Flight Safety Information December 28, 2014 - No. 260 In This Issue AirAsia Indonesia flight QZ8501 to Singapore missing Indonesia halts search for missing AirAsia plane as night falls Preliminary Information PRISM TO HELP PREPARE FOR E-IOSA AirAsia Indonesia flight QZ8501 to Singapore missing An AirAsia Indonesia airliner flying from Indonesia to Singapore with 162 people on board has gone missing. Flight QZ8501 lost contact with air traffic control at 06:24 local time (23:24 GMT Saturday) over the Java Sea. The plane, an Airbus A320-200, disappeared midway into the flight of more than two hours from the city of Surabaya. No distress call was made. Bad weather was reported in the area, and an air search operation has now been suspended for the night. Planes from Indonesia and Singapore had been scouring an area of sea between Kalimantan (Borneo) and Java. Some boats were reported to be continuing to search as night fell. No wreckage has been found, an Indonesian official told the BBC. AirAsia's Chief Executive Tony Fernandes, who has flown to Surabaya, said: "We don't want to speculate but right now of course the plane has been missing for 12 hours and there's a deep sense of depression here." The flight left Surabaya in eastern Java at 05:35 local time (22:35 GMT) and was due to arrive in Singapore at 08:30 (00:30 GMT). The missing jet had requested a "deviation" from the flight path to avoid thick storm clouds, AirAsia said. Indonesia's transport ministry said the pilot had asked permission to climb to 38,000 ft (11,000m). At the scene: Saira Asher, Changi Airport, Singapore Changi airport staff directing relatives of AirAsia Flight QZ8501, 28 December 2014 Flight QZ8501 was supposed to arrive early this morning. Hours later the families of the passengers gathered here have very little information. Airport officials are keeping them well away from the media and trying to make them comfortable. The scenes at Changi are reminiscent of those in Kuala Lumpur immediately after MH370 went missing in March: anxious relatives waiting for any news on their loves ones, a media frenzy, but no answers. At the scene: Ashleigh Nghiem in Surabaya airport Anxious family members wait for news at the airport in Surabaya A few hours ago many of the relatives at the crisis centre in the airport still seemed calm - glued to their phones, perhaps trying to find any news of the plane or stay in touch with friends and loved ones But more than 12 hours since the plane took off they are looking increasingly worried. Officials still have no idea what happened to the aircraft. The governor of East Java, Soekarwo, the mayor of Surabaya, Tri Rismaharini, and the chief executive of AirAsia, Tony Fernandes, have come to talk to the relatives to assure them that all is being done to locate the missing Airbus. line AirAsia, a budget airline which owns 49% of AirAsia Indonesia, is based in Malaysia and has never lost a plane. However, 2014 has been a difficult year for aviation in Asia: Malaysia's national carrier Malaysia Airlines has suffered two losses - flights MH370 and MH17. Flight MH370 disappeared on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in March with 239 passengers and crew. The wreckage, thought to be in southern Indian Ocean, has still not been located. MH17 was shot down over Ukraine in July, killing all 298 on board. The missing AirAsia Airbus, December 2014 The Airbus, pictured here on an earlier flight, disappeared about an hour after takeoff Emergency contact There were 155 passengers on board, the company said in a statement: 138 adults, 16 children and one infant Most on board were Indonesian Several were from other countries: one UK national, a Malaysian, a Singaporean and three South Koreans Two pilots and five crew were also on board - one French, the others Indonesian AirAsia has set up an emergency line for family or friends of those who may be on board. The number is +622 129 850 801. Dozens of passengers' relatives have been gathering at Juanda airport in Surabaya and Singapore's Changi airport to hear news. Changi airport authorities have set up a holding area for relatives. It said 47 had arrived and care officers and counsellors were on hand to provide support. AirAsia Indonesia operates domestic flights round the Indonesian archipelago as well as international services to Malaysia, Singapore, Australia and Thailand. AirAsia Indonesia, along with other Indonesian airlines, was banned from flying to the European Union in 2007 due to safety concerns but this was lifted in July 2010. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-30614627 Back to Top Indonesia halts search for missing AirAsia plane as night falls Weather satellite image of the area, an hour after #QZ8501 went missing over Java Sea. (www.aviation-safety.net) * Plane sought to change course because of bad weather * Search to resume at first light * No distress signal was sent * Most passengers were Indonesian * AirAsia group has never had a crash (Recasts with search suspended, adds details throughout) By Chris Nusatya and Michael Taylor JAKARTA, Dec 28 (Reuters) - Indonesia called off until first light a search for an AirAsia plane with 162 people on board that went missing on Sunday after pilots asked to change course to avoid bad weather during a flight from Indonesia's Surabaya city to Singapore. Indonesia AirAsia Flight QZ8501, an Airbus 320-200 carrying 155 passengers and seven crew, lost contact with Jakarta air traffic control at 6:17 a.m. (2317 GMT on Saturday). No distress signal had been sent, said Joko Muryo Atmodjo, an Indonesian transport ministry official. On board were 155 Indonesians, three South Koreans and one each from Singapore, Malaysia and Britain, plus a French pilot, the airline said in a statement, correcting earlier information. Tatang Kurniadi, head of Indonesia's National Committee of Safety Transportation, expressed hope of locating the aircraft quickly and said it was too early to detect any of the so-called electronic pings from its black box recorder. "We are using our capacity to search on sea and land. Hopefully we can find the location of the plane as soon as possible," he told a news conference. "What I need to emphasize is until now, we have not found out how the plane fell or what kind of emergency it was." Indonesia AirAsia is 49 percent owned by Malaysia-based budget carrier AirAsia, which has had a clean safety record since it began operating 13 years ago. The AirAsia group also has affiliates in Thailand, the Philippines and India. The aircraft had accumulated approximately 23,000 flight hours in some 13,600 flights, according to Airbus. The pilots of QZ8501 "was requesting deviation due to en-route weather before communication with the aircraft was lost," the airline said in a statement. Singapore, Malaysia, Britain, South Korea and Australia offered to help in the search and any investigation. Malaysia said it was sending vessels and a C130 aircraft while Singapore had also sent a C130. Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said a P3 Orion aircraft was on standby if needed. ANXIOUS RELATIVES Flight QZ8501 was between Tanjung Pandan on Indonesia's Belitung island and Pontianak, in West Kalimantan province on Borneo - almost halfway between Surabaya and Singapore - when it went missing. There was bad weather over Belitung at the time and the aircraft had been flying at 32,000 feet before asking to fly at 38,000 feet to avoid clouds. In both Surabaya and Singapore, anxious relatives of people on the plane awaited news. Louise Sidharta was at Singapore's Changi Airport waiting for her fiancée to return from a family holiday. "It was supposed to be their last vacation before we got married," she said. A man named Purnomo told TVOne in Surabaya of a lucky escape. "I should have been on the flight," he said. "We, seven people, had planned to go to Singapore for vacation but this morning I had an emergency. I had my passport in hand." Tony Fernandes, chief of Malaysia's AirAsia, said he was heading to Surabaya. "My only thoughts are with the passengers and my crew. We put our hope in the SAR (search and rescue) operation and thank the Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysian governments," he said on Twitter. AirAsia swapped its distinctive bright red logo for a grey background on its website and social media accounts. The incident comes during a troubled year for Malaysia-affiliated airlines. Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370 went missing on March 8 on a trip from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 passengers and crew on board and has not been found. On July 17, Flight MH17 was shot down over Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board. Indonesia AirAsia has a fleet of 30 Airbus A320s. The missing plane has been in service for just over six years, according to airfleets.net. All AirAsia-branded airlines operate aircraft made by Airbus, which has orders for several hundred planes from the group. AirAsia is considered one of the European planemaker's most important customers. http://in.reuters.com/article/2014/12/28/indonesia-airplane-idINL3N0UC01P20141228 Back to Top Preliminary Information Status: Preliminary Date: Sunday 28 December 2014 Time: ca 06:18 Type: Airbus A320-216 Operator: Indonesia AirAsia Registration: PK-AXC C/n / msn: 3648 First flight: 2008-09-25 (6 years 3 months) Total airframe hrs: 23000 Cycles: 13600 Engines: 2 CFMI CFM56-5B6/3 Crew: Fatalities: / Occupants: 7 Passengers: Fatalities: / Occupants: 155 Total: Fatalities: / Occupants: 162 Airplane damage: Missing Location: Java Sea ( Indonesia) Phase: En route (ENR) Nature: International Scheduled Passenger Departure airport: Surabaya-Juanda Airport (SUB/WARR), Indonesia Destination airport: Singapore-Changi International Airport (SIN/WSSS), Singapore Flightnumber: 8501 Narrative: An Indonesia AirAsia Airbus A320-216, performing flight QZ8501, went missing over the Java Sea between Surabaya and Singapore. On board are 155 passengers and seven crew members, according to a statement by Indonesia AirAsia. The flight took off from runway 10 at Surabaya-Juanda Airport (SUB) at 05:35 hours local time (22:35 UTC). The airplane turned left, tracking 329° over the Java Sea. The planned cruising altitude of FL320 was reached at 05:54. At the same time the airplane turned left to 319°. Ten minutes later the airplane slightly changed course to 310°. At 06:12 the flight contacted Jakarta ACC, stating the they were deviating to the left of their planned route along airway M-635 to avoid clouds. The flight also requested a climb to FL380. Last radar contact with the aircraft was at 06:18 hours (Surabaya time, 23:18 UTC). www.aviation-safety.net Curt Lewis