News
MISSING AIRASIA FLIGHT 8501
THE AIRBUS 320 DISAPPEARED SUNDAY
Airasia
USPA NEWS -
An Indonesia AirAsia flight with 162 people aboard, most of them Indonesians, disappeared Sunday over the Java Sea, triggering a search involving several Southeast Asian nations.
Contact with Flight 8501 was lost about 42 minutes after take-off.
Contact with Flight 8501 was lost about 42 minutes after take-off.
The twin-engine A320-200 jet took off from Surabaya airport in Indonesia for Singapore. It was not immediately clear whether it had any satellite tracking devices on board.
Malaysia-based AirAsia, led by Malaysian businessman Tony Fernandes, has dominated cheap travel in the region for years. AirAsia Malaysia owns 49 percent of its subsidiary, AirAsia Indonesia. It said the plane was on the submitted flight plan route when the pilots requested deviation due to weather before communication was lost.
AirAsia, which has a presence in most of Southeast Asia and recently in India, has never lost a plane before and has a good safety track record.
Malaysia-based AirAsia, led by Malaysian businessman Tony Fernandes, has dominated cheap travel in the region for years. AirAsia Malaysia owns 49 percent of its subsidiary, AirAsia Indonesia. It said the plane was on the submitted flight plan route when the pilots requested deviation due to weather before communication was lost.
AirAsia, which has a presence in most of Southeast Asia and recently in India, has never lost a plane before and has a good safety track record.
Indonesia and Singapore immediately launched a search and rescue operation but there was no word on the plane's whereabouts more than six hours after it went missing.The contact was lost about 42 minutes after the single-aisle jetliner took off from Indonesia's Surabaya airport, Hadi Mustofa, an official of the transportation ministry told Indonesia's MetroTV. It was about an hour before it was scheduled to land in Singapore at 0030gmt.
Flight QZ8501 lost communication with Jakarta's air traffic control at 7:24 a.m. Singapore time (2324 GMT Saturday) about an hour before it was scheduled to land in Singapore, the Singapore Civil Aviation Authority said in a statement.
Flight QZ8501 lost communication with Jakarta's air traffic control at 7:24 a.m. Singapore time (2324 GMT Saturday) about an hour before it was scheduled to land in Singapore, the Singapore Civil Aviation Authority said in a statement.
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