Air Asia Indonesia Flight QZ8501 missing - Second day & Update

Update on Day 3, Dec 30 - Wreckage found

NST reported that: An Indonesian warship recovered more than 40 bodies from the sea in the search for the AirAsia jet, a navy spokesman told AFP.

Dozens of floating bodies as well as bags and aircraft debris were first spotted by an Air Force Hercules C130 which flew over waters near Pangkalan Bun in Central Kalimantan at around 11:00am this morning. - Jakarta Post

CNN - Who was aboard AirAsia Flight QZ8501? A family, veteran pilots, a fiance and more

List of passengers aboard AirAsia QZ8501

AirAsia Emergency Call Centre
Malaysia: 03-2179 5959
Indonesia: +622129270811
Singapore: +6563077688
Korea: 00798142069940

AirAsia media statement on QZ8501


Day 2, Dec 29
Indonesia resumed at dawn this morning its search for the Indonesia AirAsia plane that went missing yesterday morning in the Java Sea with 162 people onboard.

Air traffic controllers lost contact with Flight QZ8501 around an hour after it left Juanda international airport at Surabaya in east Java at 5.35am local time Sunday.

The Airbus A320-200 was en route to Singapore when it disappeared after the crew requested a change of flight plan due to stormy weather.

According to Indonesia’s National Search and Rescue Agency chief, the plane is likely at the bottom of the sea.

“Based on the coordinates given to us and evaluation that the estimated crash position is in the sea, the hypothesis is the plane is at the bottom of the sea,” Bambang Soelistyo told a press conference.

“That’s the preliminary suspicion and it can develop based on the evaluation of the result of our search,” he said.

According to aviation experts, weather conditions around the Java Sea towards year end are known to be violent but not unmanageable.

Indonesia AirAsia Flight QZ8501 pilot had asked the air traffic control at 7.12am yesterday to deviate its flight path.

The plane, however, disappeared at 7.24am. Departing from Surabaya at 6.35am, it was sup­­posed to have landed in Singapore at 8.30am.

A Met Separt­ment spokesman when contacted confirmed that the Java Sea region had been experiencing thunderstorms and rain from 6am.

Malaysian Institute of Aviation Technology senior expert Ahmad Maulan Bardai said com­munication systems on aircraft such as the A320-200 was designed to work in bad weather.

The airline, Indonesia Air Asia, in an updated statement issued late Sunday, said it is cooperating with the relevant authorities to determine the cause of the incident.

For the families in Singapore, an emergency briefing room at Changi International Airport Terminal Two has been set up where AirAsia Indonesia will be providing regular updates.

An Emergency Call Centre has also been established, available for those seeking information about relatives or friends who may have been onboard the flight. The number is +622129270811.

Photo Gallery: AirAsia Indonesia Flt QZ8501 plane missing..



Source: The Star

MH17 - Remembrance

I saw this on CNN yesterday - truly moving. Thousands of people lined the streets and highway. Flowers were thrown as hearses passed by carrying victims of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 to Hilversum, Netherlands.

(Source: CNN)
According to the airline, Malaysia Airlines System, onboard MAS MH17 on July 17, 2013, were:

- 193 passengers from the Netherlands (including one with dual Dutch and US citizenship),
- 43 Malaysians (including 15 crew and two infants),
- 27 Australians,
- 12 Indonesians (including one infant),
- 10 from Britain (including one with dual British and South African citizenship),
- 4 from Germany
- 4 from Belgium,
- 3 from the Philippines,
- 1 from Canada
- 1 from New Zealand.

Source: The Star
Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai in a press conference, Saturday said Malaysia Airlines (MAS) flight MH17's flight path is considered a safe route and that

“MH17 flew at an altitude that was set and deemed safe by local air traffic control, and it never strayed into restricted airspace”.

“MH17’s flight path was a busy major airway, like a highway in the sky. It followed a route which was set out by the international aviation authorities, approved by Eurocontrol, and used by hundreds of other aircraft,”

The Boeing 777 is believed to have been shot down 50km from the Ukraine-Russia border.

(Source: The Star)

(Source: Google)

MH17 - aerial view of crash site

(Source: CNN)

MAS MH17 disaster enroute from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur

MAS flight MH17 makes it the second air disaster for the Malaysian national airline, merely four months and a week after flight MH370 mysteriously went missing en route to Beijing. (The latter plane is still missing though the search is still on.) I must add though that MAS does have a very good safety record.

As for MH17, it was reported that:
GRABOVE, UKRAINE: Dozens of severely mutilated corpses could be seen strewn in the wreckage of a Malaysian airliner that crashed Thursday in rebel-held eastern Ukraine, an AFP reporter at the scene said.

Debris was spread out for many kilometres and the tail of a passenger jet lay in a corn field with the Malaysian Airlines insignia on it while insurgent fighters and several fire trucks were seen nearby the crash site. - AFP

MH17 was en route home to Kuala Lumpur from Schiphol, Amsterdam. Onboard were 280 passengers and 15 crew members. My thoughts and prayers go our to their families and friends.

It is believed that the plane had been shot down by a surface-to-air missile (possibly from a BUK missile-launcher). Ukrainian Air Traffic Control (ATC) contacted MAS ATC that it had lost contact with flight MH17 at 1415 (GMT) at 30km from Tamak waypoint, approximately 50km from the Russia-Ukraine border.

The Boeing 777 airliner was cruising at 33,000 feet at the time, supposed to be at a safe height over that region. The requirement is to fly above 31,000 feet. The route used is a common airspace where planes fly.

The Star reported an unofficial list of the MH17 flight manifest which states the following:

- 20 Malaysians and two infants were on board
- Netherlands with 143 passengers (highest number of passengers)
- Australia comes in second with 27 passengers
- 11 Indonesian passengers and one infant
- Britain has six passengers
- France and Germany have four each
- Belgium have three
- Canada one
Nationalities of the other 58 passengers were not stated in the list.



Source: The Star

Latest plane crash in Indonesia

Not pretty! Another plane-crash in Indonesia. Fortunately, no one was killed.

The Star reported yesterday that an Indonesian passenger plane carrying 52 people (46 passengers and six crew) crash-landed at an eastern airport Monday, injuring two. This is the latest accident to hit the country's fast-growing aviation sector.

The turbo-prop MA-60 aircraft, operated by state-owned Merpati Nusantara airlines, was coming in to land at an airport in East Nusa Tenggara province when the accident happened. It was a domestic flight from the central island of Flores landing at El Tari airport in Kupang city at 9:40 am (0140 GMT).

In April of this year, a Lion Air passenger jet carrying 108 people missed the runway as it was coming in to land at Denpasar on the resort island of Bali. The plane crashed into the sea, splitting into two. No fatality there but dozens were injured.

In May 2011, an MA-60 operated by Merpati crashed in West Papua province, killing 25 people. Authorities banned the plane following that accident but ban was later lifted six months earlier.

Following that accident, authorities banned the plane - manufactured by Xi'an Aircraft Industrial Corporation - from landing at three airports with difficult approaches. El Tari (location of current crash) was not one of the airports affected by the ban. Merpati has been banned from flying in European Union airspace since 2007. - AFP


Source: The Star.. Indonesia passenger plane crash-lands, two injured

Indonesia Missing Sukhoi plane found

The Sukhoi plane that went missing at around 2:50pm yesterday with 50 people onboard during a demonstration flight over West Java in Indonesia, has been found according to The Jakarta Post. An official said this morning that the Russian Sukhoi Super Jet 100 airplane was spotted by one of the rescue helicopters.

Sukhoi Superjet 100 - Source: The Jakarta Post

The airplane was found at 9:15 a.m. this morning by the helicopter on a hill of Mt. Salak in Bogor, West Java, at the height of 5,500 feet above sea level. This is close to the height of Genting Highlands which is a little over 6000ft at its maximum level.

However, officials have not received reports on the details of the plane's condition.

The airplane was on a “road show” in several Central and Southeast Asian countries to introduce the airplane by conducting demonstration flights.


Sources:
- The Star
- The Jakarta Post

Mid-air Collision over Hudson River

Oh my goodness, a mid-air collision over the Hudson River, New York..

Air Crashes - Tokyo and Montana

MSN reported that In Tokyo, a FedEx cargo plane burst into flames after bouncing off a runway in unusually high winds at Tokyo's main international airport Monday, killing the pilot and copilot and closing a major runway for several hours.

The flight from Guangzhou, China, skipped along the main runway at Narita Airport before skidding to a fiery halt, according to footage from airport security cameras. Firefighters and rescuers immediately swarmed the plane.

The only people onboard the flight, the pilot and copilot, were pulled from the cockpit and taken to a local hospital, where they were later confirmed dead.

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Elsewhere in Montana, USA, there was another air disaster involving a small plane, possibly carrying children on a ski trip. The plane crashed Sunday as it approached the Butte airport, killing 14 to 17 people aboard. The single engine turboprop nose-dived into a cemetery 500 feet from its destination. The aircraft crashed and burned while attempting to land.

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Source: MSN

US Airways Plane Crash in New York's Hudson River

Today is yet another sunny day in Kuala Lumpur but reading the story of the US Airways plane-crash on the Hudson river in New York drives chills down my spine. Fortunately, all 155 passengers are safe and none serously injured.


150 passengers and five crew, were aboard the US Airways flight 1549, Airbus A320, bound for Charlotte, North Carolina from New York's LaGuardia Airport. The pilot made an emergency landing in the river just minutes after take off. A collision with a flock of birds apparently knocked out both engines. Rescue efforts were swift. Rescuers pulled all 155 people on board into boats as the plane sank.

More stories and pictures below:

All 155 survive plane crash in NY's Hudson River, The Star
All 155 Escape Jet’s Plunge Into Hudson, New York Times