AirAsia QZ8501 Missing

[ukaskew]

AirAsia Indonesia regrets to confirm that flight QZ8501 from Surabaya to Singapore has lost contact with air traffic control at 07:24hrs this morning.

At the present time we unfortunately have no further information regarding the status of the passengers and crew members on board, but we will keep all parties informed as more information becomes available.

The aircraft was an Airbus A320-200 with the registration number PK-AXC.

At this time, search and rescue operations are in progress and AirAsia is cooperating fully and assisting the rescue service.


AirAsia has established an Emergency Call Centre that is available for family or friends of those who may have been on board the aircraft. The number is: [phone].

AirAsia will release further information as soon as it becomes available. Updated information will also be posted on the AirAsia website, www.airasia.com.

https://mobile.twitter.com/AirAsia/status/54904891...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-30614627

[dvs_dave]

Oh st. Hoping for a good outcome...

[onyx39]

Not looking good

http://www.pprune.org/rumours-news/553569-air-asia...

[unrepentant]

3rd incident involving a Malaysian airline in a year.

They need to reach out to the NTSB immediately if this plane is lost, as it appears to be.

[unrepentant]

All Air Asia logos on social media changed from red to grey.......

[Gingerbread Man]

That link has an unconfirmed report of it being down in the sea.

[Skywalker]

Hoping that this ends well... Fearing that it won't

[Petrus1983]

Wreckage reportedly has been found east of Belitung Island. A sad day indeed.

Here's a picture of the weather map in the area at the time -

[phumy]

I live in the westerly-northern tip of Java, Indonesia and we have had some very heavy rain over the last 3 to 4 days along with some big thunderstorms.

[Stu R]

Hoping it's not as awful as it seems, however the heavy use of past tense doesn't bode well, I fear.

[Asterix]

Not again!

[King Herald]

This is a worry. I've used Air Asia several times in the last few years. They also seem to farm out their planes too, as I've booked on other local airlines and then noticed the plane I climb aboard has the huge Air Asia logo on the side......

[thehawk]

I've no idea about the weather in this flight, but thunderstorms in that region are very routine, I fly around 8 flights a month out of Singapore and would rarely not see lightning and thunder clouds.

[Stevanos]

I flew with Air Asia on over 25 flights in the last 5 years, always been very good and reliable, aircraft seemed pretty new too.

Sad news.

[Crush]

Theres talk of a successful emergency landing in East Belitung with all on board surviving (text message from person on board to family member). But just reported by one source

http://news.detik.com/read/2014/12/28/144850/27883...

Edited by Crush on Sunday 28th December 09:06

[Crush]

Theres talk of a successful emergency landing in East Belitung with all on board surviving (text message from person on board to family member). But just reported by one source

http://news.detik.com/read/2014/12/28/144850/27883...

Edited by Crush on Sunday 28th December 09:06

[thehawk]

Crush said:

Theres talk of a successful emergency landing in East Belitung with all on board surviving (text message from person on board to family member). But just reported by one source

http://news.detik.com/read/2014/12/28/144850/27883...

Edited by Crush on Sunday 28th December 09:06

Unlikely, no radio from the pilots and a single message from a Blackberry.

[onyx39]

kapiteinlangzaam said:

Air Asia has actually (up until now) being historically a safe airline. With no incidents at all in its 10yr history.

I will be interested to see how experienced the fight crew are.

Thunderstorms are not a laughing matter, and its when things start to go wrong / get stressful that real piloting skills and experience become essential.

The request to deviate and change FL is all perfectly routine in the case of weather avoidance, so I wouldnt read anything in to that.

The last radar update shows a climbing indication passing FL363 with a ground speed of 350ish knots, which is VERY slow even before we begin to allow for wind components etc. Inadvertent stall springs to mind.

Presumably RIP to those involved.

Also pretty close to services Ceiling of 390 according to a quick search on Google. How far above this would the pilots have to go before they get into trouble due to altitude.

[rich85uk]

Got 3 flights booked in the next few weeks with this airline, as someone else said now a 3rd Malaysian aircraft that appears to have come to a terrible ending, I will be keeping an eye on this story and be doing some serious thinking in the next few days...

[carreauchompeur]

Horrible.

As others have said, I was under the impression that AirAsia's fleet was very young- flew on them in 09 with no problems.