended the carrier's Surabaya-Singapore license, saying it only had permission to fly the route on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

Flight QZ8501 took off on a Sunday, though the ministry said this had no bearing on the accident.

While the cause of the crash is not known, the national weather bureau has said seasonal tropical storms common in the area were likely to be a factor.

(Additional reporting by Nicholas Owen, Michael Taylor, Eveline Danubrata, Gayatri Suroyo, Wilda Asmarini, Cindy Silviana, Nilufar Rizki and Charlotte Greenfield in Jakarta and Fransiska Nangoy in Surabaya; Writing by Nick Macfie)

 

[Animalize]

Signals heard in Java Sea, but unclear if from AirAsia jet

Jan. 9, 2015 7:01 AM EST

Members of Indonesian Search and Rescue Agency carry the pieces which Indonesian Air Force confirmed as from AirAsia Flight 8501 and were recovered in search operations, in Pangkalan Bun, Indonesia, Friday, Jan. 9, 2015. Days after sonar detected apparent wreckage, an unmanned underwater vehicle showed the plane's tail, lying upside down and partially buried in the ocean floor. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim)

PANGKALAN BUN, Indonesia (AP) — Underwater ping-like sounds were heard Friday in an area where searchers are scouring the Java Sea for the crashed AirAsia plane, but it was unclear if they were coming from the all-important black boxes, an official said.

The signals were picked up intermittently, but no metal was detected at the location, said Suryadi B. Supriyadi, the National Search and Rescue Agency's operational director.

Nurcahyo Utomo, a National Commission for Transportation Safety investigator, said the sounds could not be confirmed.

A day earlier, photos and video confirmed that part of the plane's tail had been found on the seabed — the first major wreckage seen since Flight 8501 went down Dec. 28 with 162 passengers and crew on board.

The cockpit voice and flight data recorders are located in the rear, but Supriyadi said the pings were heard about a kilometer (half mile) from the site of the tail. It was possible the signals were coming from another source.

Officials were hopeful that the black boxes remained in the plane after the impact, and plan to hoist the tail from the seabed.

They are key to helping investigators understand what caused the Airbus A320 to go down about halfway into its flight from Surabaya, Indonesia, to Singapore.

The last contact the pilots had with air traffic control indicated they were entering stormy weather. They asked to climb from 32,000 feet (9,753 meters) to 38,000 feet (11,582 meters) to avoid threatening clouds, but were denied permission because of heavy air traffic above them. Four minutes later, the plane dropped off the radar.

Four additional bodies were recovered Friday — two of them still strapped in their seats on the ocean floor — bringing the total to 48. Officials hope many of the remaining corpses will be found inside the fuselage, which has not yet been located by divers. Several large objects have been spotted in the area by sonar.

Though the water is relatively shallow at about 30 meters (100 feet) deep, this is the worst time of year for a recovery operation because of monsoon rains and wind that create choppy seas and blinding silt from river runoff.

 

[Animalize]

AirAsia black boxes 'likely detached and buried on seabed' as searchers recover plane's tail

PUBLISHED : Saturday, 10 January, 2015, 5:03pm
UPDATED : Saturday, 10 January, 2015, 9:36pm

Reuters in Pangkalan Bun

The tail of AirAsia QZ8501 on the deck of an Indonesian rescue ship after it was lifted from the sea bed on Saturday. Photo: Reuters

The downed AirAsia plane’s tail – the biggest piece of wreckage found so far from flight QZ8501 – has been lifted out of the water, but did not contain the black boxes crucial to solving why the plane crashed.

The flight data and cockpit voice recorders were likely dislodged from the tail after the crash, said SB Supriyadi, an Indonesian National Search and Rescue Agency director.

Supriyadi said “faint pings” were detected about 1.6 kilometre southeast of the tail’s last location. The devices are designed to emit signals every second continuously for 30 days.

Nevertheless, authorities double-checked whether the black boxes might somehow still be attached to the rear section of the aircraft, where commercial airliners typically store them.

“It’s currently being brought close to a ship and then it will be towed [to shore],” Supriyadi said from Pangkalan Bun, the base for the search effort on Borneo. “And then they want to search for the black box.”

He said the towing could take up to 15 hours amid the strong winds, currents and high waves that have hampered the entire search effort.

The tail of the Airbus A320-200 was raised with the help of floating balloons, or air bags, and a crane on Saturday. Sailors aboard the Indonesian navy vessel KRI Banda Aceh cheered as it was being pulled out.

Members of Indonesian National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) load huge balloons, which would be attacked to the wreckage, and when inflated would help lift the tail of the plane. Photo: QZ

Torn but still bearing AirAsia’s distinctive red and white logo, the tail was found upturned on the seabed at a depth of about 30 metres, and about 30 kilometres from where the plane disappeared off radar.

Indonesia AirAsia Flight QZ8501 lost contact with air traffic control after failing to get permission to fly higher to avoid bad weather on December 28, less than halfway into a two-hour flight from Indonesia’s Surabaya city to Singapore.

There were no survivors among the 162 passengers and crew. The pilots did not issue a distress signal.

If the recorders had become separated from the tail, they could be covered in m&d, making the search in the murky water that much more difficult, Supriyadi said.

“The pings can only be detected within a radius of 500 metres so it can be a large area to cover,” he said.

If and when the recorders are found and taken to the Indonesian capital Jakarta for analysis, it could take up to two weeks to download data, investigators said.

The information could be accessed in as little as two days if the devices are not badly damaged.

Divers from an elite Indonesian Marines unit were sent to look into the pings.

“They are searching within a radius of 500 metres from where the pings are emitted. The challenge is that these sounds are very faint. If a ship passes by, the sounds will be drowned out. So we really need calm waters,” Supriyadi said.

Meanwhile, search efforts also involving foreign naval ships continued for other plane parts in the relatively shallow waters of the Java Sea, as well as for the bodies of the passengers and crew.

Just 48 bodies have been found so far, including two still strapped to their seats.

All but seven of those on board were Indonesian.

The non-Indonesians were three South Koreans, one Singaporean, one Malaysian, one Briton and a Frenchman – co-pilot Remi Plesel.

While the cause of the crash is not known, the national weather bureau has said seasonal storms were likely to be a factor.

The Indonesian captain, a former Air Force fighter pilot, had 6,100 flying hours and the plane last underwent maintenance in mid-November, said the airline, which is 49 per cent owned by Malaysia-based budget carrier AirAsia.

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

With additional reporting from Agence France-Presse

 

[Animalize]

BREAKING NEWS: Tail of crashed AirAsia plane recovered using giant balloons... but black box with clues to disaster may still be somewhere on the sea floor

• The tail section of the crashed AirAsia plane has been surfaced
  
• It was not clear if the black boxes were still inside the tail
• The tail was hoisted from a depth of 30 metres using inflatable bags
• Search official said black box may be outside the tail section of the plane
• Pings were detected 1km southwest of the wreckage on Friday morning
• Footage has emerged of divers searching inside AirAsia jet's wreckage
• Video shows how difficult the working conditions are with little visibility
• Search teams have found the plane's tail at the bottom of the Java Sea
• The black box, which will reveal why the crash happened, is in the tail
• Rescue teams have found four more bodies, bringing the total count to 48
• AirAsia flight 8501 crashed on December 28, killing all 168 people onboard

By Louise Cheer and Nelson Groom and Sarah Carty and Heather Mcnab for Daily Mail Australia and Australian Associated Press
Published: 07:25 GMT, 10 January 2015 | Updated: 11:38 GMT, 10 January 2015

Investigators searching for black boxes in the crashed AirAsia plane lifted the tail portion out of the Java Sea on Saturday, two weeks after it went down, killing all 162 people on board.

It was not immediately clear if the cockpit voice and flight data recorders were still inside the tail or had been detached when the Airbus A320 plummeted into the sea Dec. 28. Their recovery is essential to finding out why it crashed.

The tail was hoisted from a depth of about 30 meters (100 feet) using inflatable bags that were attached to the rear of the aircraft and a crane to lift it onto a rescue ship.

Portion of the tail of AirAsia Flight 8501 floats on the water as Indonesian navy divers conduct search operations for the black boxes of the crashed plane in the Java Sea

The tail section of the crashed AirAsia plane has been surfaced

Intermittent underwater ping-like sounds were picked up Friday about a kilometer (half mile) from where the tail was located, but it was unclear if they were coming from the recorders located in the back of the aircraft. It was possible the signals were coming from another source.

No metal was detected at the ping location, and Nurcahyo Utomo, a National Commission for Transportation Safety investigator, said the sounds could not be confirmed.

The news comes after a director from the Indonesian search-and rescue agency said readings detected on Friday suggest the black box may be outside the tail section of the plane.

Investigators searching for black boxes in the crashed AirAsia plane lifted the tail portion out of the Java Sea on Saturday, two weeks ago after it went down, killing all 162 people on board

The tail was hoisted from a depth of 30 metres using inflatable bags

Footage recently emerged showing Indonesian military divers investigating the submerged tail of doomed AirAsia flight 8501, as search and rescue teams are hopeful that the black box from the plane's wreckage has been located.

Having located the tail of the plane on Thursday, search teams began pressing ahead with their efforts to find the black box and retrieve bodies from the wreckage, and on Friday afternoon reported detecting 'pings' from the flight data recorder.

But Suyadi Bambang Supriyadi, director of operations of Indonesia's search-and-rescue agency, said pings detected about 1km southwest of the wreckage suggest the black box may be located elsewhere, reports Business Spectator.

It was not clear if the black boxes were still inside the tail when it was surfaced from the bottom of the ocean

The underwater searches ended before dusk on Friday, after divers were unable to find the black box.

Indonesian authorities have warned that the black box, which is located in the tail in the Airbus A320-200, may have become separated during the crash.

Footage released by Indonesian authorities shows divers surrounding the submerged wreck, shining torches into the badly damaged hull, 30 metres under the surface of the Java Sea.

Search official said black box may be outside the tail section of the plane

Pings from the black box were detected 1km southwest of the wreckage on Friday morning

The flight data recorder, or black box, which is located in the back end of the plane, could prove crucial to determining the cause of the December 28 crash that killed all 168 people on board.

Lifting balloons were loaded onto helicopters in preparation of recovery efforts to lift the tail out of the Java Sea, despite worries that the black box may have been separated from the tail during the crash.

The footage was captured by the divers despite poor weather and murky water which has been hampering recovery efforts.

Lifting balloons were loaded onto helicopters in preparation of recovery efforts to lift the tail out of the Java Sea, despite worries that the black box may have been separated from the tail during the crash

The tail of the AirAsia plane was surfaced from the water using giant baloons

The footage shows elite divers holding a box to the exterior of the tail, which still has the identifying markers 'PK' plane on its side.

Navy ships USS Sampson and USS Fort Worth have deployed helicopters and sonar devices into the Java Sea to aid the recovery operation off the coast of Borneo.

Only 43 bodies have been retrieved so far, as monsoon rains and winds have caused choppy sea conditions and blinding silt from river run-off, reducing visibility underwater and preventing the removal of large pieces of the wreckage.

New footage has emerged showing Indonesian military divers investigating the tail of AirAsia flight 8501

Many of the other passengers are believed to be inside the wreckage of the plane's main cabin, which has not been located, due to strong currents moving debris around.

At two weeks, most corpses will sink, said Anton Castilani, head of Indonesia's disaster identification victim unit, and there are already signs of serious decomposition.

'Divers have reached the tail part but ... the visibility was below one metre so they only managed to retrieve various debris,' said Bambang Soelistyo, chief of Indonesia's search and rescue agency.

The divers hop to locate the flight data recorder and retrieving more bodies of the crash's victims

Footage released by Indonesian authorities shows divers surrounding the submerged wreck of the tail

'Now we are waiting for the speed of the current to ease. If it gets calmer later, they will go back to do another dive to determine whether the black boxes remained in the tail or were detached,' Mr Soelistyo said on Thursday.

Divers travelled by rubber boat from the KRI Banda Aceh warship that was being stationed close to the site of tail wreckage, which Mr Soelistyo said would be lifted off the seabed by retrieval experts on Friday if weather permitted.

Lieutenant. Edy Tirtayasa, commander of Indonesia's navy rescue team, told Channel News Asia they planned to send two contingents to the plane.

Divers travelled by rubber boat from the KRI Banda Aceh warship that was being stationed close to the site of tail wreckage

Indonesian navy divers arrive on their inflatable boats after conducting operations to lift the plane's tail

'We are going to send down one observation team to take photos. Then two teams will do the recovery process -- to recover bodies if there are any,' he said.

'If not, they will recover the black box for investigation and then other debris from the aircraft, he said.

The flight data recorder, or black box, could prove crucial to determining the cause of the December 28 crash that killed all 168 people on board

Divers travelled by rubber boat to the KRI Banda Aceh warship that was stationed near the tail's wreckage

Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs Indroyono Soesilo told reporters the black box would be analysed by experts in Indonesia when it was located.

It will provide essential information about the plane along with final conversations between the captain and co-pilot, despite the Indonesian meteorological agency indicating that weather was the 'triggering factor' of the crash, with ice likely damaging the engines of the Airbus A320-200.

Five other big objects have been found on the floor of the ocean, though no visual confirmation has been obtained yet. Smaller pieces of the plane, such as seats and an emergency door, have been collected from the surface.

Tony Fernandes, AirAsia's chief executive officer, welcomed the news.

Navy personnel carry air balloons into a NC212 aircraft at Juanda airbase

Inclement weather has hampered recovery efforts by Indonesian and international personnel

If it is the right part of the tail section, he tweeted, then the cockpit voice and flight data recorders, or black boxes, 'should be there'.

He said the airline's priority still is to recover all the bodies 'to ease the pain of our families'.

Families of the victims whose bodies have been recovered held funeral ceremonies on Thursday to lay their loved ones to rest.

Family members and friends buried their bodies and lay flowers over the graves, bringing photos of the victims to lay at memorial sites.

The National Search and Rescue Agency found four more bodies on Friday, bringing the total body count to 48.

Divers found the bodies strapped to their passenger seats.

Rescuers carry a coffin containing the body of a victim, after AirAsia announced families of the victims will be offered $US100,000 in compensation by the airline

Family members held funerals for victims of the crash on Thursday

The recovery operation comes as news that the families of the victims of the flight will be offered $US100,000 in compensation by the airline.

An offer of $US24,000 was presented to family members, who were given a draft letter from AirAsia, which detailed its initial compensation deal, CNN reported.

Family members have been left confused about the letter's wording and raising issue with the airline approaching families separately in relation to compensation, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Victims' families have been offered $US100,000 after they were initially offered $US24,000 byAirAsia

Relatives and friends pray during the funeral ceremony of crash victim Lim Yan Koen

But Indonesia AirAsia's director of safety and security defended the isolated discussions to The Strait Times on Tuesday, saying: 'We respect that [some] families are still hoping to see that their relatives survived, so we offered [compensation first] to those whose family members have been identified'.

Captain Raden Achmad Sadikin added the airlines would be compensating families in line with Indonesian policy.

According to the regulatory body that is responsible for Indonesia's finance sector, agencies that insure airlines were liable to give 1.25 billion rupiah for every one of the 155 passengers including 315 million rupiah to 750 million rupiah for the 25 passengers who bought flight insurance.

On Wednesday, searchers looking for the plane say they believe they have found the aircraft's tail

Just before losing contact, the pilot told air traffic control he was approaching threatening clouds, but was denied permission to climb to a higher altitude because of heavy air traffic. No distress signal was issued.

Indonesina Sea and Coast Guards display recovered seats from the AirAsia flight QZ8501 on Tuesday

National Search and Rescue Agency personnel carry wrecked seats from the AirAsia plane to land

Five other big objects have been found on the floor of the ocean, though no visual confirmation has been obtained yet

Along with the tail, the fuselage is thought to be with it, off the coast of the Indonesian island of Borneo

The black box is thought to be inside the tail. It will help shed some light on the last moments of the flight before it crashed

 

[Animalize]

Big nations' aid in AirAsia search may be to boost their soft-power stance, observers say

Indonesia has welcomed big countries' assistance, but observers question motives

PUBLISHED : Sunday, 11 January, 2015, 6:08am
UPDATED : Sunday, 11 January, 2015, 6:08am

Agence France-Presse in Jakarta

US Navy sailors help search for a missing AirAsia jet. Photo: AFP

US and Chinese warships have rushed to help Indonesia search for a crashed plane, but analysts say more than altruistic motivations are at play with world powers jostling for influence.

On the surface, the sight of naval vessels from the world's strongest nations sailing close to one another in the Java Sea, with Russian military planes flying above, shows their willingness to unite in a time of disaster.

But those nations are also cleverly using the disaster to project their militaries as a force for good in Asia, observers say.

AirAsia Flight 8501 from Surabaya to Singapore crashed during stormy weather on December 28, claiming the lives of all 162 people on board.

With rough seas hampering the search for the wreckage and the bodies, Indonesia has gratefully accepted the help of military assets from many foreign nations including the United States, China and Russia.

"I don't think there's any question that this is also about building soft power," said John Blaxland, a senior fellow at Australian National University's Strategic and Defence Studies Centre.

For the United States, the crash offered a timely example to the region of the advantages of President Barack Obama's drive to increase US military assets in Asia. The USS Fort Worth, one of two warships it deployed to the Java Sea, came from Singapore, where it had just begun a 16-month "rotational deployment".

"It shows they are prepared to contribute to humanitarian assistance. It's part of the soft foil for hard power in the region," Blaxland said.

Gregory Poling, a Southeast Asia analyst at the Washington-based think tank Centre for Strategic and International Studies, also said such operations won or cemented regional friendships for the United States.

Aside from AirAsia, Poling cited the lead role the US military played in the international response to Super Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines in 2013, and help in last year's search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.

China, meanwhile, is starting to play a bigger role in regional disaster-response efforts in a strategy some see as trying to counter the United States and allay fears over the dramatic expansion of its military.

For the AirAsia crisis, China quickly deployed a PLA Navy rescue vessel with divers on board, as well as experts in finding "black box" flight data recorders.

Blaxland said China's fast action and offer of more support showed it had learned from the mistakes of Haiyan, when it only offered significant help after its meagre initial response was heavily criticised.

Russian President Vladimir Putin also sent two military aircraft and divers to help in the search for the AirAsia wreckage.

Putin endured heavy criticism for his nation's alleged role in the shooting down of another Malaysia Airline plane, Flight 17, travelling over Ukraine last July.

 

[Animalize]

Searchers hone in on black boxes from AirAsia plane

By ACHMAD IBRAHIM
Jan. 11, 2015 10:27 AM EST

Crew members of Crest Onyx ship prepare to unload parts of AirAsia Flight 8501 from a ship at Kumai port in Pangkalan Bun,Sunday, Jan.11, 2015. A day after the tail of the crashed AirAsia plane was fished out of the Java Sea, the search for the missing black boxes intensified Sunday with more pings heard. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim)

PANGKALAN BUN, Indonesia (AP) — While Indonesia's navy said divers had not yet found the black boxes from the AirAsia plane that crashed into the Java Sea two weeks ago, searchers on Sunday honed in on intense pings detected amid a growing belief that the devices will soon be recovered.

Three Indonesian ships detected the signals, said Indroyono Soesilo, coordinating minister for Maritime Affairs. They were located around 3.5 kilometers (2 miles) from where the aircraft's rear was discovered.

"The two are close to each other, just about 20 meters (yards)," Soesilo told reporters. "Hopefully, they are the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder."

Officials said earlier Sunday that two separate pings had been detected.

Tonny Budiono, team coordinator at the Directorate of Sea Transportation, said in a statement that the signals were intense in one area, and that the recorders were believed to be lodged there beneath wreckage. If divers are unable to free it, all of the debris will be lifted, the statement said.

Other officials cautioned it was too soon to know whether the sounds were coming from the black boxes, which detached from the tail when the plane plummeted into the sea Dec. 28, killing all 162 people on board. The recorders are key to understanding what caused the aircraft to go down.

"Until now, I have not yet received reports that the black boxes have been discovered," said Henry Bambang Soelistyo, chief of Indonesia's search and rescue agency. "There are signals, or pings, which are suspected to be from the black boxes."

Navy spokesman Manahan Simorangkir said divers had not yet found the devices.

The Commission for Transportation Safety stopped a remote-operated vehicle from being deployed to probe the area where the pings were heard, fearing it could potentially cause damage to the boxes, said Muhammad Ilyas, head of oceanic surveys at Indonesia's technology agency. Instead, the sites were to be examined by divers.

In addition, sonar on Sunday detected a large object in the same vicinity as the pings. Officials initially were hopeful it was the main section of the Airbus A320's cabin, but Soelistyo said divers confirmed it was instead a wing and debris from the engine.

Search efforts have been consistently hampered by big waves and powerful currents created by the region's rainy season. Silt and sand, along with murky river runoff, have created blinding conditions for divers.

While the cause of the crash is not yet known, bad weather is believed to have been a factor.

The tail's excavation was a major success in the slow-moving hunt for victims and wreckage from Flight 8501. The red metal chunk from the tail, with the words "AirAsia" clearly visible across it, was brought to the surface from a depth of about 30 meters (100 feet) on Saturday using inflatable balloons. The vertical stabilizer was still largely intact, but the attached jagged fuselage was ripped open and tangled by a mess of wires.

The find, however, was tinged with disappointment when the black boxes were not found still attached. Their beacons emit signals for about 30 days until the batteries die, meaning divers have about two weeks left before they go silent.

Several other large objects have been spotted in the search area by sonar, but they have not yet been confirmed with underwater visuals.

AirAsia CEO Tony Fernandes had expressed optimism earlier Sunday that the effort was gaining momentum.

"Let's hope today is a major breakthrough day and we can find (the) main fuselage," he wrote in a Twitter post.

Many believe most of the victims' bodies are likely entombed inside the aircraft on the seabed. So far, only 48 corpses have been recovered.

Three more bodies were identified Sunday, including Park Seongbeom, 37, and his wife, Lee Kyung Hwa, 34, from South Korea, said Budiyono, who heads East Java's Disaster Victim Identification unit and, like many Indonesians, uses only one name.

He said they were discovered Friday on the seabed, still strapped to their seats. Their baby has not yet been found, but the infant's carrier was still attached to the man.

Sixteen recovered corpses remain unidentified, partially due to decomposition, Budiyono said. Nearly all of the passengers were Indonesian.

The last contact the pilots had with air traffic control, about halfway into their two-hour journey from Indonesia's second-largest city, Surabaya, to Singapore, indicated they were entering stormy weather. They asked to climb from 32,000 feet (9,753 meters) to 38,000 feet (11,582 meters) to avoid threatening clouds, but were denied permission because of heavy air traffic. Four minutes later, the plane dropped off the radar. No distress signal was issued.

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Associated Press writer Ali Kotarumalos in Jakarta, Indonesia, contributed to this report.