The geek with a cynical view: Indonesia AirAsia Flight 8501

Indonesia AirAsia Flight 8501
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This article documents an ongoing aviation incident. Information may change rapidly as the event progresses, and initial news reports may be unreliable. (December 2014)

Indonesia AirAsia Flight 8501
PK-AXC, the missing aircraft, pictured in 2011
Incident summary
Date 28 December 2014
Summary Missing
Site Last known position over Java Sea

3.2466°S 109.3682°E Coordinates:

3.2466°S 109.3682°E [1]
Passengers 155
Crew 7
Missing 162 (all)
Aircraft type Airbus A320-216
Operator Indonesia AirAsia
Registration PK-AXC
Flight origin Juanda International Airport, Surabaya, Indonesia
Destination Singapore Changi Airport

Indonesia AirAsia Flight 8501 (QZ8501/AWQ8501) is an Indonesia AirAsia Airbus A320-216 flight that went missing en route to Singapore from Surabaya, Indonesia on 28 December 2014[2] with 155 passengers and 7 crew on board.[3]

Indonesia AirAsia is an affiliate of Malaysian low-cost airline AirAsia. The incident is the third in 2014 involving a Malaysian airline or its affiliate(s), after the loss of Malaysia Airlines Flights 370 and 17 earlier in the year.[4]

Contents [hide]
1 Disappearance
1.1 Timeline of disappearance
2 Aircraft
3 Passengers and crew
4 Search and rescue effort
5 Response
6 See also
7 Notes
8 References
9 External links

The flight took off from Juanda International Airport, Surabaya, at 05:35 Western Indonesian Time (WIB, UTC+7) and was scheduled to land at Singapore Changi Airport at 08:30 Singapore Standard Time (SST, UTC+8).[5] The plane had been under Indonesian air traffic control when it requested to deviate from its original flight path due to poor weather conditions.[6] The pilot had requested to climb to 38,000 feet (11,600 m) to avoid thick clouds,[7] although the final altitude indicated by the transponder and collected by Flightradar24 was 32,000 ft (9,750 m).[5] The plane lost contact with air traffic control at 06:17 WIB[a] while travelling over theJava Sea between Kalimantan (Borneo) and Java,[3] still under Indonesian air traffic control, at normal cruising altitude and speed.[10] A meteorological analysis revealed that the aircraft was traversing a storm cluster during the minutes prior to its disappearance.[11]

No distress signal was sent from the missing aircraft, the Indonesian Transport Ministry said.[12][13]

The aircraft was operated by AirAsia Indonesia, and the Air Operator Certificate was issued by the Indonesia Director General of Civil Aviation. According to International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Indonesia is below, or does not meet the ICAO eight critical safety elements established by ICAO.[14] Indonesia is currently listed by the U.S. FAA International Aviation Safety Assessment Program (IASA Program) as Category 2 meaning that Indonesia does not meet International Civil Aviation Organization International (ICAO) Standards for Air Operator oversight. Air Asia Indonesia does not fly into the European Union and therefore not on the EU Blacklist. [15] [16]
Timeline of disappearance[edit]
Elapsed (HH:MM)TimeEvent
UTC WIB
UTC+7SST
UTC+8
00:00 27 December 28 December Take-off from Juanda International Airport [5]
22:35 05:35 06:35
00:42 23:17 06:17 07:17 Lost from Indonesian air traffic control radars[9]
00:49 23:24 06:24 07:24 Lost radio contact with air traffic control[9]
01:55 28 December 07:30 08:30 Missed scheduled arrival at Singapore Changi Airport (WSSS)[5]
00:30

Aircraft[edit]

The aircraft is an Airbus A320-216,[b] with serial number 3648, registered as PK-AXC. It first flew on 25 September 2008, and was newly delivered to AirAsia on 15 October 2008. The aircraft had accumulated approximately 23,000 flight hours in some 13,600 flights. It had undergone its most recent scheduled maintenance on 16 November 2014.[8] The aircraft is powered by two CFM International CFM56-5B6 engines and is configured to carry 180 passengers.[17]
Passengers and crew[edit]

AirAsia released the nationalities of the 162 passengers and crew which include 144 adults, 17 children and 1 infant. The cabin crew consisted of four flight attendants. Additionally, AirAsia had an engineer as part of the aircrew onboard.[18]

The pilots aboard the flight were:[19]
Captain Iriyanto, who had a total of 20,537 flying hours, of which 6,100 were with AirAsia Indonesia on the Airbus A320.
First Officer Rémi Emmanuel Plesel, who had a total of 2,275 flying hours with AirAsia Indonesia[20]
People on board by nationality[21]NationNo.

Indonesia [c] 155

South Korea 3

France [d] 1

Malaysia 1

Singapore 1

United Kingdom 1
Total 162

Search and rescue effort[edit]

Search and rescue operations have been ongoing under the guidance of the Civil Aviation Authority of Indonesia.[8][22] The search was suspended at 7.45 pm local time on 28 December due to darkness and bad weather, to be resumed in daylight.[23] An operations center to coordinate search efforts is being set up in Pangkal Pinang.[24]

Shortly after being confirmed missing, Indonesia's National Search and Rescue Agency deployed seven ships and two helicopters to search the shores of Belitung and Kalimantan.[25] The Indonesian Navy and the provincial Indonesian National Police Air and Water Unit each sent out search and rescue teams.[26] In addition, an Indonesian Air Force Boeing 737 reconnaissance aircraft was dispatched to the last known location of the airliner.[27]

The Indonesian Navy confirmed that it had dispatched four ships by the end of the first search day, joining the initial search efforts. Further aircraft, amongst them a CASA/IPTN CN-235, have also joined from the Indonesian Air Force.[28] The Indonesian Army deployed ground troops to search the shores and mountains of adjacent islands.[29]

Singapore's Rescue Coordination Centre (RCC), managed by the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) and supported by various agencies, including the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF), has also initially deployed a C-130 Hercules aircraft to aid in the search and rescue operation.[30] An officer from Singapore will be deployed to Jakarta to coordinate with the Indonesian authorities on the search operations, and two more C-130 Hercules aircraft will be deployed for the second day of the search and rescue operation.[31]

Malaysia's government has also set up a rescue coordination center at Subang and has deployed three military vessels and three aircraft, including a C-130 Hercules, to assist in search and rescue operation.[32][33][34]
Response[edit]

Secondary radar image that has been leaked (released without permission) and shows Flight 8501 (circled in yellow) at an altitude of 36,300 ft (11,100 m) and climbing, while only travelling at 353 kn (654 km/h; 406 mph) ground speed.

Indonesia AirAsia, following the disappearance, changed its website and social media branding to greyscale images, in mourning for the presumed deaths of the passengers.[35][36] An emergency call center has also been established by the airline, for family or friends of those who may have been on board the aircraft.[8]

An emergency information center was set up at Juanda International Airport, providing hourly updates and lodging for relatives.[37] Smaller posts were also opened at Soekarno–Hatta International Airport [38] and Sultan Hasanuddin International Airport.[39]

Immediately following the incident, unconfirmed and speculative early reports suggested that the flight had crashed off the island of Belitung in Indonesia.[40][41][42]

Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Hsien Loong expressed his condolences over the missing AirAsia flight via Twitter: "Saddened to hear of missing flight #QZ8501. My thoughts are with the passengers and their families. - LHL."[43] Prime Minister Lee also called President Joko Widodo and offered help in the search as stated in another tweet.

Prime Minister of Malaysia Najib Razak also issued an announcement via Twitter: "Very sad to hear that AirAsia Indonesia QZ8501 is missing. My thoughts are with the families. Malaysia stands ready to help."[44]

Prime Minister of Australia Tony Abbott contacted Indonesian President Widodo offering assistance in the search for the aircraft. A statement provided by his office stated that "Australia would do whatever we humanly could to assist" and that they had a P-3 Orion aircraft on standby to help assist in the search.[45]

India has put on standby three ships and a maritime surveillance aircraft for assistance in the search operation. Indian Navy sources said one ship in Bay of Bengal and another two in Andaman Sea have been put on standby. Along with these, a Boeing P-8I aircraft has also been put on standby.[46]
See also[edit]

The geek with a cynical view

Sunday, December 28, 2014

Indonesia AirAsia Flight 8501

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