Air Asia Indonesia Lost Contact from Surabaya to Singapore
 

There are reports this morning that an Indonesia Air Asia A320 has lost contact enroute from Surabaya to Singapore QZ 8501. Let's hope for the best for crew and passengers.

Still very skimpy information:
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News...e-missing.html

From RT (Russia Today)

Air Asia flight number QZ8501, bound from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore, has reportedly lost control with air traffic control. The missing flight is an Airbus A320-200 with 155 people on board, Reuters reports.
The plane lost contact with the Jakarta air traffic control on Sunday, Indonesian media said, citing a Transport Ministry official Hadi Mustofa.

Mustofa said the contact was lost at 6:17am local time (23:17 GMT) after the crew asked for an unusual route.

Registration PK-AXC with 138 adults, 16 minors and 1 infant. 7 crew including engineer onboard.

Location where contact was lost
 

Mickjoebill

If that RT report was to be remotely accurate, the fact the plane went missing after a request for an unusual route will have the media jumping to conclusions, that's for sure :(

Also, that's been missing for a hell of a long time. That is out of the A320s range is it not, even if it was filled to the brim.

The BBC are reporting the same, but not explaining what 'unusual route' actually means.

The area over, and south of Singapore (aka Indonesia) is currently on the SIGWX chart as having ISOL CB FL450 - XXX.

"Unusual Routing" could be "deviate off course to avoid weather".

Just a speculation.

AirAsia Indonesia regrets to confirm that flight QZ8501 from Surabaya to Singapore has lost contact with air traffic control at 07:24hrs this morning.

At the present time we unfortunately have no further information regarding the status of the passengers and crew members on board, but we will keep all parties informed as more information becomes available.

The aircraft was an Airbus A320-200 with the registration number PK-AXC.

At this time, search and rescue operations are in progress and AirAsia is cooperating fully and assisting the rescue service.


AirAsia has established an Emergency Call Centre that is available for family or friends of those who may have been on board the aircraft. The number is: +622129850801.

AirAsia will release further information as soon as it becomes available. Updated information will also be posted on the AirAsia website, AirAsia | Cheap flights to Bangkok, Singapore, Hong Kong, Siem Reap, Taipei | Book online now.

https://mobile.twitter.com/AirAsia/s...48915429830656

It is a 2 hour flight, so 5+ hours overdue...

Lots of thunderstorm activity...

Hope for the best.

Another Malaysian airline....

PK-AXC - Indonesia AirAsia - Aircraft info and flight history - Flightradar24

http://i.imgur.com/i7yheZ8.jpg

Unconfirmed pax:
149 Indonesians, 3 Koreans, 1 Singaporean, 1 Briton, 1 Malaysian.


Interesting side note - Air Asia have greyed out all logos on social media in the last few minutes.

According to the New Straits Times, its last known co-ordinates were at 3 09'15" S, 111 28'21 E. That would put it about five miles offshore, some 25 nm SW of Pangkalanbuun in Borneo.

Looks like they were diverting left then right just before RAFIS on M635

http://i.imgur.com/1lw0wW2.jpg

Nothing significant visible in the weather radar pic from changi

Faa issued emergency AD on aircraft Emergency Airworthiness Directive (AD) 2014-25-51 is sent to owners and operators of Airbus Model A318, A319, A320, and A321 series airplanes. AD #:
2014-25-51. An occurrence was reported where an Airbus A321 aeroplane encountered a blockage of two Angle of Attack (AoA) probes during climb, leading to activation of the Alpha Protection (Alpha Prot) while the Mach number increased. The flightcrew managed to regain full control and the flight landed uneventfully.

Large TS return in vicinity of the last position that is shown on the above post

See BOM Full Disk Satellite image here:

Recent Satellite Images

Wssr20 wsss 280249
wsjc sigmet 1 valid 280300/280700 wsss-
wsjc singapore fir embd ts obs entire fir nc=

https://www.facebook.com/RadarBox24/...type=1&fref=nf