A conspiracy nonsense post has been removed as well a reply.

Yeah, this usually brings out the 'tin-foil hat' crowd. But the fact is, although air transportation is probably safer than any other mode of travel, mechanical malfunctions do happen. Prays to those on-board.

AirAsia plane with 161 aboard missing in Indonesia

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — An AirAsia plane with 161 people aboard lost contact with ground control on Sunday after takeoff from Indonesia on the way to Singapore, and search and rescue operations were underway.

The plane lost communication with Jakarta's air traffic control at 7:24 a.m., about an hour before it was scheduled to land in Singapore, the Singapore Civil Aviation Authority said in a statement. The contact was lost about 42 minutes after takeoff from Indonesia's Surabaya airport, Hadi Mustofa, an official of the transportation ministry told Indonesia's MetroTV.

AirAsia said in a statement that the plane was an Airbus A320-200 and that search and rescue operations were in progress.

The plane had six crew and 155 passengers, including 16 children and one infant, the general manager of Surabaya's Juanda airport, Trikora Raharjo, told The Associated Press.

There were six foreigners — three South Koreans including an infant and one each from Singapore, British and Malaysia, said Raharjo. The rest were Indonesians, he said.

The plane lost contact when it was believed to be over the Java Sea between Kalimantan and Java islands, Mustofa said.

He said the weather in the area was cloudy.

The Singapore aviation authority said it was informed about the missing plane by Jakarta ground control about half an hour after the contact was lost.

"Search and rescue operations have been activated by the Indonesian authorities," it said, adding that the Singapore air force and the navy also were activated with two C-130 planes.

-- (c) Associated Press 2014-12-28

It's getting like the Bermuda triangle around this area of air space. Makes you wonder.

The Bermuda triangle is nonsense

Severe weather and a request for a different routing. Looks like weather trouble to me. There are still weather events that planes like to avoid. From the looks of the location and the altitude there is still a chance that the craft got down somewhere remote. I hope.

I read thunderstorms. A full-blown thunderstorm can take the biggest airliner down. Of course I don't know what happened, but thunderstorms have air traveling both up and down side by side. This is what creates the electricity for the lightning followed by the thunder. This rapid air movement both up and down side by side creates what is called wind shear. It can tear a plane to pieces by hitting it from both directions at once.

Edit. Pilots can see a thunderstorm on their radar because it is so dense. The rule is to stay 5 miles away from the edges of its top. Even then it can get very bumpy.

Edited December 28, 201411 yr by NeverSure

flightradar24

#QZ8501 may have flown out of Flightradar24 coverage at 23:12 UTC as we are missing coverage on lower altitudes in this area.

28/12/14 11:40

Sad to read this - since the plane was over water at the time, I fear that there's no hope...

Perhaps they managed to do an emergency landing on water, but then there shouls be EPIRB signals from one of the life rafts...

Sad, sad news.

I pray that the plane and it's occupants are found, but it does t look good at all. Failing that, I hope the family and lived ones of this flight arnt out through the same anguish of the MH370 relatives.

RIP.

at least they got the airline name right now.. early news reports eg NHK were quoting a "Malaysian Airlines" flight from Singapore....

Oh no, I hope they find this one soon! What is going on really! Prayers to those on board and for all there familys

flightradar24

#QZ8501 may have flown out of Flightradar24 coverage at 23:12 UTC as we are missing coverage on lower altitudes in this area.

28/12/14 11:40

After 4 hours it isn't likely a factor. The plane would travel 2,000 miles by then.

RT @W7VOA: #Indonesia Transport Ministry spokesman: Last contact from #QZ8501 was pilot request for permission to change altitude due to bad weather.

Omg ....prayers for the family ..not another one

We really don't want this to happen anywhere and to anyone

Why does every article say the aircraft lost communication with air traffic control? It's the other way around! We're not on the aircraft so we have no idea now if they had comms problems but we do know that ATC lost radio, data and radar with the aircraft.

Yes, doesn't look good, Prayers for the missing and their families.

Thoughts with the families, this is obviously not looking good given that it is 4 hours or so missing.

Hoping for the rescue efforts to find them soon. Looks like a monster thunderstorm -- it's big even on the satellite pics.

Thoughts are with all on board and those waiting for news of their loved ones.

Expect the mother of all cock-ups by the Indo authorities if search and rescue comes into the picture.

Sad but true, with a major dose of "facesaving" thrown in....

Why does every article say the aircraft lost communication with air traffic control? It's the other way around! We're not on the aircraft so we have no idea now if they had comms problems but we do know that ATC lost radio, data and radar with the aircraft.

Is it safe to assume that AirAsia has not spent the extra money on installing the tracking equipment that we heard so much about in the MH370 story?

A conspiracy nonsense post has been removed as well a reply.

Yeah, this usually brings out the 'tin-foil hat' crowd. But the fact is, although air transportation is probably safer than any other mode of travel, mechanical malfunctions do happen. Prays to those on-board.

Well air travel is meant to be one of the safest modes of transportation. Beyond that they have black boxes that are nearly indestructible which should be able to tell us what happened and where the plane is located. You dont have to have a tin foil hat to know this.

I imagine you will be happy with whatever the news tells you happened.

RT @W7VOA: #Indonesia Transport Ministry spokesman: Last contact from #QZ8501 was pilot request for permission to change altitude due to bad weather.

If the plane was flying at, say, flight level 32 (32,000 feet) and center was reporting rough air at that altitude but smoother air at flight level 25, the pilot would request permission to descend to 25. Center would find a spot for him and give permission including perhaps a slight change in direction to avoid traffic.

Severe weather and a request for a different routing. Looks like weather trouble to me. There are still weather events that planes like to avoid. From the looks of the location and the altitude there is still a chance that the craft got down somewhere remote. I hope.

Yep, just read: ISOL CB FL450-XXX

Edited December 28, 201411 yr by BernieOnTour

This is a seriously sad news! May Lord help them. Amen.

flightradar24

#QZ8501 may have flown out of Flightradar24 coverage at 23:12 UTC as we are missing coverage on lower altitudes in this area.

28/12/14 11:40

Presumably because of weather clutter from that monster thunderstorm. I heard somewhere that the SAR effort was slightly delayed for the same reason, but hopefully they'll get going soon and something will turn up.

flightradar24

#QZ8501 may have flown out of Flightradar24 coverage at 23:12 UTC as we are missing coverage on lower altitudes in this area.

28/12/14 11:40

Unlikely, contact was lost on FL320

My thought and prayers for them , and their families .

Severe weather and a request for a different routing. Looks like weather trouble to me. There are still weather events that planes like to avoid. From the looks of the location and the altitude there is still a chance that the craft got down somewhere remote. I hope.

Yep, just read: CB ISOL 450-xxx

??

Unconfirmed (Indonesian media) that the plane is in the sea off Belitung Island - pprune

----EDIT----

Just checked the map and this would look like the plane descended on a glide path from the last known point of contact and was trying to make land. This is personal conjecture though.

Edited December 28, 201411 yr by draftvader

Severe weather and a request for a different routing. Looks like weather trouble to me. There are still weather events that planes like to avoid. From the looks of the location and the altitude there is still a chance that the craft got down somewhere remote. I hope.

Yep, just read: CB ISOL 450-xxx

??

... Isolated cumulonimbus from MSL up to 45.000 feet

Sorry for the typo, should have been ISOL CB FL450-XXX

Edited December 28, 201411 yr by BernieOnTour

RT @W7VOA: MT @thenewpaper: Air Asia #QZ8501 Full passenger manifest released - http://ow.ly/GuGWh http://twitter.com/thenewpaper/status/549069298065735680/photo/1

May God protect all d passengers and crew onboard.

If as looks likely, this will be AirAsia's 1st frame loss.

Personally once someone has posted RIP and talks about prayers, there is no need for another 100+ saying the same thing, it doesn't add anything. Facts are good updates.