Indonesia lost contact with an airliner AirAsia

28. December 2014 - 7:58

The pilot of the Airbus A320 AirAsia who disappeared in the night between Indonesia and Singapore had asked to "deviate" from its flight plan because of bad weather, said the Malaysian company. Marine and aviation Singapore were mobilized for research.

"The plane had asked to deviate because of the weather," the company said in a message on Facebook. "Communication with the aircraft was lost while he was still under the control of the Indonesian authorities Air Traffic (ATC)," said AirAsia. Before losing contact with the control tower, the aircraft would have asked for permission to gain altitude and go from 32,000 to 38,000 feet to avoid a cloud mass.

The aircraft was carrying 155 passengers (138 adults, 16 children and an infant), mostly Indonesians, and seven crew members, from Surabaya, Indonesia, and Singapore. He disappeared from the monitors after asking to change flight plan because of poor conditions, confirmed the local authorities.

The latter said it had lost contact with the plane between the Port of Tanjung Pandan and Pontianak, West Kalimantan, the town on the island of Borneo. AirAsia has yet to release the device in question had undergone maintenance operations on November 16.

Research Operation

The QZ8501 flight left Juanda International Airport in Surabaya, on the Indonesian island of Java, at 5:20 ET was to land at Singapore Changi Airport at 08:30.

AirAsia said a search operation was launched to try to locate the aircraft. "At the moment, we unfortunately do not have any other information on the situation of passengers and crew members on board," the company said.

bad year

2014 will remain a black year for the Malaysian aviation with the loss of two aircraft of the National Malaysia Airlines.

On March 8, the flight MH370 disappeared shortly after taking off from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board. His disappearance remains unexplained to this day. The unit would be damaged in the southern Indian Ocean, fuel.

On July 17, another Boeing Malaysia Airlines, liaising Amsterdam-Kuala Lumpur, exploded in flight, presumably shot down by a missile during its flight over eastern Ukraine. It was carrying 298 people, including 193 Dutch nationals.