Air Asia Missing Plane. (CNN) -- The search for missing AirAsia Flight QZ8501 resumed on Monday, a day after the commercial jet disappeared in Indonesian airspace with 162 people aboard. Ships, planes and helicopters are searching for the missing aircraft, Indonesian authorities said. Its unclear if weather played a role in the aircrafts disappearance, but rescuers say it could be a factor that influences how quickly they find the plane. AirAsia flight goes missing AirAsia flight goes missing Plane was on common route AirAsia pilot requested to change route Large waves and clouds hampered the search for the plane on Sunday, the agency said. By Monday morning, weather in the area appeared to be clearing up, CNN International meteorologist Tom Sater said. Authorities say they plan to divide what they called a very broad search area into four sections of 120 by 240 nautical miles. AirAsia says air traffic controllers lost contact with the aircraft at 7:24 a.m. Sunday Singapore time (6:24 a.m. in Indonesia). The missing plane, flying from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore, went missing as it flew over the Java Sea between the islands of Belitung and Borneo -- a heavily traveled shipping channel with shallow waters, according to Indonesian authorities, who are leading the search and rescue operations. Before the plane lost contact with air traffic controllers, one of the pilots asked to fly at a higher altitude because of bad weather, officials said. AirAsia statement on missing airliner In addition to Indonesias teams, several other countries have joined the hunt for the missing plane. A C-130 plane from Singapore has been participating in the search, and the countrys military says its sending two more ships to the search area. Malaysias transportation minister said his country has deployed three vessels and three aircraft to assist in the search. And the Royal Australian Air Force said Monday that it was deploying a patrol plane to help. Now that a day has passed since the plane went missing, investigators should have more data to help them find it, said Peter Goelz, former managing director of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board. Theyve had a full 24 hours now to gather all of the available radar data from all of the available sources, he said. They should be able to put that together, along with any satellite data, and have a more precise location on where to target their search.
Posted on: Mon, 29 Dec 2014 02:55:13 +0000
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