2 large objects found in AirAsia wreckage hunt

[Lite Beer]

2 large objects found in AirAsia wreckage hunt
MARGIE MASON, Associated Press

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesian officials are hopeful they are honing in on the wreckage of AirAsia Flight 8501 after sonar equipment detected two large objects on the ocean floor.

National Search and Rescue Agency chief Henry Bambang Soelistyo told reporters Saturday a remote-operated vehicle has been deployed to the area to try confirm the find.

He says an Indonesian navy ship, the Bung Tomo, detected the objects by sonar early Friday.

By midnight, searchers had zoomed in with a Geological Survey Ship to take dimensions.

Teams are now trying to capture images of the objects.

-- (c) Associated Press 2015-01-03

[Lite Beer]

Two large pieces of AirAsia jet found on seabed

Search crews are hoping to find the aircraft’s flight data recorders, or ‘black boxes’, which look similar to these.

JAVA SEA: Recovery teams have found two big parts of AirAsia Flight 8501, which crashed into the sea last weekend with 162 people on board, Indonesia's top search official said today (January 3).

The huge search operation came across the objects in the Java Sea off the island of Borneo late Friday night, raising hopes that the remaining bodies and the plane's black boxes, crucial to determining the cause of the crash, will soon be located.

The bodies of 30 of those killed when the plane crashed early Sunday during a storm en route from Indonesia's second city of Surabaya to Singapore have so far been recovered.

"With the discovery of an oil spill and two big parts of the aircraft, I can assure you these are the parts of the AirAsia plane we have been looking for," search and rescue agency chief Bambang Soelistyo told reporters.

He said they were now sending divers to the spot where the plane parts had been found to try and recover more bodies.

"The main focus today is to find and evacuate victims," he said.

News of the discovery came after Indonesia's transport ministry said AirAsia had been flying on an unauthorised schedule when it crashed. The airline has now been suspended from flying the Surabaya-Singapore route.

"It violated the route permit given, the schedule given, that's the problem," said director general of air transport Djoko Murjatmodjo, adding that the permit for the route would be frozen until investigations were completed.

A statement from transport ministry spokesman J.A. Barata said AirAsia had not been permitted to fly the Surabaya-Singapore route on Sundays and had not asked to change its schedule.

It was unclear how the airliner had been able to fly without the necessary authorisation.

The plane was operated by AirAsia Indonesia, a unit of Malaysia-based AirAsia, which previously had a solid safety record.

Recovery teams, which have been hampered by rough weather in recent days, on Friday narrowed their search to an area of 45 by 35 nautical miles centred about 75 nautical miles southwest of Pangkalan Bun, a town in Central Kalimantan on Borneo.

Twenty-nine ships and 17 aircraft were engaged in the huge operation, deploying side-scan sonar equipment to survey the seabed and pinger locators to find the black boxes.

Russia has sent in dozens of divers to help with the operations, as well as two planes, one amphibious, Soelistyo said.

The search chief said the larger of the two objects found on Friday night was about 10 metres by five metres (32 feet by 16 feet).

"As I speak we are lowering an ROV (remotely operated underwater vehicle) underwater to get an actual picture of the objects detected on the sea floor. All are at the depth of 30 metres," Soelistyo said.

He added however that a strong current was making it difficult to operate the ROV.

The families of victims have been preparing funerals as the bodies recovered are identified in Surabaya, where a crisis centre has been set up at a police hospital with facilities to store 150 bodies.

AirAsia boss Tony Fernandes on Friday tweeted that he was arriving in Surabaya to take home flight attendant Khairunisa Haidar Fauzi after her body was identified.

"I cannot describe how I feel. There are no words," Fernandes wrote.

Fauzi had recently posted an Instagram picture with the message "I love you from 38,000 ft" for her boyfriend.

Before take-off, the pilot of Flight 8501 had asked for permission to fly at a higher altitude to avoid a storm, but the request was not approved due to other planes above him on the popular route, according to AirNav, Indonesia's air traffic control.

In his last communication shortly before all contact was lost, he said he wanted to change course to avoid the menacing storm system.

Of the 162 passengers and crew on board, 155 were Indonesian, with three South Koreans, one Singaporean, one Malaysian, one Briton and a Frenchman – co-pilot Remi Plesel.

Source: http://www.thephuketnews.com/two-large-pieces-of-airasia-jet-found-on-seabed-50408.php

-- Phuket News 2015-01-03

[HeijoshinCool]

"It violated the route permit given, the schedule given, that's the problem …"

Hmmm. I'm no conspiracy theorist but some coincidences are hard to swallow:

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/business/article/airasias-tony-fernandes-sells-shares-in-tune-insurance

[sweatalot]

"It violated the route permit given, the schedule given, that's the problem …"

Hmmm. I'm no conspiracy theorist but some coincidences are hard to swallow:

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/business/article/airasias-tony-fernandes-sells-shares-in-tune-insurance

So you think the bad weather was made by the conspirators?

[kiniyow]

Asked to Climb..Started the Climb in the Storm...Aircraft Stalled and very hard to recover from any Stall especially in a storm

[Nemesis7]

Hope they can locate the black box soon.

How the hell on earth the Civil Aviation Authority allows a commercial airlines to be up on the sky if there was no route permit or permission to operate for the said sector? Were the airport staffs, security, civil aviation authorities, ATC were sleeping?

While suspending the airline, let them also suspend the ATC, Civil aviation guys for over looking too.

[F4UCorsair]

Asked to Climb..Started the Climb in the Storm...Aircraft Stalled and very hard to recover from any Stall especially in a storm

You're obviously not a pilot og a high performance jet, especially an Airbus. Mis/uninformed comment. Recovery from a stall is not difficult in any conditions and even easier in an Airbus. It may be closer to the Air France crash in that the crew didn't adequately understand the technology, but that doesn't explain an emergency call not being made. My guess is an inflight breakup due to mishandling in severe turbulence. Time will tell.

[lemerou]

It may be closer to the Air France crash in that the crew didn't adequately understand the technology

I guess you're refering to the Rio/Paris crash.

I'm not a pilot but what i understood from reading last words from the cockpit had nothing to do with not understanding technology and everything with a misunderstanding of the flight environment of the plane.

Plane was stalling but the co pilot thought the opposite so he pushed the stick the wrong way (upward) all the way down.

Making the plane stalling more.

Had he pushed the stick the other way (downward, wich you usually do in a stall) maybe the plane would had recovered.

Could be wrong though since i'm not an expert.

Edited January 3, 2015 by lemerou

[lvr181]

Just let the inimitable wisdom of Asian peoples shine through with carefully thought out answers and facts as to what happened. No conspiracy theories please.

[Robby nz]

It would seem they have a ROV on site which can be worked at night so the search can go on in darkness.

As long as they have a weather window, and it does often calm down at night, then we may have some positive news tomorrow morning.

I do wonder about the objects found as they were said to be only 20" high (One was measured at 9.4 meters by 4.8 meters (31 feet by 15 feet) and a half-meter (20 inches) high) which would mean that they are not intact pieces of plane body.

Could it be a wing or part thereof ?

[HeijoshinCool]

"It violated the route permit given, the schedule given, that's the problem …"

Hmmm. I'm no conspiracy theorist but some coincidences are hard to swallow:

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/business/article/airasias-tony-fernandes-sells-shares-in-tune-insurance

So you think the bad weather was made by the conspirators?

.

I don't draw conclusions based on inadequate evidence.

But it certainly is an amazing coincidence. Plus the flight left two hours early. And flew a route they weren't licensed to fly.

[Scott]

Conspiracy post removed.