Search resumes for missing AirAsia passenger jet

[webfact]

Search resumes for missing AirAsia passenger jet
TRISNADI MARJAN, Associated Press
MARGIE MASON, Associated Press

SURABAYA, Indonesia (AP) — Ships and planes have resumed searching for a passenger jet that went missing more than 24 hours ago on a flight from Indonesia to Singapore.

First Admiral Sigit Setiayana, the Naval Aviation Center Commander at the Surabaya air force base, said Monday that 12 navy ships, five planes, three helicopters and a number of warships were searching an area of east and southeast Belitung island and nearby waters.

Setiaya says visibility was good.

"God willing, we can find it soon," Setiayana told The Associated Press.


-- (c) Associated Press 2014-12-29

[webfact]

Search on for AirAsia plane with 162 on board
Agence France-Presse
JAKARTA


Weeping relatives await news of the AirAsia missing plane at Juanda Airport, Surabaya, Indonesia, yesterday. AirAsia Flight QZ8501 was flying from Surabaya city in Indonesia to Singapore when it disappeared in turbulent weather.

Indonesian air force jets, S'pore aircraft scour Java Sea for wreckage, ships head to area

JAKARTA: -- Rescuers scoured the Java Sea yesterday for an AirAsia plane carrying 162 people, which went missing in bad weather en route from Indonesia to Singapore, in the third crisis for a Malaysian carrier this year.

Around 11 hours after it disappeared, Indonesian air force jets failed to find any signs of the Airbus A320-200 as dusk fast approached and fuel ran low.

Air traffic controllers lost contact with the twin-engine aircraft around an hour after it left Juanda international airport at Surabaya in east Java at 5.20am.

Shortly before disappearing, AirAsia said the plane had asked permission from Jakarta air traffic control to deviate from its flight plan and climb above bad weather in an area noted for severe thunderstorms.

The airline said 156 of those on board Flight QZ8501 were Indonesians, with three South Koreans and one person each from Singapore, Malaysia and France.

Britain later said one of its citizens was aboard the jet. It was not yet confirmed whether they had dual nationality.

There were 138 adult passengers, 16 children and an infant, in addition to five cabin crew and the pilot and co-pilot, who is believed to be French.

Two Indonesia air force planes and a helicopter were searching the waters around the islands of Bangka and Belitung in the Java Sea, near Kalimanten island.

"We have not been able to visually detect any signs," air force spokesman Hadi Cahyanto said, adding search boats headed to the area, around halfway along the missing aircraft's expected flight path.

A Singaporean C-130 military transport aircraft was also deployed, after Indonesia accepted help from its Southeast Asian neighbour, while Malaysia said it had committed "military assets" to the search.

The aircraft was operated by AirAsia Indonesia, a unit of Malaysian-based AirAsia which dominates Southeast Asia's booming low-cost airline market.

AirAsia's flamboyant boss Tony Fernandes, a former record industry executive who acquired the then-failing airline in 2001, went to Surabaya, where most of the passengers are from.

"My only thought are with the passengers and my crew," he added on his Twitter page.

Panicked relatives, meanwhile, gathered at Singapore's Changi airport.

In Surabaya hundreds of Indonesians descended on the terminal, hoping for news of the missing jet.

A 45-year-old woman said she had six family members on the plane.

"They were going to Singapore for a holiday," she said.

"They have always flown with AirAsia and there was no problem. I am very worried that the plane might have crashed."

Indonesia "praying"

Indonesia's President Joko Widodo said his nation was "praying for the safety" of those on board.

His country, a vast archipelago with poor land transport infrastructure, has seen an explosive growth in low-cost air travel over recent years.

But the air industry has been blighted by poor safety standards in an area that also experiences extreme weather.

AirAsia said the missing jet last underwent maintenance on November 16. The company has never suffered a fatal accident.

It swiftly replaced its distinctive bright red logo with a grey background on its social media pages.

An official from Indonesia's transport ministry said the pilot asked to ascend by 1,820 metres to 11,500 metres to avoid heavy clouds.

"The plane is in good condition but the weather is not so good," Djoko Murjatmodjo told a press conference at Jakarta's airport, addressing reports of severe storms in the area where the jet went missing.

Climbing to dodge large rain clouds is a standard procedure for aircraft in these conditions.

"What happens after that is a question mark," according to Indonesian-based aviation analyst Dudi Sudibyo.

The plane's disappearance comes at the end of a disastrous year for Malaysian aviation.

Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, carrying 239 people, vanished in March after inexplicably diverting from its Kuala Lumpur-Beijing course. No trace of it has been found.

Another Malaysia Airlines plane went down in July in rebellion-torn eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 aboard. It was believed to have been hit by a surface-to-air missile.

AirAsia has seen spectacular success and aggressive growth under Fernandes' low-cost, low-overheads model.

While its rival Malaysia Airlines faces potential collapse after the two disasters this year, AirAsia this month confirmed its order of 55 A330-900neo passenger planes.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/aec/Search-on-for-AirAsia-plane-with-162-on-board-30250876.html

-- The Nation 2014-12-29

[Dannyboy666]

Unbelievable in this Day and Age , They cannot find a Jetliner of this size, it Boggles The Mind...

[Credo]

I am sure there are reasons, including bad weather, but it's a great concern when it takes so long for a search to get organized when a plane goes missing.

[HeijoshinCool]

I am sure there are reasons, including bad weather, but it's a great concern when it takes so long for a search to get organized when a plane goes missing.

.

Beacons are activated automatically by submerging in water. Bad weather will have no effect on whether or not an ELT or EPIRB is activated. When one is, if it is GPS enabled (and I would assume all are nowadays), a COSPAS-SARSAT satellite will give exact coordinates within five minutes of activation, then immediately notify SAR authorities in any part of the world.

I carry a PLB with me when hiking and rock climbing. If I activate it, help is on the way. One statistic says over 3000 people have likely been saved in the US alone, using PLBs.

It's hard to believe that this scenario is playing out yet again. In the same area of the world involving a hundred million dollar aircraft carrying 162 souls.

[bkkjames]

I am sure there are reasons, including bad weather, but it's a great concern when it takes so long for a search to get organized when a plane goes missing.

.

Beacons are activated automatically by submerging in water. Bad weather will have no effect on whether or not an ELT or EPIRB is activated. When one is, if it is GPS enabled (and I would assume all are nowadays), a COSPAS-SARSAT satellite will give exact coordinates within five minutes of activation, then immediately notify SAR authorities in any part of the world.

I carry a PLB with me when hiking and rock climbing. If I activate it, help is on the way. One statistic says over 3000 people have likely been saved in the US alone, using PLBs.

It's hard to believe that this scenario is playing out yet again. In the same area of the world involving a hundred million dollar aircraft carrying 162 souls.

Yes a rather sad repeat?

[webfact]

Baruna Jaya vessel searches missing AirAsia: minister
By Digital Content

Jakarta, Dec 29 (ANTARA News) - Coordinating Minister for Maritime and Environment Indroyono Susilo has stated that the Baruna Jaya IV vessel will also help search for the Air Asia plane flight QZ 8501 which lost contact since Sunday morning.

"The ship (Baruna Jaya IV) will immediately leave for the location that is expected to be the area where the plane with 155 passengers has lost contact," the minister told Antara here on Sunday.

According to Indroyono, the Baruna Jaya IV is very sophisticated, especially for the search to the bottom of the sea.

The vessel is equipped with advanced equipment to carry out research tasks of oceanography, ocean floor maps, data of ocean currents, climate and sea transport.

He added that the Baruna Jaya is also equipped with instruments that can capture the signal from the plane not only on the surface of the sea, but also to the bottom of the ocean.

The AirAsia traveling from Surabaya (East Java) to Singapore, has lost contact over the Java Sea between Tanjung Pandan on Belitung island, Sumatra, and Pontianak, Kalimantan island.

"The plane has lost contact at 06:17 a.m local time," the Indonesian transportation ministrys Acting Director General for Air Transportation Affairs Djoko Murdjatmojo said.

Djoko remarked that the plane departed from Surabayas Juanda airport at 05:36 Western Indonesian Standard Time (WIB) to Singapore. The AirAsia Airbus A320-200 followed the flight path that has previously been defined.

At 6:12 a.m local time, the plane was still traceable in air traffic control tower of Soekarno Hatta Airport at a height of 38,000 feet.

Then, at 6:16 a.m local time, the aircraft was still tracked on radar. He said that Captain Iriyanto asked permission to raise the height due to bad weather.

Djoko remarked that the aircraft disappeared from radar observations at 6:18 a.m local time. At that time, air traffic control officer monitored the presence of the plane, but the aircraft has lost contact at 7:55 a.m local time. (ANTARA)


-- TNA 2014-12-29

[sweatalot]

I am sure there are reasons, including bad weather, but it's a great concern when it takes so long for a search to get organized when a plane goes missing.

I have to admit that I am far from being an expert regarding air travel technicalities and search and rescue operations.

But the question comes to me: Why is it that not imidiately after learning that the plane was missing ships and aircrafts were sent for searching? The area where the plane disappeared was known, at least the direction were to go was known. I would understand if they had waited until it was sure the plane had run out of petrol., But waiting six or more hours when humans might be in danger and may be lives could be saved- isn't that a crime?

May be I am naive so I would be happy if some expert could explain

Edited December 29, 2014 by sweatalot

[jpinx]

What's the weather like today in the area? It seems that yesterday was very bad visibility

[jpinx]

I am sure there are reasons, including bad weather, but it's a great concern when it takes so long for a search to get organized when a plane goes missing.

I have to admit that I am far from being an expert regarding air travel technicalities and search and rescue operations.

But the question comes to me: Why is it that not imidiately after learning that the plane was missing ships and aircrafts were sent for searching? The area where the plane disappeared was known, at least the direction were to go was known. I would understand if they had waited until it was sure the plane had run out of petrol., But waiting six or more hours when humans might be in danger and may be lives could be saved- isn't that a crime?

May be I am naive so I would be happy if some expert could explain

Agreed. The SAR response was pitiful.

From Indonesia National SAR official briefing:

(all times local)

05:36 QZ8501 departed Juanda airport, Surabaya

06:12 Contacts Jakarta center 125.70 at FL320, requests weather deviation left of M635 airway and climb to FL380

06:16 QZ8501 still observed on radar

06:17 Radar contact lost. Radio contact lost. Only ADS-B signal remained. (what flightradar24.com and others use.)

06:18 All contact lost. Only flight plan view on radar screen.

07:08 ATC declares INCERFA (aircraft position uncertain)

07:28 ATC declares ALERTFA (emergency alert)

07:55 ATC declares DETRESFA (emergency distress)

http://www.thaivisa....dpost&p=8862090

50 minutes from the aircraft going off radio and off radar before they alerted anyone

9 hours before they accepted help with what was obviously going to be a difficult SAR operation

Edited December 29, 2014 by jpinx

[webfact]

AirAsia plane which went missing en route for Singapore is likely at the bottom of the sea, Indonesia's Search & Rescue Agency chief. /MCOT

[webfact]

Thailand offers search and rescue assistance for missing AirAsia plane



BANGKOK: -- Thailand's Department of Civil Aviation is offering assistance to Indonesia to send aircraft and ships to join in the search for the AirAsia plane which went missing Sunday with 162 passengers on a flight from Indonesia to Singapore.

As Indonesia is now leading the search and rescue operation, the department has offered help to Indonesian civil aviation to join the search, said a senior official of the department Monday.

The department is now in coordination with the Royal Thai Air Force and Royal Thai Navy to stand by their aircraft and ships to join the search today.

Meanwhile Indonesia resumed the search Monday morning after the jet disappeared more than 24 hours ago on a flight from Indonesia to Singapore.

First Admiral Sigit Setiayana, the Naval Aviation Center commander at the Surabaya air force base, said that 12 navy ships, five planes, three helicopters and a number of warships were talking part, along with ships and planes from Singapore and Malaysia. The Australian Air Force also sent a search plane.

Setiaya said visibility was good. “God willing, we can find it soon,” he told AFP today.

AirAsia Flight QZ8501 vanished in airspace thick with storm clouds on its way from Surabaya, Indonesia, to Singapore. Searchers had to fight against heavy rain on Sunday before work was suspended due to darkness.

The plane’s disappearance and suspected crash caps an astonishingly tragic year for air travel in Southeast Asia. The Malaysia-based carrier’s loss comes on top of the still-unexplained disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 in March and the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 in July over Ukraine.

AirAsia’s Airbus A320 took off Sunday morning from Indonesia’s second-largest city and was about halfway to Singapore when it vanished from radar.

The jet had been airborne for about 42 minutes.

There was no distress signal from the twin-engine, single-aisle plane, said Djoko Murjatmodjo, Indonesia’s acting director general of transportation.

The last communication between the cockpit and air traffic control was at 6:13 a.m. (23:13 GMT Saturday), when one of the pilots “asked to avoid clouds by turning left and going higher to 34,000 feet (10,360 meters).

The jet was last seen on radar at 6:16 a.m. and was gone a minute later.

Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia launched a search-and-rescue operation near Belitung island in the Java Sea, the area where the airliner lost contact with the ground.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/thailand-offers-search-rescue-assistance-missing-airasia-plane


-- Thai PBS 2014-12-29

[jpinx]

AirAsia plane which went missing en route for Singapore is likely at the bottom of the sea, Indonesia's Search & Rescue Agency chief. /MCOT

Quite staggering that the SAR people would speculate like this. I'm guessing this was some politicans comment -- not the professionals

[JetsetBkk]

AirAsia plane which went missing en route for Singapore is likely at the bottom of the sea, Indonesia's Search & Rescue Agency chief. /MCOT

Quite staggering that the SAR people would speculate like this. I'm guessing this was some politicans comment -- not the professionals

It was not a politician. It was an SAR person.

[webfact]

PM expresses condolences to families of passengers on board missing AirAsia plane

BANGKOK, 29 Dec 2014, (NNT) - Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha yesterday expressed his condolences to the families and friends of those aboard the missing AirAsia plane flight QZ8501, vowing to assist the Indonesian government searching for survivors or the plane wreckage if requested.

According to the statement made by Government Spokesperson Dr. Yongyuth Mayalarp, General Prayut is greatly saddened by the news of the plane missing in Indonesia after losing contact with the air traffic controllers, and the search for the missing plane is now underway.

The Thai Prime Minister has promised to give whatever assistance requested by the Indonesian Government or AirAsia in their search and rescue operations; however, such requests have yet to be made to the Thai Government, said the Spokesman.

AirAsia passenger jet flight QZ8501 with 162 people on board lost contact with the Indonesian air traffic control early yesterday. Boats have already been dispatched to search for survivors. The operation was called off at nightfall but expected to resume at daybreak today.

Officials said one of the pilots had asked for permission to fly at a higher altitude because of bad weather before communication was lost.

The aircraft, flying from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore, went missing as it flew at 38,000 feet over the Java Sea between the islands of Belitung and Borneo -- a heavily traveled shipping channel with shallow water.


-- NNT 2014-12-29

[JetsetBkk]

Unbelievable in this Day and Age , They cannot find a Jetliner of this size, it Boggles The Mind...

It's just a small dot when compared to the size of the sea.

[baboon]

Photographing stricken relatives and displaying them like this is in extremely poor taste in my opinion.

Vultures, some people.

[xygote]

I am sure there are reasons, including bad weather, but it's a great concern when it takes so long for a search to get organized when a plane goes missing.

I have to admit that I am far from being an expert regarding air travel technicalities and search and rescue operations.

But the question comes to me: Why is it that not imidiately after learning that the plane was missing ships and aircrafts were sent for searching? The area where the plane disappeared was known, at least the direction were to go was known. I would understand if they had waited until it was sure the plane had run out of petrol., But waiting six or more hours when humans might be in danger and may be lives could be saved- isn't that a crime?

May be I am naive so I would be happy if some expert could explain

Agreed. The SAR response was pitiful.

From Indonesia National SAR official briefing:

(all times local)

05:36 QZ8501 departed Juanda airport, Surabaya

06:12 Contacts Jakarta center 125.70 at FL320, requests weather deviation left of M635 airway and climb to FL380

06:16 QZ8501 still observed on radar

06:17 Radar contact lost. Radio contact lost. Only ADS-B signal remained. (what flightradar24.com and others use.)

06:18 All contact lost. Only flight plan view on radar screen.

07:08 ATC declares INCERFA (aircraft position uncertain)

07:28 ATC declares ALERTFA (emergency alert)

07:55 ATC declares DETRESFA (emergency distress)

http://www.thaivisa....dpost&p=8862090

50 minutes from the aircraft going off radio and off radar before they alerted anyone

9 hours before they accepted help with what was obviously going to be a difficult SAR operation

This is truly scary....

49 minutes elapse from loss of radar AND radio contact before they decide that the aircraft's position is uncertain? Surely that can't be right?!!

Then a further 20 minutes before they decide it warrants being called an emergency and finally a staggering further 27 minute delay before issuing an Emergency Distress?

Good grief. That seems like a mountain of incompetence to me, or am I way off?

That's a full 98 minutes between losing contact and deciding that it warrants a distress classification.....

Makes me nervous for my next flight over this area, especially as it will be on Malaysian Airlines again.

Edited December 29, 2014 by xygote

[Dannyboy666]

Unbelievable in this Day and Age , They cannot find a Jetliner of this size, it Boggles The Mind...

It's just a small dot when compared to the size of the sea.

. I kinda meant Technology Wise...

[HeijoshinCool]

Unbelievable in this Day and Age , They cannot find a Jetliner of this size, it Boggles The Mind...

It's just a small dot when compared to the size of the sea.

. I kinda meant Technology Wise...

.

In 1976, the NRO's KH-11 surveillance satellite was put into orbit. It was recently revealed its optics had resolution down to 3.9 inches, from two hundred miles above the earth.

What do you think they have nowadays?

[OMGImInPattaya]

Admiral Sigit, I don't think god will have anything to do with your locating the missing aircraft. It will have all to do with your own human effort and inate intellect (well in your specific case maybe not) and the science and technology your evolved species has discovered and invented that will hopefully find the plane soon.

[webfact]

Search expands for missing AirAsia passenger jet
TRISNADI MARJAN, Associated Press
MARGIE MASON, Associated Press

SURABAYA, Indonesia (AP) — Search planes and ships from several countries on Monday were scouring Indonesian waters over which an AirAsia jet carrying 162 people disappeared, and more than a day into the region's latest aviation mystery, officials doubted there could be anything but a tragic ending.

AirAsia Flight 8501 vanished Sunday in airspace thick with storm clouds on its way from Surabaya, Indonesia, to Singapore. The search expanded Monday, but has yet to find any trace of the Airbus A320.

"Based on the coordinates that we know, the evaluation would be that any estimated crash position is in the sea, and that the hypothesis is the plane is at the bottom of the sea," Indonesia search and rescue chief Henry Bambang Soelistyo said at a news conference.

First Adm. Sigit Setiayana, the Naval Aviation Center commander at the Surabaya air force base, said 12 navy ships, five planes, three helicopters and a number of warships were taking part in the search, along with ships and planes from Singapore and Malaysia. The Australian Air Force also sent a search plane.

Searchers had to cope with heavy rain Sunday, but Setiayana said Monday that visibility was good. "God willing, we can find it soon," he told The Associated Press.

The plane's disappearance and suspected crash caps an astonishingly tragic year for air travel in Southeast Asia. The Malaysia-based carrier's loss comes on top of the still-unexplained disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 in March and the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 in July over Ukraine.

At the Surabaya airport, passengers' relatives pored over the plane's manifest, crying and embracing. Nias Adityas, a housewife from Surabaya, was overcome with grief when she found the name of her husband, Nanang Priowidodo, on the list.

The 43-year-old tour agent had been taking a family of four on a trip to Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia's Lombok island.

"He just told me, 'Praise God, this new year brings a lot of good fortune,'" Adityas recalled, while weeping.

Nearly all the passengers and crew are Indonesians, who are frequent visitors to Singapore, particularly on holidays.

Flight 8501 took off Sunday morning from Indonesia's second-largest city and was about halfway to Singapore when it vanished from radar. The jet had been airborne for about 42 minutes.

There was no distress signal from the twin-engine, single-aisle plane, said Djoko Murjatmodjo, Indonesia's acting director general of transportation.

The last communication between the cockpit and air traffic control was at 6:13 a.m. (23:13 GMT Saturday), when one of the pilots asked to increase altitude from 32,000 feet (9,754 meters) to 38,000 feet (11,582 meters), Murjatmodjo said. The jet was last seen on radar at 6:16 a.m. and was gone a minute later, he told reporters.

Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia launched a search operation near Belitung island in the Java Sea, the area where the airliner lost contact with the ground.

AirAsia group CEO Tony Fernandes flew to Surabaya and said at a news conference that the focus for now should be on the search and the families rather than the cause of the incident.

"We have no idea at the moment what went wrong," said Fernandes, a Malaysian businessman who founded the low-cost carrier in 2001. "Let's not speculate at the moment."

Malaysia-based AirAsia has a good safety record and had never lost a plane.

But Malaysia itself has already endured a catastrophic year, with 239 people still missing from Flight 370 and all 298 people aboard Flight 17 killed when it was shot down over rebel-held territory in Ukraine.

AirAsia said Flight 8501 was on its submitted flight plan but had requested a change due to weather.

Sunardi, a forecaster at Indonesia's Meteorology and Geophysics Agency, said dense storm clouds were detected up to 13,400 meters (44,000 feet) in the area at the time.

"There could have been turbulence, lightning and vertical as well as horizontal strong winds within such clouds," said Sunardi, who like many Indonesians uses only one name.

Airline pilots routinely fly around thunderstorms, said John Cox, a former accident investigator. Using on-board radar, flight crews can typically see a storm forming from more than 100 miles away.

In such cases, pilots have plenty of time to find a way around the storm cluster or look for gaps to fly through, he said.

"It's not like you have to make an instantaneous decision," Cox said. Storms can be hundreds of miles long, but "because a jet moves at 8 miles a minute, if you to go 100 miles out of your way, it's not a problem."

Authorities have not said whether they lost only the secondary radar target, which is created by the plane's transponder, or whether the primary radar target, which is created by energy reflected from the plane's body, was lost as well, Cox said.

The plane had an Indonesian captain, Iryanto, who uses one name, and a French co-pilot, five cabin crew members and 155 passengers, including 16 children and one infant, the airline said in a statement. Among the passengers were three South Koreans, a Malaysian, a British national and his 2-year-old Singaporean daughter. The rest were Indonesians.

AirAsia said the captain had more than 20,000 flying hours, of which 6,100 were with AirAsia on the Airbus 320. The first officer had 2,275 flying hours.

"Papa, come home, I still need you," Angela Anggi Ranastianis, the captain's 22-year-old daughter pleaded on her Path page late Sunday, which was widely quoted by Indonesian media. "Bring back my papa. Papa, please come home."

At Iryanto's house in the East Java town of Sidoarjo, neighbors, relatives and friends gathered Monday to pray and recite the Quran to support the distraught family. Their desperate cries were so loud, they could sometimes be heard outside where three LCD televisions had been set up to monitor search developments.

"He is a good man. That's why people here appointed him as our neighborhood chief for the last two years," said Bagianto Djoyonegoro, a friend and neighbor.

Many recalled him as an experienced Air Force pilot who flew F-16 fighter jets before becoming a commercial airline pilot.

The missing aircraft was delivered to AirAsia in October 2008, and the plane had accumulated about 23,000 flight hours during some 13,600 flights, Airbus said in a statement.

The aircraft had last undergone scheduled maintenance on Nov. 16, according to AirAsia.

The airline, which has dominated cheap travel in Southeast Asia for years, flies short routes of just a few hours, connecting the region's large cities. Recently, it has tried to expand into long-distance flying through sister airline AirAsia X.

The A320 family of jets, which includes the A319 and A321, has a good safety record, with just 0.14 fatal accidents per million takeoffs, according to a safety study published by Boeing in August.

Flight 8501 disappeared while at its cruising altitude, which is usually the safest part of a trip. Just 10 percent of fatal crashes from 2004 to 2013 occurred while a plane was in that stage of flight, the safety report said.


-- (c) Associated Press 2014-12-29

[OMGImInPattaya]

Unbelievable in this Day and Age , They cannot find a Jetliner of this size, it Boggles The Mind...

The ocean is vast...not like your garden variety backyard swimming pool.

[NanLaew]

AirAsia plane which went missing en route for Singapore is likely at the bottom of the sea, Indonesia's Search & Rescue Agency chief. /MCOT

Quite staggering that the SAR people would speculate like this. I'm guessing this was some politicans comment -- not the professionals

How do you want it sugar-coated then? The plane is over 24-hours overdue, well out of fuel and with no indication that it crashed on or near any of the populated islands closest to the observed flight path or last reported position in the air.

[JetsetBkk]

Unbelievable in this Day and Age , They cannot find a Jetliner of this size, it Boggles The Mind...

It's just a small dot when compared to the size of the sea.

. I kinda meant Technology Wise...

.

In 1976, the NRO's KH-11 surveillance satellite was put into orbit. It was recently revealed its optics had resolution down to 3.9 inches, from two hundred miles above the earth.

What do you think they have nowadays?

They have people with binoculars in planes looking at the sea.

[Soutpeel]

Unbelievable in this Day and Age , They cannot find a Jetliner of this size, it Boggles The Mind...

Not if it's broken up into pieces,

What is unbelievable is there number of half wits from various farangistan countries who manage to find their way to Thailand on various aircraft who can barely tie their own shoe laces

Now that is mind boggling

Edited December 29, 2014 by Soutpeel

[jpinx]

Unbelievable in this Day and Age , They cannot find a Jetliner of this size, it Boggles The Mind...

Not if it's broken up into pieces,

What is unbelievable is there number of half wits from various farangistan countries who manage to find their way to Thailand on various aircraft who can barely tie their own shoe laces

Now that is mind boggling

So true -- and then expect to get the same nannying they would in their own farangland.

SAR in SEAsia has proved to be not reaching the higher levels of competence required for these situations - mostly at the command level and probably due to the politiking going on. Meantime there are possibly a considerable number of people floating in the ocean.

Here's hoping for an early result

[Mosha]

MSN UK reporting the Brit was on that flight because the previous flight was full..

[NeverSure]

The pilot asked for a change in heading and 1 minute later they lost contact with the plane.

The plane has a transponder that reports its position, heading, altitude and speed and its identity to Center. (Control Center.)

The plane has an Emergency Locator Transmitter (ELT) which begins to send a signal upon a crash or going into water. It puts out a strong beacon which can be heard by every aircraft in the vicinity and anything else that has a receiver. There have been a lot of airplanes flying the area.

I have heard an ELT while flying because someone accidentally turned it on while a plane was parked at an airport. Reports from me and other pilots about drove the Control Center nuts.

No one has any idea where the plane is. The best they can do right now is say it "most likely" went down in the ocean.

Oh really? Why did the transponder stop? Why doesn't someone hear the ELT?

[jpinx]

There's ELT's on the aircraft and I believe in the liferafts as well -- it beggars belief that they *all* failed