AirAsia plane loses contact with traffic control in Indonesia

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**curran12**

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

Spoiler:

Erf. :\ I have a bad feeling about this. I hope it is not as serious as it seems, but I seriously doubt it.

**-Loki-**

Again this year?

Sigh.

**Breotan**

So, is this just coincidence or part of a larger pattern we're just not seeing yet?

Jethro Mullen wrote:AirAsia plane loses contact with traffic control in Indonesia

(CNN) -- The search is on for AirAsia Flight 8501, which lost contact with air traffic control in Indonesia, the airline said Sunday.

Flight QZ 8501 from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore lost contact with air traffic control at 7:24 a.m. Sunday (7:24 p.m. Saturday ET), AirAsia said

"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," AirAsia said in a statement.

The plane had 155 passengers and crew on board, the news agency Reuters reported, citing Indonesian transport officials.

The flight, an Airbus A320-200, was on its way from Surabaya in Indonesia to Singapore, according to the airline's website.

The plane left Juanda International Airport at 5:27 a.m. Sunday (5:27 p.m. Saturday ET) and was due to arrive in Singapore at 8:37 a.m. Sunday (7:37 p.m. ET), according to the website.

The loss of contact with the AirAsia plane comes more than eight months after the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which dropped off radar over Southeast Asia in March.

Searchers are yet to find any debris from Flight 370, which officials believe crashed in the southern Indian Ocean.

**sarpedons-right-hand**

It's aliens....has to be.

Otherwise what? An Asian version of the Bermuda Triangle? Air travel isn't as safe as we have been led to believe? A weird suicide pact between pilots? Or it's a bunch of Terrorists making the world a shittier place for a lot of people for reasons unknown to us and probably to them.

Or it's a genuine air accident. Again. In the same spot on the globe.

My brain hurts..

**Avatar 720**

According to the Telegraph website, there are unconfirmed local reports on Pulau Belitung of wreckage. I would link, but I'm unfortunately on a phone.

**AlexHolker**

Breotan wrote:
So, is this just coincidence or part of a larger pattern we're just not seeing yet?

This is the third Malaysian airliner this year. It could certainly be coincidence, but I would not be giving them the benefit of the doubt - when one country's airlines kill three times as many passengers as the rest of the world combined, that's cause for concern.

**Peregrine**

AlexHolker wrote:
This is the third Malaysian airliner this year. It could certainly be coincidence, but I would not be giving them the benefit of the doubt - when one country's airlines kill three times as many passengers as the rest of the world combined, that's cause for concern.

To be fair, one of them wasn't their fault at all.

**Ketara**

AlexHolker wrote:
Breotan wrote:
So, is this just coincidence or part of a larger pattern we're just not seeing yet?

This is the third Malaysian airliner this year.

Why is it Malaysian? It was flying over Indonesia/Borneo towards Singapore, and the company is called AirAsia Indonesia. About the only link to Malaysia that I can find is that one of their majority stockholders has some offices based in Malaysia, which is hardly a compelling reason to dub the flight 'Malaysian'.

**Pacific**

Think it used to be a Malaysian airline, then got bought out by Tony Fernandes and re-branded as AirAsia after it had gone bankrupt.

Not sure where the company HQ is though, assume if they have taken over the Malaysian company's infrastructure then it would be there.

**Avatar 720**

Wreckage and at least six bodies now confirmed to have been found. http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-asia-30630322

**Kilkrazy**

Good God! That's that, then.

At least they have found debris and confirmed the loss. The relatives of the March disappearance still don't know.

Also they will be able to recover the wreckage and find out what happened.

**dogma**

Pacific wrote:
Think it used to be a Malaysian airline, then got bought out by Tony Fernandes and re-branded as AirAsia after it had gone bankrupt.

Its still based in Malaysia.

**Kilkrazy**

I don't think there is any implication so far that this was not a tragic operational accident.

The pilot was a senior, respected flier with thousands of hours. The plane was a relatively new model and had been serviced in November, soon enough to be in tip top condition and to have worked out any bugs that might have been introduced.

The accident investigation undoubtedly will discover that the plane was hit by lightning or caught in a micro-burst or other extreme weather effect.

**djones520**

Word I heard was they encountered severe weather, probably turbulence in/near a thunderstorm. Requested a change in flight level, was denied due to surrounding air traffic, and then they lost contact.

Strong thunderstorm activity in that part of the world is very frequent.

**BlaxicanX**

I'd heard they'd been given clearance to ascend a few thousand feet higher, then lost contact shortly thereafter.

**Jihadin**

Pretty close to maximum attitude for the aircraft though I heard mention

**Grey Templar**

BlaxicanX wrote:
I'd heard they'd been given clearance to ascend a few thousand feet higher, then lost contact shortly thereafter.

I heard the opposite. The last transmission was them requesting a course alteration to rise above the clouds, and that the request was denied.

**d-usa**

http://kfor.com/2015/01/10/tail-of-airasia-plane-recovered-search-for-the-black-boxes-continues/

At least they keep on finding pieces and should be able to get the flight recorders.

**Frazzled**

Looks like they've retrieved one of the recorders.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2015/01/11/376534646/searchers-say-theyve-located-black-box-from-airasia-flight

**d-usa**

And looks like they know the location of the other one.

**d-usa**

Both black boxes found.

**master of ordinance**

ANOTHER one?!

Seriously, it seems that it is a bad year for airliners :/

**Frazzled**

d-usa wrote:
Both black boxes found.

Thats a positive.

**d-usa**

Found the main part of the plane today, with one of the wings still attached. So with most of the plane recovered and both boxes founds they should be able to determine what went wrong here. Which will be at least some comfort to the families involved.

**Frazzled**

Agreed. Blessings to them.

**whembly**

News is breaking that the last thing heard on the black box were "Allahu Akbar".

**Frazzled**

whembly wrote:
News is breaking that the last thing heard on the black box were "Allahu Akbar".

Hold up considering the pilots could have been of that faith that could have been a final prayer as they were going down.

This one doesn't feel terrorist. Its a small flight on an Asian airliner in a storm. There's no target here.

**whembly**

Frazzled wrote:
whembly wrote:
News is breaking that the last thing heard on the black box were "Allahu Akbar".

Hold up considering the pilots could have been of that faith that could have been a final prayer as they were going down.

This one doesn't feel terrorist. Its a small flight on an Asian airliner in a storm. There's no target here.

Maybe... going off my twittah feed...

Just saw this:
http://industri.bisnis.com/read/20150114/98/390864/allahu-akbar-allahu-akbar-kata-kata-terakhir-pilot-kapten-irianto-sebelum-airasia-jatuh-ke-laut
<translated by Google>

Bisnis.com, JAKARTA - Recordings Blackbox Air Asia found some time ago has been played. Incredible, the sound of the recording Pilot Captain irianto mention the phrase 'Allahu Akbar'. It was submitted by the expert examiner blackbox recording of National Transportation Safety Committee Nurcahyo Utomo. "Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar! they shouted it before he died," said Nurcahyo , as quoted Dailymail.co.uk, Wednesday (01/14/2015). "I can not imagine what happened when he shouted the words," he said. Nurcahyo admitted, listening to the recording requires a mentally strong enough. "It was like listening to music," he said. Nurcahyo deeply sad and nervous, as her captain irianto is a very meritorious because it taught him to fly. He claimed to have heard a recording of a conversation in the last moments before the plane crashed QZ8501 waste water. According to , listening to the last conversation on the plane will find the key cause of the crash of Air Asia.

**Kilkrazy**

Of course for a Muslim to say Allahu Akbar can be the same as a Christian saying Praise be to God or similar, so it would be rash to jump to the conclusion that the pilot suddenly decided to crash the plane by himself.

**whembly**

Yeah...Are these the words of a man who knows that, ready or not, by circumstances beyond his control, he is about to die? Or are they the words of a man deliberately turning an airliner into a lawn dart?

We'd need the full context.

Do they normally release full transcripts of the black box recordings?

EDIT: seems the news media got it "lost in translation" style and ate it up. (looking a yahoo here.)
http://www.nst.com.my/node/69503

I don't think they've actually listened to it yet (or reported the findings).