AirAsia Flight QZ8501 from Indonesia to Singapore missing

An AirAsia Airbus 320-200 with 162 people on board on Flight QZ8501 went missing on Sunday morning after pilots asked to divert from their designated route to avoid heavy weather. The passenger jet took off from the Indonesian city of Surabaya and was scheduled to arrive in Singapore, said Indonesian officials.

AirAsia Flight QZ 8501 lost contact with Jakarta Air Traffic Control (ATC) at 6:17 a.m. local time, said AirAsia officials, adding that the crew of the Airbus 320-200 was on its scheduled flight path when the crew requested permission for a deviation due to heavy weather. Shortly after asking for permission to avert heavy weather, the plane lost contact to Jakarta ATC while it was still under control of the Indonesian Air Traffic Control.

Search and rescue operations have been launched. Indonesian Transportation Minister Joko Muryo Atmodjo stated that the plane hadn’t sent any distress signal before contact was lost. The Indonesian Air Force is participating in the search and rescue operation.

Contact to the plane was reportedly lost while the Airbus 320-200 was between the Indonesian port of Tanjung Padan and the town of Pontianak, located in West Kalimatan on the Island of Borneo said Atmodjo during a press conference.

The Indonesian Branch of Air Asia informed that there were 155 passengers and seven crew on board Flight QZ8501. AirAsia reprted on its Facebook page the there have been 149 passengers from Indonesia, 2 passengers from South Korea, and respectively one passenger from Singapore, Malaysia and the United Kingdom on board of the plane.

Flight QZ8501 was scheduled to arrive in Singapore at 8:30 a.m., equivalent to 0030 GMT. AirAsia described both the pilot and the first officer as experienced aircrew.

Neither the Malaysian AirAsia nor any of its affiliated AirAsia airlines in India, Indonesia, the Philippines or Thailand have had any major incidents or crashes before. The registration number of the missing Airbus 320-200 is PK-AXC.

Malaysia’s AirAsia Chief Tony Fernandez thanked everyone for their thoughts and prayers, using his Twitter account to communicate, adding that “We must stay strong”.

Regardless of the outcome of the search and rescue operation for Flight QZ8501, the year 2014 has already been a year of tragedy for the region.

"I was very sad when I read and see the news fall back an airline. Especially when I read a news article interview to one of the children of the pilot. Very tough when reporters asked how they felt as a child of one of the victims of the crash. If it happened to me maybe I can not as strong and tough like them. In the event of an accident we as a society should not blame or accuse anyone, because this event is an accident that we ourselves did not know when disaster will be fall us".

Source of news : http://nsnbc.me/2014/12/28/airasia-flight-qz8501-from-indonesia-to-singapore-missing/