JAKARTA (Reuters) - An AirAsia
flight with 162 people on board
lost contact with air traffic
control on Sunday after the
pilots asked to change course to
avoid bad weather during a
flight from the Indonesian city
of Surabaya to Singapore,
Indonesian officials said.

Indonesia AirAsia Flight QZ
8501, an Airbus 320-200, lost
contact with the Jakarta air
traffic control tower at 6:17
a.m. (6.17 p.m. EST), officials
said.
"The aircraft was on the
submitted flight plan route and
was requesting deviation due to
enroute weather before
communication with the aircraft
was lost while it was still under
the control of the Indonesian air
traffic control," the airline said
in a statement.
No distress signal had been sent,
said Joko Muryo Atmodjo, air
transportation director at the
Indonesian Transport Ministry.
A search and rescue operation
had been launched, the airline
and the Indonesian air force
said. Singapore said it had
activated its air force and navy
to help.
Indonesia AirAsia is 49 percent
owned by Malaysian-based
AirAsia.
The aircraft was between the
Indonesian port of Tanjung
Pandan and the town of
Pontianak, in West Kalimantan
on Borneo island, when it went
missing, Atmodjo told a news
conference.
The aircraft had been flying at
32,000 feet and had asked to fly
at 38,000 feet to avoid clouds, he
said.
Tanjung Pandan is the main
town on Belitung island, roughly
half-way between Surabaya and
Singapore, and Singapore's
Channel News Asia television
said there was bad weather over
the island at the time the plane
went missing.
Indonesia AirAsia said there
were 155 passengers and seven
crew on board. It said 157 people
on the flight were Indonesian,
with three from South Korea and
one each from Singapore and
Malaysia.
The plane had been due in
Singapore at 8:30 a.m.
Singapore time (0030 GMT).
The airline said the captain and
first officer were both
experienced.
Neither Malaysia's AirAsia nor
any of its affiliates in Indonesia,
Thailand, the Philippines and
India have had any major
incidents or crashes.
Tony Fernandes, chief of
Malaysia's AirAsia, said on
Twitter: "Thanks for all your
thoughts and prayers. We must
stay strong."
The incident comes at the end of
a disastrous year for the region's
airlines.
Malaysia's national flag carrier,
Malaysia Airlines, lost two
aircraft this year.
Flight MH370 went missing on
March 8 on a trip from Kuala
Lumpur to Beijing with 239
passengers and crew on board
and has still not been found.
On July 17, Flight MH17 was shot
down over Ukraine, killing all
298 people on board.

As usual....we hope against hope that somehow and somewhere they would be found alive.

Thoughts and prayers with the families....

anoda missing plane