The search is on for an AirAsia plane
carrying 162 people that lost contact with air
traffic control in Indonesia on Sunday.
Before communication was lost, AirAsia Flight
8501 asked to deviate from its planned flight
route -- from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to
Singapore -- because of weather conditions,
AirAsia said in a statement.
Flight 8501 went missing at 7:24 a.m. Sunday
(7:24 p.m. Saturday ET) as it flew over the Java
Sea. From flight tracking websites, it looks as
though almost the entire flight path is over the
sea.
"At this time, search and rescue operations are
being conducted under the guidance of the
Indonesian Civil Aviation Authority," AirAsia said.
Of the people on board the Airbus A320-200,
156 are Indonesian, three are South Korean,
one is French, one is Malaysian and one is
Singaporean, the airline said. It had earlier said
157 of those on the plane are Indonesian.
Sixteen children and one infant were among the
passengers, the carrier said.
"Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers.
we must stay strong," AirAsia Chief Executive
Tony Fernandes said on Twitter.
Flight 8501 "was requesting deviation due to en
route weather before communication with the
aircraft was lost," the airline said.
Bad weather was in evidence in the region at
the time, CNN meteorologist Derek Van Dam
said.
"We still had lines of very heavy
thunderstorms" when the plane was
flying, Van Dam said. "But keep in
mind, turbulence doesn't necessarily
bring down airplanes."
But CNN aviation analyst Mary
Schiavo questioned whether weather
would have been a factor in what
happened to the plane.
"Ordinarily, the pilots would get the
updated weather from air traffic
control and, of course, their onboard
radar," said Schiavo, a former
inspector general for the U.S.
Department of Transportation. "So whether
there was (bad) weather in the area would not
be a mystery."
AirAsia is a Malaysia-based airline that is
popular in the region as a budget carrier. It has
about 100 destinations, with subsidiaries in
several Asian countries.
The airline has a "very good" reputation for
safety, CNN aviation correspondent Richard
Quest said.
The loss of contact with the AirAsia plane comes
nearly 10 months after the disappearance of
Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which dropped off
radar over Southeast Asia on March 8.
Searchers are yet to find any debris from Flight
370, which officials believe crashed in the
southern Indian Ocean.
U.S. President Barack Obama has been briefed
about the missing AirAsia plane, White House
spokesman Eric Schultz said, adding that U.S.
officials will continue to monitor the situation.


Link: www.cnn.com/2014/12/27/world/asia/airasia-missing-plane/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

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