Please let us pray they come out safely........The search is on for an AirAsia plane carrying 162 people that lost contact with Indonesian air traffic control Sunday.
Before communication was
lost, AirAsia Flight QZ 8501 asked to deviate from its planned flight
route -- from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore -- because of
weather conditions, AirAsia said in a statement.
There was conflicting
information about when exactly Flight 8501 went missing. AirAsia said
contact was lost at 7:24 a.m. Sunday (7:24 p.m. Saturday ET), but
Indonesian aviation authorities said it happened earlier, at 6:17 a.m.
"At this time, search and
rescue operations are being conducted under the guidance of the
Indonesian Civil Aviation Authority," AirAsia said.
Of the people on board
the Airbus A320-200, 156 are Indonesian, three are South Korean, one is
French, one is Malaysian and one is Singaporean, the airline said.
Seventeen children,
including one infant, are among the passengers, the carrier said. Seven
of the people on board are crew members.
"Thank you for all your
thoughts and prayers. we must stay strong," AirAsia Chief Executive Tony
Fernandes said on Twitter. He later announced he was traveling to
Surabaya, saying most of the passengers are from there.
As word spread of the missing plane, the airline changed the color of its logo on its social media accounts from red to gray.
'Heavy thunderstorms' in area
Flight 8501 "was
requesting deviation due to en route weather before communication with
the aircraft was lost," the airline said.
From flight tracking websites, almost the entire flight path appears to be over the sea.
Bad weather was in evidence in the region at the time, CNN meteorologist Derek Van Dam said.
Missing AirAsia plane was on common route
AirAsia pilot requested to change route
"We still had lines of
very heavy thunderstorms" when the plane was flying, Van Dam said. "But
keep in mind, turbulence doesn't necessarily bring down airplanes."
CNN aviation analyst Mary Schiavo questioned whether weather would have been a factor in what happened to the plane.
"Ordinarily, the pilots
would get the updated weather from air traffic control and, of course,
their onboard radar," said Schiavo, a former inspector general for the
U.S. Department of Transportation. "So whether there was (bad) weather
in the area would not be a mystery."
AirAsia is a
Malaysia-based airline that is popular in the region as a budget
carrier. It has about 100 destinations, with affiliate companies in
several Asian countries.
The missing plane is
operated by AirAsia's Indonesian affiliate, in which the Malaysian
company holds a 48.9% stake, according to its website.
'Very good' safety reputation
The Malaysian government said it was ready to offer assistance to Indonesian and Singaporean authorities.
"Very sad to hear that
AirAsia Indonesia QZ8501 is missing," Malaysian Prime Minister Najib
Razak said on Twitter. "My thoughts are with the families.
Singapore said it has activated its rescue and aviation agencies.
AirAsia has a "very good" reputation for safety, CNN aviation correspondent Richard Quest said.
Flight 8501's captain
has a total of 6,100 flying hours and the first officer a total of 2,275
flying hours, the airline said. The plane's last scheduled maintenance
was on November 16, it said.
The loss of contact with
the AirAsia plane comes nearly 10 months after the disappearance of
Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which dropped off radar over Southeast
Asia on March 8 with 239 people on board.
The Malaysian Airlines
plane, a Boeing 777-200ER, lost contact with air traffic control over
the South China Sea between Malaysia and Vietnam.
Searchers have yet to
find any debris from Flight 370, which officials believe crashed in the
southern Indian Ocean after veering dramatically off course.
U.S. President Barack
Obama has been briefed about the missing AirAsia plane, White House
spokesman Eric Schultz said, adding that U.S. officials will continue to
monitor the situation....
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