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Indonesian official says missing AirAsia jet is believed to be at the bottom of the sea Search for missing AirAsia jetliner yields no solid evidence of its location or fate
(about 9 hours later)
BEIJING — Rescue crews in the Java Sea widened their search Monday for a missing AirAsia plane with 162 people aboard even as Indonesian authorities speculated the main wreckage was already out of reach at the bottom of the sea. BEIJING — As the search for a missing AirAsia passenger plane stretched into its third day, authorities widened their hunt and asked for outside help, even as hopes dimmed among families of the 162 people aboard the jet.
A second day of reconnaissance yielded little, and hopes for survivors faded as each hour passed. Indonesian authorities said Monday they believe the plane already lies at the bottom of the sea, complicating the search and prompting them to ask the United States, Britain and France for more advanced equipment.
“I want my son to come back alive and well, but if that’s not meant to be — if God doesn’t want that — it’s in the hands of fate,” said Suwarto, the father of the pilot identified by local media as Iriyanto, the BBC reported. Like many Indonesians, they use just one name. The Pentagon said details of that assistance are still being worked out, but would likely include “air, surface and sub-surface detection capabilities.”
An Indonesian helicopter crew spotted only two oily patches. Search officials, however, said it was unclear whether they were related to the Singapore-bound aircraft — whose last air traffic contact Sunday was a request by the pilot to climb to 38,000 feet after encountering rough weather. An Indonesian helicopter crew on Monday afternoon spotted two oily patches. But search officials said it is too soon to tell whether they were related to the Singapore-bound aircraft — whose last air traffic contact Sunday was a request by the pilot to climb to 38,000 feet after encountering rough weather. Bambang Soelistyo, chief of the National Search and Rescue Agency, told reporters Monday that authorities believe the main wreckage has already sunk to the sea bed based on the plane’s last coordinates and the estimated crash position, near Belitung island in the Java Sea.
The sudden disappearance and frustrating maritime search is eerily familiar to the Malaysia Airlines jetliner that disappeared over the Indian Ocean in March. That plane, with 239 people on board, is still lost. In a statement issued late Monday, search officials said they have deployed 12 helicopters, 11 planes and 32 ships, including assets from Malaysia, Singapore and Australia — with more than 1,100 personnel involved. Even fishing boats have been tapped in the widespread search for wreckage, authorities said.
Indonesian authorities called their belief that the jet plunged to the seabed a “preliminary suspicion.” National Search and Rescue Agency chief Bambang Soelistyo told reporters that the theory was based on the plane’s last coordinates and the estimated crash position. The father of the pilot, Iriyanto, who like many Indonesians only has one name, told reporters he was making peace with God about his son’s likely death. “I want my son to come back alive and well but if that’s not meant to be, if God doesn’t want that, it’s in the hands of fate,” Suwarto told the BBC.
But Soelistyo said Indonesia lacks the equipment needed to find and retrieve a plane from such depths and has reached out to other countries for help, including the United States, Britain and France. And the sister of the French co-pilot, Remi Piesel, told a radio station, “We want them to find the plane, to explain to us what happened.” But Renee Piesel said they realize that “when a plane falls out of the sky, there are hardly any survivors.”
In the Indonesia city of Surabaya, where the flight began, the relatives of passengers gathered for news at the airport. Each wore a sign around their neck saying “keluarga,” meaning family. The sudden disappearance and frustrating maritime search is eerily similar to the Malaysia Airlines jetliner, Flight MH370, that disappeared over the Indian Ocean in March. The whereabouts of the plane, with 239 people aboard, are still a mystery.
Meanwhile, more vessels and planes joined the search. Indonesia’s state-owned navigation provider, AirNav, gave local media a detailed account on Monday of Flight QZ8501’s last contact with air traffic controllers on Sunday.
Indonesia’s vice president, Jusuf Kalla, told reporters 30 ships and 15 aircraft have been deployed. Included in the search are vessels and planes from Malaysia, Singapore and Australia. South Korea said it also planned to send a surveillance plane. Wisnu Darjono, AirNav’s safety and standard director, said the pilot asked Soekarno-Hatta airport’s air traffic control at 6:12 a.m. for permission to turn left to avoid bad weather. Permission was granted, and the plane turned seven miles to its left flank, the Jakarta Post reported.
The Airbus A320-200 encountered a string of thunderstorms and heavy clouds over the Java Sea. Indonesia’s state-owned navigation provider AirNav gave local media an account of the plane’s last contact with air traffic controllers. The pilot then requested to climb from 32,000 to 38,000 feet but did not explain why.
AirNav safety and standard director Wisnu Darjono said the pilot asked Soekarno-Hatta Airport’s air traffic control at 6:12 a.m. for permission to turn left to avoid bad weather. Permission was granted, and the plane turned seven miles to its left flank, the Jakarta Post reported. Jakarta’s air traffic control conferred with Singapore-based counterparts and agreed to allow increasing the altitude to 34,000 feet because a second AirAsia flight, QZ8502, was flying at 38,000 feet.
The pilot then requested to climb from 32,000 to 38,000 feet, but did not explain why. But by the time air traffic controllers relayed the permission to climb at 6:14 a.m., there was no reply, Darjono said.
Jakarta’s air traffic control conferred with Singapore-based counterparts for a few minutes and agreed to allow increasing the altitude to 34,000 feet because a second AirAsia flight QZ8502 was flying above at 38,000 feet. Investigators are trying to locate debris from the crash and then work backward following currents to find the wreckage on the seabed. To do so, they will need ships equipped with advanced sonar and search vehicles that can look for signs of the wreckage underwater, experts said.
By the time they relayed the permission to climb at 6:14 a.m., there was no reply, Darjono said.
Investigators are trying to locate debris from the crash and then work backwards following currents to find the wreckage on the seabed. To do so, they will need ships equipped with advanced sonar and search vehicles that can look for signs of the wreckage underwater, experts said.
Once the wreckage is found, the cockpit voice and flight data recorders would offer the most substantial clues as to what went wrong.Once the wreckage is found, the cockpit voice and flight data recorders would offer the most substantial clues as to what went wrong.
Indonesian authorities are searching near Belitung island in the Java Sea, where flight QZ8501 lost contact. At nightfall Monday, authorities suspended the air search until morning, but said ships will remain in the search zone overnight. After two days of challenging search conditions, authorities can expect “perfect weather” on Tuesday and Wednesday, Adi Eka Sakya, the head of Indonesia’s Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency, said at a Jakarta news conference. But torrential rains could return Friday.
And after two days of challenging search conditions, authorities can expect “perfect weather” on Tuesday and Wednesday, said Adi Eka Sakya, the head of Indonesia’s Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency at a Jakarta press conference. Torrential rains could return Friday. An Australian search plane on Monday afternoon reported seeing objects hundreds of miles away, but Indonesian officials later said they were unrelated to the plane.
An Australian search plane reported Monday afternoon seeing objects hundreds of miles away, but Indonesian officials later ruled it out as an unrelated plane.
Even as the reason for the crash remained unclear, shares of AirAsia dropped sharply in trading Monday.Even as the reason for the crash remained unclear, shares of AirAsia dropped sharply in trading Monday.
The belief by Indonesian officials that the plane has already plunged underwater would explain the lack of a signal from the plane’s emergency locator transmitter, said Australia-based aviation security expert Desmond Ross. Indonesian officials’ speculation that the plane is already underwater would explain the lack of a signal from its emergency locator transmitter, said Australia-based aviation security expert Desmond Ross.
“All these aircraft have this beacon that triggers on impact and sends a signal to satellites,” Ross said. “If it’s gone to the bottom of the sea, we probably wouldn’t hear that signal.”“All these aircraft have this beacon that triggers on impact and sends a signal to satellites,” Ross said. “If it’s gone to the bottom of the sea, we probably wouldn’t hear that signal.”
Experts said the plane’s disappearance prompts several tantalizing questions. Experts said the plane’s disappearance has prompted several tantalizing questions.
Bad weather appeared to play a role, but it is unclear why the pilot wasn’t able to avoid it earlier, said Ross, noting that modern commercial jets are equipped with radar that can spot bad weather more than 100 miles ahead of its path. Bad weather appeared to play a role, but it is unclear why the pilot was not able to avoid it earlier, said Ross, noting that modern commercial jets are equipped with radar that can spot bad weather more than 100 miles ahead of its path.
The speed of the airplane will likely be at the forefront of any investigation, said John Cox, a former accident investigator. Radar suggests the plane was flying at a low speed, Cox said. Overly slow speed at a high altitude could cause an airplane to stall with insufficient lift to sustain flight, he said. The speed of the airplane is likely to be at the forefront of any investigation, said John Cox, a former accident investigator. Radar suggests that the plane was flying at a low speed, Cox said. Overly slow speed at a high altitude could cause an airplane to stall with insufficient lift to sustain flight, he said.
Geoffrey Thomas, editor of airlineratings.com, said he reviewed radar data of the flight obtained by other A320 pilots showing the plane at an altitude of 36,300 feet and climbing and traveling at 353 knots or roughly 406 miles per hour — a relatively low speed for that altitude. Geoffrey Thomas, editor of airlineratings.com, said he reviewed radar data of the flight obtained by other A320 pilots showing the plane at an altitude of 36,300 feet and climbing and traveling at 353 knots, or roughly 406 miles per hour — relatively slow for that altitude.
Many experts have compared the AirAsia flight to the crash of an Air France flight in 2009 in which airspeed measurements failed, leading pilots to put the plane into a stall. While wreckage of the Air France flight was spotted within days, it took two years for the black-box recorder to be found and retrieved in the Atlantic Ocean. Many experts have compared the AirAsia flight to the crash of an Air France flight in 2009 in which airspeed measurements failed, leading pilots to put the plane into a stall. While wreckage of the Air France flight was spotted within days, it took two years for the black-box recorder to be found and retrieved from the Atlantic Ocean.
“I don’t think it will take nearly as long in this case,” said Cox, noting waters now being searched are much shallower and the search area smaller. “But I don’t think it will take nearly as long in this case,” said Cox, noting that waters now being searched are much shallower and the search area smaller.
Another Malaysia Airlines jet was shot down over eastern Ukraine in July, killing all 298 people aboard. Brian Murphy in Washington and Gu Jinglu and Liu Liu in Beijing contributed to this report.
While no one was sure if weather was the cause of the disappearance, it probably complicated things, according to AccuWeather.com meteorologist Alex Sosnowski, who said, “The storms in the area were capable of producing severe turbulence, strong wind shear, frequent lightning and icing.” December and January are the wettest months in Indonesia.
Aviation experts could only speculate as to why there was no distress call. One likely possibility was that a sudden and probably catastrophic depressurization incapacitated the pilots or the communications equipment.
Emily Wax-Thibodeaux in Washington and Gu Jinglu and Liu Liu in Beijing contributed to this report.