Originally Posted by
BG47
Sunday (Local time in Indonesia)
5:36 a.m. -- AirAsia Flight 8501 takes off from Surabaya International Airport in Indonesia.
6:12 a.m. -- Pilot asks air traffic control permission to avoid clouds by turning left and ascending to 38,000 feet.
6:16 a.m. -- Flight 8501 is still visible on radar.
6:18 a.m. -- The plane disappears from air traffic control's radar. (AirAsia reports a slightly different time, 6:24 a.m., for when contact with air traffic control was lost).
7:30 a.m. (8:30 a.m. Singapore time) -- This is when Flight 8501 was scheduled to land in Singapore.
7:55 a.m. (8:55 a.m. Singapore time) -- Flight 8501 is officially announced as "missing." Its last known position is in the Java Sea, between Belitung and Borneo.
This timeline has some additional important info. Still missing is what time the aircraft was observed to be climbing through FL363 out of control without an ATC clearance.
06:12
- QZ8501 requests left deviation from airway. Deviation approved.
- Pilot then requests climb to FL380
- ATC asks pilot to standby, due to nearby traffic and to coordinate with next sector (Singapore)
06:14
- ATC calls QZ8501 to approve climb to FL340
- No response received after 2 or 3 further attempts to contact
- ATC requests help from nearby aircraft to contact QZ8501
06:16
- ATC still cannot reach QZ8501
- Aircraft still observed on radar screen
06:17
- Radar contact lost
- Last reported altitude: FL290