AirAsia UPDATE: Bodies Found in Debris Field; No Survivors Expected

Details

Category: World News

Published on Tuesday, 30 December 2014 05:21

Written by Janet Walker

It started with the report of a dark object floating alone separated from two or three other objects in a tiny debris field, in the Java Sea, some twelve miles from the last know radar contact made with AirAsia QZ8105 and with the intensity of the storms the region has experienced the hope of a different conclusion prevailed.

Three hours after the first "object" was reported AirAsia officials have confirmed the presence of bodies, "swollen but intact" pieces of wreakage, items logged to the flight and personal effects. 

The families waiting, unsure, knowing with each passing hour the likelihood of survivors diminished. Networks began breaking scheduled programming with the grim news.

Small debris fields presumably from AirAsia Flight 8501, which disappeared from radar during severe thunderstorms, have been spotted in the Java Sea some twelve miles from the last known contact with the airliner, authorities and Reuters News Agency has reported.

The doomed airliner carrying 162 passengers, according to experts, was unable to gain enough lift to climb to the requested 38,000 feet so to bypass the Hurricane force storms with heavy lightening strikes that were directly in the flight path from Surabaya Indonesia to Singapore.

Forty bodies, also presumed to be passengers of the lost jet, have been recovered. Families of those on board have been notified of the recovery efforts.  

AirAsia QZ8501 vanished Sunday, mid way into early morning flight. It is the third Malaysian Air disaster of 2014 and the second craft that fell out of the sky with no known reason. Outside or external fault from radicals or terror elements and mechanical failure have been ruled out leaving poor decisions as the cause behind the disaster of QZ8501.

Experts have mainatined the news vigil throughout the past 72 hours explaining the possibile scenerios.

Pilot error may be the cause of the doomed jet's end as the experienced captain seemed simply to have miscalculated its own ability to generate the power to gain altitude to bypass the storm as well as the six other planes who had made the same request and were passing in the cluttered skies above the fierce and killer storm.

The airbus, like any airliner, has safe zones. Pushing an aircraft beyond what it is built to withstand can cause an automatic stall, which has been discussed as a possibility, as the debris field is located within what has been considered a distance that calculates to approximately 105MPH which is too slow and combining the factors and the aircraft capabilities could have been a major contributor to the crash.

Timeline

AirAsia Flight 8501, originating from Surabaya, Indonesia, with 162 passengers and crew onboard disappeared from radar at nearly mid way into its flight after encountering wall of severe and volatile thunderstorms somewhere over the Java Sea. 

The last know contact, at 7:12am local time (+12hoursDST), was 45minutes into the 110minute flight, when the pilot requested permission to ascend to 38,000 feet due to cloud cover.  At 7:16am the plane was still visible on radar.

At 7:18 AirAsia Flight 8501 went missing from radar and looses contact with Jakarta Air Traffic Control. Schedule to arrive at 8:37am, local time, QZ 8501 failed to make contact with Singapore ATF and Indonesia Search and Rescue Agency receives notification at 8:30am the Airbus is missing.

AirAsia carried 162 passengers. The passenger breakdown provided included predominately Asian citizens counting 149 Indonesians, 3 South Koreans, 1 Malaysian, 1 Singaporean, and 1 British citizen. A flight crew of seven (one French and six Indonesian) there were 16 children and 1 infant also confirmed as being on board.

The Airbus A320-216, only six years in use, operated a daily flight schedule, seven days a week from Surabaya to Singapore, and was a popular low cost island hopping flight substitute to other more costly options and generated many new never before flyers with its affordable alternative

This is a developing story.

Info graphic courtesy of Straits Times.