Search resumes for missing AirAsia passenger jet

[lanng khao]

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

that's coz they can't reach them..

[jpinx]

Sydney radio 2GB has just reported that an Aust aircraft in the search area has reported sighting "objects" floating in the search area....

http://www.pprune.org/rumours-news/553569-air-asia-indonesia-lost-contact-surabaya-singapore-18.html#post8800593

[EyesWideOpen]

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...

and also although the sea might be 'big', ,but i really cant imagine the search area to that vast, The plane checked in 1 minute before it vanished .If it vanished so suddenly without a distress call it didn't fly far. the report said planes go 8 miles / minute so even allowing for tolerances . You can put a point on a map and draw a circle with a 10 or 12 mile radius for a primary search area maybe a little more as a secondary one. ruling out land masses and areas populated by shipping and other air traffic. and the fact the plane wouldn't be carrying much full for a short trip even assuming that not beacons were activated and the pilot was oblivious to any problems on board. its as weird as the last disappearance. conspiracy theorists bring it on. as nothing makes sense.

I was thinking the same thing. They know the exact path it was on, and they know exactly where contact was lost. Seems like if the plane crashed they could find it in a couple of hours as the area would be so small. Strange........

[JetsetBkk]

and also although the sea might be 'big', ,but i really cant imagine the search area to that vast, The plane checked in 1 minute before it vanished .If it vanished so suddenly without a distress call it didn't fly far. the report said planes go 8 miles / minute so even allowing for tolerances . You can put a point on a map and draw a circle with a 10 or 12 mile radius for a primary search area maybe a little more as a secondary one. ruling out land masses and areas populated by shipping and other air traffic. and the fact the plane wouldn't be carrying much full for a short trip even assuming that not beacons were activated and the pilot was oblivious to any problems on board. its as weird as the last disappearance. conspiracy theorists bring it on. as nothing makes sense.

<snip>

i really cant imagine

<snip>

That is precisely the problem.

[easybullet3]

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.

i'm not sure if this is appropriate,,, but I am surprised that Thailand is helping out other countries. I rarely see Thailand doing stuff for free...

[webfact]

UPDATE

Objects Spotted In Sea In Missing Plane Search

An Australian plane has spotted objects in the sea during the hunt for the missing AirAsia flight QZ8501, officials have said.

Indonesian officials said the search team had made the discovery while searching for the jet which stopped communicating with air traffic control over the Java Sea in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Earlier, the chief of Indonesia's search effort said that the missing AirAsia passenger plane "is likely at the bottom of the sea".

Bambang Soelistyo added that an initial investigation into the disappearance had revealed that the "estimated crash position is in the sea".

More than a dozen ships have been sent to the area to try to find the aircraft.

Australia, Singapore and Malaysia have deployed planes to assist in the Indonesian-led search.

The UK, France and the US have offered technology to assist in the search for debris, much of which may not be on the surface.

Search teams are currently scouring an area where the sea is 40-50 metres (130-160 feet) deep, Mr Soelistyo told journalists.

Distraught relatives spent the night in the Indonesian city of Surabaya hoping for news of loved ones.

One, who called herself Intan, called on Indonesia to ask for help from other countries, rather than try to carry out the search alone.

She said: "My hope is Indonesia seeks as much help as possible from other countries. Don't claim 'We have sophisticated technology', just ask other countries because they are better equipped.

"My prayer is I really, really hope that there will be news about the people on board. Whatever it is, what is important is we know where they are now."

Air traffic controllers lost contact with the twin-engine aircraft around an hour after it left Surabaya's Juanda international airport at about 5.35am on Sunday local time (10.35pm on Saturday, UK Time).

The flight had been on its way to Singapore.

One Briton was among the 162 on board, with the rest from Indonesia, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia and France.

Source: http://news.sky.com/story/1399100/objects-spotted-in-sea-in-missing-plane-search

-- SKY NEWS 2014-12-29

[maidee]

thailand can ask their fleet of shrimp boats , if one of them saw anything

or send one of them helicopters

[billd766]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

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.

200 x 800 km at an ave depth of 150ft is hardly a vast ocean.

It is 160,000 square kilometres ignoring the depth. Assuming that it broke up on hitting the water that is an awfully big area to search especially if there are no locater beacons working.

[billd766]

Is this the former Geruda airline? The one that had their landing rights revoked in all countries due to abysmal safety records. Did they reinvent themselves in AirAsia?

Why don't you do a Google search? I am sure that you will find an answer.

[jpinx]

UPDATE

Objects Spotted In Sea In Missing Plane Search

An Australian plane has spotted objects in the sea during the hunt for the missing AirAsia flight QZ8501, officials have said.

Indonesian officials said the search team had made the discovery while searching for the jet which stopped communicating with air traffic control over the Java Sea in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Earlier, the chief of Indonesia's search effort said that the missing AirAsia passenger plane "is likely at the bottom of the sea".

Bambang Soelistyo added that an initial investigation into the disappearance had revealed that the "estimated crash position is in the sea".

More than a dozen ships have been sent to the area to try to find the aircraft.

Australia, Singapore and Malaysia have deployed planes to assist in the Indonesian-led search.

The UK, France and the US have offered technology to assist in the search for debris, much of which may not be on the surface.

Search teams are currently scouring an area where the sea is 40-50 metres (130-160 feet) deep, Mr Soelistyo told journalists.

Distraught relatives spent the night in the Indonesian city of Surabaya hoping for news of loved ones.

One, who called herself Intan, called on Indonesia to ask for help from other countries, rather than try to carry out the search alone.

She said: "My hope is Indonesia seeks as much help as possible from other countries. Don't claim 'We have sophisticated technology', just ask other countries because they are better equipped.

"My prayer is I really, really hope that there will be news about the people on board. Whatever it is, what is important is we know where they are now."

Air traffic controllers lost contact with the twin-engine aircraft around an hour after it left Surabaya's Juanda international airport at about 5.35am on Sunday local time (10.35pm on Saturday, UK Time).

The flight had been on its way to Singapore.

One Briton was among the 162 on board, with the rest from Indonesia, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia and France.

Source: http://news.sky.com/story/1399100/objects-spotted-in-sea-in-missing-plane-search

-- SKY NEWS 2014-12-29

1120 kms away from LKP of the missing aircraft

http://www.pprune.org/rumours-news/553569-air-asia-indonesia-lost-contact-surabaya-singapore-18.html#post8800627

Edited to addd....

Now conflicting reports of where the supposed objects have been seen....

Edited December 29, 2014 by jpinx

[NeverSure]

The only thing I can think about is incompetence; mechanical, structural or poor decisions. Perhaps it is time to begin making new routes for flights during stormy weather and to hell with numbers and profits. Picking a fight with a storm cell is about as idiotic as it comes, while taking years off the airplane's integrity. 15 extra minutes or an hour or so to go around and this type of thing can be a non-issue. I blame this on stupidity and greed.

My heartfelt sympathies to the families if the worst is true.

Given that no-one here was in the cockpit, and - AFAIK - not one of us has a commercial pilot's licence, perhaps it's a little early to be making those claims. The pilot reportedly had many thousands of hours flying time - doesnt mean he's infallible, but laying the blame at his feet when we still dont know exactly what happened seems premature for mine.

A commercial pilot's license isn't a big deal. It allows a pilot to fly things like charters etc. He will still most likely have a multi-engine rating and be for sure IFR rated.

An ATP (Airline Transport Pilot) is a step up but he must still have training and be certified in "type" meaning the type of aircraft he can fly.

I have a commercial, multi-engine license with certifications in Lear Jets, Citations and Conquests. I'm not current so I'd have to jump through some hoops now to be PIC but I have the license and the log book.

We have one member who for about 12 years was an aircraft controller for the military and then for civilian and he worked Center for a few years.

I think there's a lot more collective knowledge here than might meet the eye.

At least two people here have achieved ATP and at least two have achieved commercial including me.

[NeverSure]

search areas....

search-areas.jpg

http://news.metrotvnews.com/read/2014/12/29/337992/pencarian-qz8501-di-selat-karimata-dibagi-ke-dalam-lima-blok

Huge search areas that go well to the northwest of the last plotted position that we have seen. I would reckon that like AF447, the plane was in a nose-up stall with very little forward velocity and would have hit the water, tail-first at over 200 kmh, breaking up on impact.

The prevailing currents in that channel are flowing FROM the North-Northwest TO East-Southeast. If there is any wreckage, it will be towards the east.

And you come to that conclusion how? That never crossed my mind. The scenarios I'm thinking about don't include that. It's certainly possible but there are other equally plausible scenarios.

Cheers.

[webfact]

Unclear whether oil, objects found in sea linked to lost jet
TRISNADI MARJAN, Associated Press
MARGIE MASON, Associated Press

SURABAYA, Indonesia (AP) — An Indonesian helicopter saw two oily spots in the search area for the missing AirAsia jetliner Monday, and an Australian search plane spotted objects hundreds of miles away, but it was too early to know whether either was connected to the aircraft and its 162 passengers and crew.

In any case, officials saw little reason to believe AirAsia Flight 8501 met anything but a grim fate after it disappeared from radar Sunday morning over the Java Sea.

"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.

The Airbus A320-200 vanished Sunday morning in airspace thick with storm clouds on its way from Surabaya, Indonesia, to Singapore.

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

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

Air Force spokesman Rear Marshal Hadi Tjahnanto told MetroTV that an Indonesian helicopter spotted two oily spots in the Java Sea east of Belitung island. Unlike the Australian discovery, the oily spots were within the search area, which stretches 60 kilometers (37 miles) around the point where air-traffic controllers lost contact with the plane.

The last communication from the cockpit to air traffic control was a request by one of the pilots to increase altitude from 32,000 feet (9,754 meters) to 38,000 feet (11,582 meters) because of the rough weather. Air traffic control was not able to immediately grant the request because another plane was in airspace at 34,000 feet, said Bambang Tjahjono, director of the state-owned company in charge of air-traffic control.

By the time clearance could be given, Flight 8501 had disappeared, Tjahjono said. The twin-engine, single-aisle plane, which never sent a distress signal, was last seen on radar four minutes after the last communication from the cockpit.

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, and Malaysia in particular. Malaysia-based AirAsia's loss comes on top of the still-unexplained disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 in March with 239 people aboard, and the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 in July over Ukraine, which killed all 298 passengers and crew.

"Until today, we have never lost a life," AirAsia group CEO Tony Fernandes, who founded the low-cost carrier in 2001, told reporters in Jakarta airport. "But I think that any airline CEO who says he can guarantee that his airline is 100 percent safe, is not accurate."

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

Flight 8501 took off Sunday morning from Surabaya, 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.

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.

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 has dominated budget travel in Southeast Asia for years, highlighting its low fares with the slogan, "Now everyone can fly." It 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.


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

[ttl]

Perhaps Thailand could offer their Aircraft Carrier for use as a MOTHER ship,and search base, in the search vicinity to serve for refueling of planes

and ships etc

[epicstuff]

and also although the sea might be 'big', ,but i really cant imagine the search area to that vast, The plane checked in 1 minute before it vanished .If it vanished so suddenly without a distress call it didn't fly far. the report said planes go 8 miles / minute so even allowing for tolerances . You can put a point on a map and draw a circle with a 10 or 12 mile radius for a primary search area maybe a little more as a secondary one. ruling out land masses and areas populated by shipping and other air traffic. and the fact the plane wouldn't be carrying much full for a short trip even assuming that not beacons were activated and the pilot was oblivious to any problems on board. its as weird as the last disappearance. conspiracy theorists bring it on. as nothing makes sense.

<snip>

i really cant imagine

<snip>

That is precisely the problem.

I am sure there are qualified experts leading the search not me. I am, if you are to thick to realize throwing in some logic as an observer to the situation. based on the reported facts...

[Robby nz]

Really pisses me off when I see Thai bashers coming in on a topic like this, don't know whats wrong with clowns who do that. What I do know is that they shouldn't be anywhere near this country if they hate it that much.

Rant over, on to topic, hopefully the sighting by the OZ plane which will be a P3 which are specially fitted out for S&R is from the plane and will give a positive starting point.

The water isn't that deep there so finding things on the bottom should not be too difficult, although the weather at this time of the year in that area will be a big hindrance.

[NeverSure]

UPDATE

Objects Spotted In Sea In Missing Plane Search

An Australian plane has spotted objects in the sea during the hunt for the missing AirAsia flight QZ8501, officials have said.

Indonesian officials said the search team had made the discovery while searching for the jet which stopped communicating with air traffic control over the Java Sea in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Earlier, the chief of Indonesia's search effort said that the missing AirAsia passenger plane "is likely at the bottom of the sea".

Bambang Soelistyo added that an initial investigation into the disappearance had revealed that the "estimated crash position is in the sea".

More than a dozen ships have been sent to the area to try to find the aircraft.

Australia, Singapore and Malaysia have deployed planes to assist in the Indonesian-led search.

The UK, France and the US have offered technology to assist in the search for debris, much of which may not be on the surface.

Search teams are currently scouring an area where the sea is 40-50 metres (130-160 feet) deep, Mr Soelistyo told journalists.

Distraught relatives spent the night in the Indonesian city of Surabaya hoping for news of loved ones.

One, who called herself Intan, called on Indonesia to ask for help from other countries, rather than try to carry out the search alone.

She said: "My hope is Indonesia seeks as much help as possible from other countries. Don't claim 'We have sophisticated technology', just ask other countries because they are better equipped.

"My prayer is I really, really hope that there will be news about the people on board. Whatever it is, what is important is we know where they are now."

Air traffic controllers lost contact with the twin-engine aircraft around an hour after it left Surabaya's Juanda international airport at about 5.35am on Sunday local time (10.35pm on Saturday, UK Time).

The flight had been on its way to Singapore.

One Briton was among the 162 on board, with the rest from Indonesia, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia and France.

Source: http://news.sky.com/story/1399100/objects-spotted-in-sea-in-missing-plane-search

-- SKY NEWS 2014-12-29

1120 kms away from LKP of the missing aircraft

http://www.pprune.org/rumours-news/553569-air-asia-indonesia-lost-contact-surabaya-singapore-18.html#post8800627

Edited to addd....

Now conflicting reports of where the supposed objects have been seen....

Early reports are hard to trust although I always hope they find it.

[Asiantravel]

search areas....

search-areas.jpg

http://news.metrotvnews.com/read/2014/12/29/337992/pencarian-qz8501-di-selat-karimata-dibagi-ke-dalam-lima-blok

Huge search areas that go well to the northwest of the last plotted position that we have seen. I would reckon that like AF447, the plane was in a nose-up stall with very little forward velocity and would have hit the water, tail-first at over 200 kmh, breaking up on impact.

The prevailing currents in that channel are flowing FROM the North-Northwest TO East-Southeast. If there is any wreckage, it will be towards the east.

An Australian aviation expert said even last night they think the plane was flying too slowly (picked up from radar information)

“The QZ8501 was flying too slow, about 100 knots which is about 160kph too slow. At that altitude that is exceedingly dangerous.

“I have a radar plot which shows him at 36,000 feet and climbing at a speed of 353 knots, which is approximately 100 knots too slow. If the radar return is correct, he appears to be going too slow for the altitude he is flying at.”

https://my.news.yahoo.com/airasia-qz8501-likely-flying-too-slow-bad-weather-040044599.html

[jpinx]

Corrected location of objects apparently seen in the water...

http://www.pprune.org/rumours-news/553569-air-asia-indonesia-lost-contact-surabaya-singapore-19.html#post8800644

[krisb]

Aus news just reported debris spotted by Aus air force 1000km from the search area.

[oldsailor35]

I wonder if Thailand has offered its highly prized dirigible for the search.It does not appear to have done much since its expensive purchase.

[oldsailor35]

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

Thats why most of us use thongs, we are not as dumb as you might think.

[NeverSure]

It's interesting to follow, but I'm waiting for someone to find an identifiable piece of the very plane. All these false hopes so far must be hard on the families.

[MrWorldwide]

@neversure, I stand corrected and I dont doubt the accuracy of your claims, but we both know that we're far more likely to be joined in this thread by former Special Forces personnel (hundreds of them in Pattaya alone ..) than someone who has flown an Airbus loaded with passengers through a storm. My point was that its a little early to be drawing conclusions re the competence of the pilot - my only experience in the area being the time I served with an Aviation regiment in the Australian Army. We lost a helicopter crew on nothing more challenging than a daylight training flight in fine weather - one can only wonder what must have raced through the instructors mind as his aircraft spiralled out of control, having taught literally hundreds of trainee pilots to fly : it certainly gave me a new appreciation for the aircraft that do stay in the air for the allotted time.

[oldsailor35]

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

you obvious have not idea how big the ocean is.

And you obviously have no idea how far radio signals can carry !

[jabis]

The flight went silent from flightradar24.com 12 minutes before going missing from the radar (the storm affecting the data transfer I'd suppose - same same with earlier flights regarding the weather maps ).

Last ping data was timestamped 1419721970, which translates to Sat, 27 Dec 2014 23:12:50 GMT or Sun, 28 Dec 2014 07.12:50 GMT+8 (SGT), with this data:

position: -3.990410, 110.226000 ( on map: https://goo.gl/maps/QScTz )

altitude: 32000 ft / 9754 m

speed: 469kts / 868.6 km/h

heading: 310

squawk: 7001

The leaked radar photo had 36300ft and doing only 350kts, but there were no coordinates nor heading there - has the official last position been announced?

[Doc46]

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.

Well if the plane has not landed it must have falling out of the sky into the ocean,,,,,,,Unless it has landed somewhere and kept secret,,,,,,Then the Big Question WHY ,,,,,,?

[slipperylobster]

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.

Wish everyone could turn on cell phones and such...as many have better GPS than the airlines do. Then if a plane goes down, they could find it, by the frantic calls going out.

[oldsailor35]

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.

When I was at school, our teacher put the 18 inch classroom globe on his desk. He then stuck a pin in it right in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

I'll never forget his words;

"If you were adrift in a lifeboat, that pinhole would be your horizon"

That's how big these oceans are. Therefore agree with you.

If your teachers 'pin' had a radio attached, the horizon would have been a little further than he could have imagined.

[jpinx]

It's interesting to follow, but I'm waiting for someone to find an identifiable piece of the very plane. All these false hopes so far must be hard on the families.

They'll need slow low passes to look for survivors or bodies in the water. Then scramble whatever ships and/or helicopters can retrieve them before dark. Here's hoping.......