AirAsia Flight QZ8501 from Indonesia to Singapore Goes Missing with 162 On Board Over Java Sea

AirAsia Flight QZ8501 Missing:

AirAsia Flight QZ8501 from Surabaya, Indonesia to Singapore with 162 individuals, 155 passengers (17 children & 1 infant) and 7 crew members, aboard has gone missing Sunday over the Java Sea. According to reports, the AirAsia plane took off Sunday morning from Surabaya, Indonesia and was about halfway to its destination to Singapore. The plane lost contact about 42 minutes after takeoff. According to Djoko Murjatmodjo, Indonesia’s acting director general of transportation, the last communication between Flight QZ8501 pilot and air traffic control was at 6:13 AM, when the pilot “asked to avoid clouds and bad weather by turning left and going higher to 34,000 feet.” The plane  was last seen on radar at 6:16 AM and a minute later was no longer. A search for the missing airplane has found no sign of the plane.

Several hours of searching Indonesian waters turned up no sign of an AirAsia plane that disappeared Sunday with 162 people on board in airspace possibly thick with dense storm clouds, strong winds and lightning, officials said.

Aircraft searching for AirAsia Flight 8501 called off the effort for the night and will resume at Monday morning, said Achmad Toha of Indonesia’s search and rescue agency. Some ships were continuing the search overnight, he said.

The plane took off Sunday morning from Surabaya, Indonesia’s second-largest city, and was about halfway to its destination, Singapore, when it vanished from radar.

The last communication between the pilot and air traffic control was at 6:13 a.m., when the pilot “asked to avoid clouds by turning left and going higher to 34,000 feet.” It was last seen on radar at 6:16 a.m., and a minute later was no longer there, Djoko Murjatmodjo, Indonesia’s acting director general of transportation, told reporters.

More than 12 hours later, shocked family members huddled at the Surabaya airport from where the Airbus A320 had taken off, awaiting any news of the jetliner, operated by an airline whose parent company is based in Malaysia.

VIDEO – NBC

The following is a statement from the AirAsia airline’s Facebook page:

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.

CNN:

An AirAsia passenger jet carrying 162 people lost contact with Indonesian air traffic control early Sunday, gripping Southeast Asia with a second missing plane crisis in less than a year.

The search operation for the missing AirAsia Flight QZ8501 has been halted for the night, but big ships won’t return to shore and will leave their searchlights on, according to the Indonesian Transportation Ministry.

Before communication was lost, one of the pilots asked to fly at a higher altitude because of bad weather, officials said.

The aircraft, flying from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore, went missing as it flew at 38,000 feet over the Java Sea between the islands of Belitung and Borneo — a heavily traveled shipping channel with shallow waters, according to Indonesian authorities, who are leading the search and rescue operations.

UPDATE I: Authorities called off the aerial search for the night.

Rescuers scouring Indonesian waters for an AirAsia plane that went missing with 162 people aboard had turned up no sign of the missing jet more than 10 hours after it lost contact with air-traffic control, officials said Sunday.

After hours of scouring the Java Sea, Indonesian authorities called off the aerial search for the night. Achmad Toha of Indonesia’s search and rescue agency said some ships in the area would continue looking for the missing plane overnight, according to The Associated Press.

UPDATE II: ABC News - Time Line of Events.

• Take off scheduled: 5:20 a.m. Sunday Surabaya time (5:20 p.m. Saturday ET)
• Take off actual: 5:36 a.m. Sunday Surabaya time (5:36 p.m. Saturday ET)
• Indonesia lost contact with plane, according to Indonesian transportation ministry: 6:17 a.m. Sunday Surabaya time (6:17 p.m. Saturday ET)
• Scheduled to land: 7:57 a.m. Sunday Singapore time (9:57 p.m. Saturday ET)
• Normal flight duration: 1 hour 21 minutes
• Duration of flight from takeoff to lost contact: 41 minutes