AirAsia plane missing between Indonesia and Malaysia

[180]

An AirAsia flight travelling from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore has lost contact with air traffic control, the company has said.
Indonesian media say 162 people were on board.
The aircraft, flight number QZ8501, lost contact with air traffic control just after 07:00am local time, AirAsia tweeted.
The company said that search and rescue operations were under way for the missing plane.
An official with the transport ministry, Hadi Mustofa, told local media the plane lost contact over the Java sea, which lies between Surabaya and Singapore.

[Rudy]

Looks like there's a storm in the area. I wonder if icing would be a factor again.

http://www.jma.go.jp/en/typh/

[Go Guns]

Looks like there's a storm in the area. I wonder if icing would be a factor again.

http://www.jma.go.jp/en/typh/

The flight path is pretty far southwest of that area you're referencing.

[darkskyequeen]

Here is a pretty helpful page diagnosing the weather and flight path..
http://www.weathergraphics.com/awq8501/

[Pop n Fresh]

Air Asia seems to be on the case trying to get information out. Well done so far.
I am hopeful but "Lost contact 8 minutes out." sounds pretty bad.

http://crisis.airasia.com/index.html

[skypirate88]

Looks like there's a storm in the area. I wonder if icing would be a factor again.

http://www.jma.go.jp/en/typh/

The flight path is pretty far southwest of that area you're referencing.

CBC has been reporting that the crew had requested deviations due to weather just prior to losing contact.

My thoughts are with those affected.

[Pop n Fresh]

I have been spreading bad info. Looks like the 8 minutes comment I read somewhere is misleading.

Here is a timeline. http://abcnews.go.com/International/air ... om=related

The whole area seems to be covered by many storms.

[Illya Kuryakin]

Pretty nasty weather, to actually take out an airliner. But, that appears to be early indications. Must have been (if correct) a bloody nightmare for all on board.
Illya

[sportingrifle]

An A-320 with 155 pax and fuel for the this flight would be pretty heavy. Shortly before disappearing they asked for a climb from FL320 to FL380. Not a lot of margin a FL380 for a heavy 320. Maybe this had nothing to do with anything, but I sure hope they didn't try and outclimb a thunderstorm.

[timel]

Crew informations have been released, RIP, sad story.

http://m.theepochtimes.com/n3/1165035-a ... ia-flight/

[Bede]

An A-320 with 155 pax and fuel for the this flight would be pretty heavy. Shortly before disappearing they asked for a climb from FL320 to FL380. Not a lot of margin a FL380 for a heavy 320. Maybe this had nothing to do with anything, but I sure hope they didn't try and outclimb a thunderstorm.

I agree. I don't think you could make FL380 in an A320 when it's that heavy. I know the 737-800 won't and it performs a heck of a lot better than the A320.

[Mig29]

Damn it, I can't believe another one is gone this year. I hope this time they can actually recover the plane, and be more proactive then with the MH370.

FL380 is possible, the restriction is FL398, even with a fairly heavy A320. You have to factor in that the distance was less then 750nm (aprox), so even with a full load, it's not at its limit of 77t. Only question is what it available at the time and would it make any difference in this kind of weather.

My prayers and thoughts are with the families.

[grimey]

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/12/is-i ... ia-flight/

[CFR]

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/12/is-i ... ia-flight/

Ummm ... I got nothin

[MIQ]

True story. I've heard all pilots of America Airlines are handflying all flights within US airspace. Because, you know, that's just what Cowboys do. But then again, they also smoke a cigarette while doing that.

On a more serious note, according to BBC parts were spotted that appear to belong to the wreckage of the missing Air Asia plane. Another aircraft reported they saw a shadow in the ocean that could be resembling the shape of the A320. Seems like they're getting close to it. After 3 days on open whatever I don't think there are any hopes for survivors. Hopefully they at least get to recover the flight data and cockpit voice recorder so that the industry can learn from this accident.

[fish4life]

Watching the news this morning they have recovered some bodies but the more shocking part is the Garmin 296 mounted to the glare shield of the search airplane... I used one of those for time building.

[Joe Blow Schmo]

An A-320 with 155 pax and fuel for the this flight would be pretty heavy. Shortly before disappearing they asked for a climb from FL320 to FL380. Not a lot of margin a FL380 for a heavy 320. Maybe this had nothing to do with anything, but I sure hope they didn't try and outclimb a thunderstorm.

I agree. I don't think you could make FL380 in an A320 when it's that heavy. I know the 737-800 won't and it performs a heck of a lot better than the A320.

Really? So therefore you must be assuming that the pilots decided to intentionally climb above max alt? That's a pretty low opinion you have of your fellow aviators.

[Eric Janson]

An A-320 with 155 pax and fuel for the this flight would be pretty heavy. Shortly before disappearing they asked for a climb from FL320 to FL380. Not a lot of margin a FL380 for a heavy 320. Maybe this had nothing to do with anything, but I sure hope they didn't try and outclimb a thunderstorm.

You can't outclimb thunderstorms in this part of the world - tops are normally FL450 +

It is quite common to have a high cloud deck with the CB's embedded. What does work well is to climb above this cloud layer and then avoid the thunderstorm tops visually.

From what I've seen the weather wasn't anything unusual for this area of the world.

Ignore the commentary in the media - total crap so far!

[Liquid Charlie]

you must be assuming that the pilots decided to intentionally climb above max alt

-- let's make one change -- not max altitude but above optimum altitude and yes I have seen it many times where crews will intentionally do this -- it's not efficient - costs fuel and to me not an ideal situation for turbulence -- thicker air is better -- maybe we will find out what happened now the wreckage has been located -- hoping the recorders are in good shape -- very sad indeed and sobering

[Jerz]

Another AirAsia overruns the runway at Kalibo in Philippines:

http://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=172583

[Joe Blow Schmo]

you must be assuming that the pilots decided to intentionally climb above max alt

-- let's make one change -- not max altitude but above optimum altitude and yes I have seen it many times where crews will intentionally do this -- it's not efficient - costs fuel and to me not an ideal situation for turbulence -- thicker air is better -- maybe we will find out what happened now the wreckage has been located -- hoping the recorders are in good shape -- very sad indeed and sobering

We're not talking about optimum altitude. We're talking about max altitude. Bede said he didn't think the A320 could make FL380 at that weight. The implication is that he thinks they attempted to climb above max altitude.

As Eric says, climbing to get on top of a cloud layer so that you can visually pick up the cells is a very common, and effective practice around here.

Also, due to the endless criss-crossing airways, standard level allocations are not available for many/most airways in the area. Many airways have specific levels that are available, not the standard odds eastbound and evens westbound. In inclement weather the available levels are often reduced even more to cater for aircraft deviating around weather and potentially crossing other airways. I haven't looked up the specific airway they were on, but it is quite possible that the next permissible level above FL320 was FL380. So it's quite possible that their initial level of FL320 was well below optimum but initially a better choice than FL380. At some point along the route it became more economical to climb to FL380.

Often out of Jakarta the only allowable levels are FL300 or FL380 and that's when the weather is good.

[skypirate88]

http://www.pilotcareercenter.com/Aviati ... a+confirms

It appears they have found the aircraft

[Pop n Fresh]

At least there is closure but I feel for the families losing loved ones.

[Eric Janson]

Just another clarification - so far the media has this wrong....

Air Asia is a brand. There are multiple companies operating under this brand.

The missing aircraft is part of an Indonesian owned company with an Indonesian registration and Indonesian AOC.

Air Asia in Thailand and the Philippines operate in a similar manner.

[Jerz]

Just another clarification - so far the media has this wrong....

Air Asia is a brand. There are multiple companies operating under this brand.

The missing aircraft is part of an Indonesian owned company with an Indonesian registration and Indonesian AOC.

Air Asia in Thailand and the Philippines operate in a similar manner.

That what branding is all about. You can not have it both ways. One day you boast about the success story of the AirAsia (and all the different companies operating in the group), next day, after things go wrong, you blame the other guys. Joe Public goes to AirAsia counter, be it in Kuala Lumpur, Manila, or Jakarta , boards AirAsia plane , and reads AirAsia propaganda in the In Flight magazine. He gets AirAsia experience and has no idea about different companies operating in AirAsia colours.

When you get bad fries at MacDonals in Toronto, you don’t complain about your experience at franchise such and such. You bitch about sh*ty MacDonalds fries...