AirAsia Flight Lost in Bad Weather

[s1ng]

A search operation is underway for an AirAsia Indonesia flight with 162 people on board that lost contact with Indonesian air traffic control en route to Singapore on Sunday, after the pilots asked to change course to avoid bad weather and no distress signal was sent.

Flight QZ8501, which was travelling from Surabaya to Singapore on Sunday morning, has 155 passengers and seven crew members on board. The passengers include 149 Indonesians, one Singaporean, one British, one Malaysian and three Koreans.

The plane left Juanda international airport in Surabaya in east Java at 5.35am (Indonesia time) and was expected to arrive in Singapore at 8.30am (Singapore time). Air Asia said the plane lost contact with air traffic control at 6.24am (Indonesia time). Local officials, however, said the plane lost contact at 6.17am (Indonesia time). Indonesia is one hour behind Singapore.

- See more at: http://www.straitstimes.com/news/asia/south-east-asia/story/air-asia-flight-bound-singapore-lost-contact-air-traffic-report-2014#sthash.GHPwaKhG.dpuf

I usually spend my holiday using AirAsia.
Because of this, i'm a bit afraid now 

Hope it can be found soon and everyone is safe

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[LiteCoinGuy]

"Lost" .....you know what it means.  

[s1ng]

"Lost" .....you know what it means.  

Disappear without being notice.

Last time the Pilot said that he want to evade a thick cloud and also want to elevate their elevation
What a tragedy 

[jt byte]

Considering that the number of flights worldwide has increased TREMENDOUSLY since 1942 (especially in recent years with the rise of air travel in China and other rapidly developing places), and the number of crashes has decreased, demonstrates just how safe air travel really is.

[NUFCrichard]

It is very safe, but 2014 wasn't a good year for aviation, it was bad enough with one missing jet and two major crashes (that I know of) without another serious incident. Let's hope they landed somewhere safely, but it seems unlikely.

[desertfox470]

I truthfully can't believe that 3 major accidents have happened in aviation this year. Luckily there were none where I live, but it is very sad that these have still happened.

[Window2Wall]

Considering that the number of flights worldwide has increased TREMENDOUSLY since 1942 (especially in recent years with the rise of air travel in China and other rapidly developing places), and the number of crashes has decreased, demonstrates just how safe air travel really is.

Air travel is safe when compared to other means of transportation. It is strange that two flights that were both in some way connected to the same country went 'missing' in the same year

[grendel25]

The story I heard on NPR is that the crew requested to be diverted around the storm and/or to an altitude to go over the storm.  Their request was denied because other aircraft were already at the higher altitude.  I wouldn't be surprised to see more procedural news about how the air traffic control side of things were handled.  I know I'll be wanting to know more about that piece.

[BRE]

I think that planes aren't save like cars.
How such a big plane can just disappeard?

Rescue team already find that plane now , about 30 meters underwater.
30 body have been found until today.
USS Sampson from US found 12 body today , i think they have better speed and tech with that ship.

[grendel25]

According to the report in the link below it took two minutes for air traffic controllers to respond to the pilots request to divert around a storm.  That really seems like way too long to have to wait.  I've seen ATC in action and when you have a jet moving along at 500 miles per hour you don't have two minutes to delay.  They are saying it took that long because they had to make checks but I still think it could have been done faster.  At least some clearance could have been given sooner to either steer clear of the storm.  That's what ATC is supposed to do.  The more reports I see on this the more it looks like a terrible job of ATC.

http://skift.com/2014/12/31/airasia-pilots-final-request-to-air-traffic-control-met-by-two-minute-radio-silence/

[atlantic miner]

in the past year we've already seen 2 other events surrounding missing Asian airliners, wtf

[Nemo1024]

Russian rescuers join search through AirAsia jet crash area
http://itar-tass.com/en/world/770281

The first group of Russian rescuers aboard a Be-200 plane has already left for the Kalimantan Island in the Java Sea

...

The first group of Russian rescuers aboard a Be-200 plane has already left for the Kalimantan Island in the Java Sea to join the search effort, he said during a conference call.

“By the end of the day, the entire Russian grouping will be flown to the area,” he said.

Russia’s Emergencies Ministry held negotiations with Indonesia’s National Search and Rescue Agency, during which “agreement was reached on the procedure of using Russian rescuers,” he said.

“The heads of the rescue operation are paying special attention to the possibilities of using the Be-200 amphibious plane and the Folkon remote control deepwater vehicle,” Chizhikov said.

[Inotanewbie]

in the past year we've already seen 2 other events surrounding missing Asian airliners, wtf

This is in fact very strange. The statistics would show that this is very unlikely to happen. Even more so when you consider the fact that both flights are associated with maliasia 

[Enzyme]

I don't think I'd be taking any flights if I lived in Asia...

[--Encrypted--]

in the past year we've already seen 2 other events surrounding missing Asian airliners, wtf

This is in fact very strange. The statistics would show that this is very unlikely to happen. Even more so when you consider the fact that both flights are associated with maliasia  

forgot where I read this, but apparently in this case it's because AirAsia was growing too rapidly for its own good.

the demands of planes and pilots (and plane technicians too, I guess) made it impossible for them to [1] train their pilots properly and [2] do a full maintenance on every plane.

[Inotanewbie]

in the past year we've already seen 2 other events surrounding missing Asian airliners, wtf

This is in fact very strange. The statistics would show that this is very unlikely to happen. Even more so when you consider the fact that both flights are associated with maliasia  

forgot where I read this, but apparently in this case it's because AirAsia was growing too rapidly for its own good.

the demands of planes and pilots (and plane technicians too, I guess) made it impossible for them to [1] train their pilots properly and [2] do a full maintenance on every plane.

Pilots generally receive very little training on how to fly specific aircraft from their employer and the training they do receive is generally standardized based on the manufacturer of the aircraft.

Maintenance is similar in that maintenance schedules are standardized based on the airplane and governments will not allow planes to fly if proper maintenance is not done

[pattu1]

With the wreckage and few of the bodies found, at least there is closure for the families of those killed in this accident.
It is worse if nobody knows what happens to the plane.