Divers Have Recovered One of AirAsia Flight 8501′s Black Boxes (Data Flight Recorder) From Bottom of Java Sea

ABC News is reporting that divers have recovered one of AirAsia Flight 8501′s black boxes from the bottom of the Java sea. Fox News reported, Henry Bambang Soelistyo, chief of Indonesia’s search and rescue agency, says the flight data recorder was brought to the surface by four divers early Monday morning.  said Bambang Soelistyo said, the device was found under the wreckage of one of the plane’s wings. However, the planes cockpit flight recorder has yet to be found.

AirAsia Flight QZ8501 from Indonesia to Singapore went missing at 6:17 a.m. Sunday Surabaya time (6:17 p.m. Saturday ET) with 162, 155 passengers (17 children & 1 infant) and 7 crew members over Java Sea.

Divers have retrieved one of the black boxes from AirAsia Flight 8501 that crashed into the Java Sea two weeks ago, officials said today.

Mardjono Siswosuwarno, the chief investigator with Indonesia’s National Transportation Safety Committee, said the cockpit voice recorder has not yet been retrieved but its position has been determined and it will be “a matter of hours” until its brought to the surface.

Search crews hoisted the tail of the jet from the sea on Saturday, but the black boxes were not found inside.

Tail of Missing AirAsia Flight 8501 Plane Is Found in the Java Sea

The tail of missing AirAsia Flight 8501 has been found in the Java Sea by sonar. An Indonesian official confirmed Wednesday that divers and an unmanned underwater vehicle had spotted the tail of missing AirAsia Flight 8501. However, search crews are still looking for the plane’s black box flight recorder. AirAsiaFlight 8501 went missing on December 28, 2014 with 162 on board after losing contact with air traffic control in bad weather.

The head of Indonesia’s search and rescue agency said Wednesday that the tail of AirAsia Flight 8501 had been spotted in the Java Sea, a development that could be significant because the plane’s so-called black boxes were contained there.

“The tail section has been found and confirmed,” the official, Bambang Soelistyo, said at a news conference.

He said that the object was identified by sonar early Wednesday and that navy divers and a remote-controlled underwater vehicle had been deployed to confirm the discovery. The team took a photograph of what Mr. Soelistyo said was part of the tail, and it was broadcast on national television.

Flight 8501, an Airbus A320-200, crashed into the Java Sea on Dec. 28 with 162 people aboard, less than an hour after taking off from the Indonesian city of Surabaya bound for Singapore.

Confirmed, Debris & Bodies Found in Java Sea is That of Missing AirAsia Flight 8501

CONFIRMED …

The debris found floating in the Java Sea has been confirmed that of missing AirAsia Flight 8501 that lost contact with air traffic control on Sunday. At least 40 bodies and numerous pieces of debris were located in the Java Sea about 6 miles from the plane’s last known point of contact. The AirAsia plane went missing on Sunday in bad weather after the pilot had requested to deviate from flight plan. The plane carried 162 passengers, 18 of which were children. Sadly, all on board are most likely deceased.

VIDEO

At least 40 bodies have been found in the area where AirAsia Flight 8501 last made contact with air traffic controllers, along with debris from the plane.

The bodies were found in the Java Sea about six miles from the plane’s last known point of contact. The plane disappeared Sunday with 162 people on board traveling from Surbaya, Indonesia to Singapore.

The bodies were were not wearing life jackets, according to Indonesia’s National Search and Rescue Director, SB Supriyadi.

Rescue workers were shown on local TV being lowered on ropes from a hovering helicopter to retrieve bodies. Efforts were hindered by 6-foot waves and strong winds, Supriyadi said, adding that several bodies were later picked up by a navy ship.

VIDEO – WSJ: With near certainty, airplane debris found off Indonesia’s Borneo island is from AirAsia Flight 8501,
say Indonesian officials. The WSJ’s Ramy Inocencio speaks with Southeast Asia bureau chief Patrick McDowell.

AirAsia Flight QZ8501 LIVE: Indonesia Navy says over 40 bodies recovered, plane not yet found – Raw VIDEO: Debris Off Indonesia.

Indonesian officials coming off a helicopter in Pangkalan Bun spotted several bodies floating in waters near where the missing AirAsia flight was last seen. Several pieces of debris have also been spotted floating in the sea off Borneo island, an Indonesia National Search and Rescue spokesman said Tuesday.

# The bodies were found about 160 kilometers (100 miles) from land and 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the plane’s last communication with air-traffic control.

# Ten pieces of debris were found during the search for the ill-fated AirAsia Indonesia aircraft southwest of Pangkalan Bun in Central Kalimantan.

Search Expands for Missing AirAsia Flight QZ8501 … Likely at ‘Bottom of the Sea’

The search for AirAsia Fkight QZ8501 that went missing Sunday with 162 on board continues. However, some fear that the plane is at the “bottom of the sea”.

CNN:

The search for a missing airliner with 162 people aboard will expand Tuesday, the Indonesian government announced.

Four additional areas will be searched, the national search and rescue agency said.

Seven zones were patrolled Monday, the second day of searching for AirAsia Flight QZ8501.

So far, the search has been fruitless.

“Our early conjecture is that the plane is in the bottom of the sea,” said Bambang Sulistyo, the head of the search and rescue agency. That belief is based on the plane’s flight track and last known coordinates.

Officials may need help from other countries for an underwater search, he said.

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