BREAKING: An AirAsia plane carrying passenger from Surabaya to Singapore has been reported missing.
More reports HERE
Source: Time
AirAsia (Indonesia) Flight QZ8501 Incident
![Indonesia AirAsia Airbus A320-216; PK-AXC at Singapore Changi Airport (SIN), 2011 By Aero Icarus from Zürich, Switzerland [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a3/Indonesia_AirAsia_Airbus_A320-216%3B_PK-AXC%40SIN%3B07.08.2011_617eo_%286068918367%29.jpg)
DEVELOPING STORY
KUALA LUMPUR, December 28th 2014 (Sunday): An Indonesia AirAsia flight (QZ 8501) from Surabaya, Indonesia has lost contact with air traffic control on at 6:17 AM (local time, Indonesia) – 2317 hrs GMT.
All times are stated in Malaysian Standard Time (MST, GMT +8:00) unless specified otherwise.
An official from Indonesian Transport Ministry, Hadi Mustofa said the plane asked for unusual route before losing contact with air traffic controller.
The flight is scheduled to arrive Singapore at 8:30 AM but it has yet to arrive.
It is currently unknown whether Flight QZ 8501 has anything to do with the weather or not.
Flight Path
Shortly after departure, the aircraft disappeared at cruising altitude and speed. Main article: AirAsia QZ 8501 flight path
It deviated few degrees by heading from it original route shortly before it disappeared. From weather data near to the point of lost contact, the aircraft is seen traversing through bad weather area.
Passengers and Crew
The Airbus A320-200 had 155 passengers for QZ 8501. The total figure given by TIME is 162.
The flight comprise of 149 Indonesians, 2 Koreans, 1 Singaporean, 1 Briton and 1 Malaysian (source).
The pilot is identified as Iriyanto.
The Aircraft
The aircraft in flight QZ 8501, Airbus A320-200 is registered as PK-AXC. The ICAO-designated PK-prefix means it is registered in Indonesia.
The aircraft has just 4.5 hours of fuel left at the time of disappearance.
Search and Rescue Process
Click here for search and rescue effort by country
The aircraft is confirmed missing as of 7:55 AM while the last contact occured at 7:24 AM (6:24 AM Western Indonesia Time).
Day 1: Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia worked together to search for the missing plane. Australia has also offered assistance of deemed necessary. No positive results have been found.
Day 2: Royal Australian Air Force and Navy has joined the search. As of 11:21 AM, no positive results have been found.
Jurisdiction
The aircraft is registered in Indonesia and owned by an Indonesian company, AirAsia Indonesia. Besides, the incident does not occur in Malaysia. Therefore, Malaysian government is not involved with this incident. Read more here.
Contact Information
AirAsia has established an emergency call centre for family and friends of those who are affected. The phone number is +622129850801.
Please check back this page for updates.
Source: CNBC
AirAsia Flight QZ 8501 – 1st Statement by AirAsia
The following statement is posted on its Facebook page and shared via Twitter @airasia as well.
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: +622129850801.
AirAsia will release further information as soon as it becomes available. Updated information will also be posted on the AirAsia website, www.airasia.com.
MH 114 Declared Emergency, Switched Back to Normal Landing
Malaysia Airlines’ Kathmandu-bound MH 114 has declared emergency en route to Kathmandu, enough to cause a stir among aviation enthusiasts and plane spotters. Twitter feed can be seen flooded with questions asking about the aircraft. Flightradar app also displayed a notification regarding the emergency status.
After few time in turnaround, the plane changed back squawk code to 2000 (no longer in emergency) and proceed with landing. The aircraft involved is 9M-MXA, in Malaysia Airlines retro livery.
AirAsia Flight QZ 8501 – Flight Path
Flightradar24 via its Twitter account @flightradar24 has published the flight path for AirAsia QZ 8501.
From the picture, we can see that the aircraft lost its ADS-B transmission while it is in cruise altitude and speed. This is quite unlikely as the aircraft is at the safest phase during cruise phase.