On Dec. 28, an Airbus A320-200, registration
number PK-AXC, flying as AirAsia Indonesia
flight QZ8501 from Juanda International
Airport, Surabaya, to Changi Airport, Singapore,
lost contact with Air Traffic Control at 06:24 LT
over Java Sea.
155 passengers were on board the aircraft: 137
adults, including 2 pilots and 4 cabin crew and 1
engineer, 17 children and 1 infant.
The aircraft was piloted by a captain with an
experience of 20,537 flying hours, 6,100 of
which were with AirAsia Indonesia on the
Airbus A320. The first officer had a total of
2,275 flying hours with AirAsia Indonesia.
According to Indonesia’s Transport Ministry,
while flying at FL320 (32,000 feet), QZ8501
requested to deviate and climb to FL380 to
avoid very bad weather in the area. Clearance
to climb could not immediately be granted
because of nearby air traffic.
The Ministry said the aircraft could be tracked
by ADS-B until 06:18, when it went missing from
radars. Flight crew did not radio any mayday or
emergency message.
Noteworthy, a leaked ATC image published
by Gerry Soejatman on Twitter shows the
AirAsia flight climbing through 36300ft with a
Ground Speed of only 353 knots: provided the
image is genuine, the radar screenshot would
show an airplane much slower than expected at
that altitude (a nearby Emirates flight at FL360
– 36,000 feet – was flying at 503 knots).
Flightradar24 receivers have tracked the flight
by means of ADS-B until 06:12, when the
aircraft was at FL320, 469 knots, 310° heading.
Although any attempt to explain the reason for
the disappearance of the AirAsia flight is pure
speculation at this time, we can’t but notice at
least one apparent similarity with another
famous crash: Air France 447.
AF447 was an Airbus 330 from Rio de Janeiro to
Paris that plummeted 38,000 feet in 3 minutes
and 30 seconds and crashed into the Atlantic
Ocean in 2009. In that case, pilots responded to
a stall, induced by inconsistencies between the
airspeed measurements likely due to pitot tubes
being obstructed by ice, by pulling the nose up
instead of pushing it down to attempt a recover.
Even though a low Ground Speed can be caused
by strong head winds, the fact that nearby
Emirates was cruising at 36,000 feet at a speed
of 503 knots, seems to suggest that the missing
Airbus 320 was probably too slow and closer to
the stall speed than it should have been.
Anyway, although no sign of wreckage, oil,
debris were found so far, experts believe there
are more chances to locate the aircraft than
the Malaysia Airlines MH370 which vanished in
March this year and has not be found yet.
This article originally appeared at The
Aviationist. Copyright 2014. Follow The
Aviationist on Twitter.

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