Airasia Flight QZ8501 flight recorders discovered
Jakarta, Indonesia (CNN) Searchers
have found the flight recorders of AirAsia Flight QZ8501 in the Java
Sea, officials said Monday, a major breakthrough in the effort to figure
out why the plane crashed last month.
Divers
found the flight data recorder under the wreckage of one of the plane's
wings, said Bambang Soelistyo, the head of Indonesia's search and
rescue agency.
The search teams have
also located but not yet recovered the other key source of information
about the plane, the cockpit voice recorder, said Mardjono Siswosuwarno,
the chief investigator into the crash.
The voice recorder is underneath debris, he said, expressing hope that it could be retrieved easily.
The
two devices, known popularly as black boxes, are seen as crucial to
unraveling the mystery of what brought down Flight QZ8501 as it flew
toward Singapore from the Indonesian city of Surabaya with 162 people on
board.
Finding
the data recorder is "a huge step in the right direction for
investigators," said CNN aviation correspondent Rene Marsh. "It gives
them so much information that they didn't have before."
Coupled with the debris that's already
been collected, the data recorder will enable investigators to "begin to
paint the picture of exactly what happened when things went terribly
wrong for this aircraft," Marsh said.
Recorder's location 'is a clue'
The
data recorder is expected to provide a vast range of information about
what the plane was doing, including its air speed, engine performance
and the cabin pressure.
The discovery
of the device under the wreckage of a wing is significant, according to
Mary Schiavo, a former inspector general of the U.S. Department of
Transportation.
"That itself is a clue,
because I think that pretty much indicates that the plane broke apart
when it hit the water," she said, adding that if the aircraft had broken
up at a high altitude, investigators wouldn't "have found the wreckage
that close together."
The cockpit voice
recorder is expected to give insight into how the pilots responded to
the crisis that brought down the plane. It captures all sounds on the
flight deck, notably conversations between the crew members.
The
condition of the black boxes wasn't immediately clear, but Marsh said
they were likely to have come through the crash with their information
intact.
"They are built to withstand
the most severe aircraft accidents," Marsh said. "We're talking about
high temperatures, we're talking about pressure from being at the depths
of the ocean."
Reams of data
The flight data recorder is expected to be taken to a lab in Jakarta, the Indonesian capital, for analysis.
Once
the information is downloaded, investigators should have "a pretty good
idea within a couple of days" of what happened aboard the plane,
Schiavo said.
The devices usually
contain hundreds of parameters and thousands of data points, she said,
that look a bit like an EKG when they're printed out.
But Schivao added that she didn't think officials would release any information publicly for a couple of weeks.
French
aviation experts are helping the Indonesian investigation, which also
expected to involve Airbus, the manufacturer of the downed plane, an
A320-200.
The tail section of the
aircraft, which houses the black boxes, was lifted from the Java Sea on
Saturday. But searchers didn't find the flight recorders inside it.
The
flight data recorder was found about 2.5 kilometers (1.5 miles) from
the location of the tail, according to Soelistyo, the head of the search
agency.
Most bodies still missing
Searchers are still looking for the plane's fuselage, where many of the bodies of those on board the plane might be located.
A
total of 48 bodies have so far been recovered from the sea, some of
them still strapped into seats. Authorities have identified most of
them.
Eben Tanapurtra, who lost seven
family members in the disaster, told CNN that he was happy to hear the
flight data recorder has been found but that his family and others hope
authorities won't focus only on the black boxes.
"Please,
please, continue the search for the missing bodies," he said. "We
understand that the black box is crucial and so important for
investigation. But please, do not consider the efforts to find the
bodies as a less important thing."
Bad
weather has hampered the search efforts for the aircraft, which are now
in their 16th day. Flight QZ8501, operated by AirAsia's Indonesian
affiliate, went down on December 28.
The
pilot had requested permission to turn and climb to a higher altitude
minutes before contact was lost, according to Indonesian officials.
Hospitals prepare to ID bodies
Grim discovery: After 3 days of intense search for AirAsia Flight QZ8501, debris and dead bodies
CNN) -- [Breaking news update 6:16 a.m. ET]
So far, two bodies have
been sighted, Indonesian Navy Official Manahan Simorangkir told CNN. The
body of a woman has been recovered, but large waves have prevented
crews from getting to the second body.
[Breaking news update 6 a.m. ET]
Hospitals in the
Indonesian city of Surabaya are being prepared to help house and
identify bodies being recovered off the coast of Borneo from a site
where Indonesian officials think they've found debris from AirAsia
Flight QZ8501, a search team official said.
After three days of
intense searching for AirAsia Flight QZ8501, Indonesian teams made the
grim discovery Tuesday: debris and dead bodies in the waters off the
island of Borneo.
The crew on a military
aircraft spotted the shadow of an object that looked like a plane in the
water, said Bambang Sulistyo, the head of Indonesia's search and rescue
agency.
Further searching
located floating objects believed to be the bodies of passengers, and
then what appeared to be an emergency exit of the plane, Sulistyo told a
news conference.
Officials sent other search teams racing to the area.
So far, two bodies have
been sighted, Indonesian Navy Official Manahan Simorangkir told CNN. The
body of a woman has been recovered, but large waves prevented crews
from getting to the second body.
Hospitals in the city of Surabaya were being prepared to help house and identify them.
The news dealt a
heartbreaking blow to relatives of passengers who had been waiting
anxiously for information at the airport in Surabaya, the Indonesian
city where Flight 8501 began its journey Sunday with 162 people on
board.
The plane was carrying
155 passengers and 7 crew members. The overwhelming majority of those on
board were Indonesians. There were also citizens of Britain, France,
Malaysia, Singapore and South Korea.
There were scenes of
anguish as families watched a live news conference about the discovery
of the debris and saw video of a helicopter lowering a diver down to
what appeared to be a floating body.
Some people fainted and stretchers were taken into the room.
Family members burst
into tears, dabbing their eyes as officials passed out tissues. Some sat
with their eyes full of tears, hands covering their mouths, or heads
buried in their hands. Others had phones jammed against their ears.
'Words cannot express how sorry I am'
"My heart is filled with
sadness for all the families involved in QZ 8501," AirAsia CEO Tony
Fernandes tweeted. "On behalf of AirAsia my condolences to all. Words
cannot express how sorry I am."
He said he was on his way to Surabaya.
Search and rescue teams
are diverting all their resources to where the debris is located,
authorities said. The area is about 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the
aircraft's last known location over the Java Sea, off the coast of
Indonesia's Central Kalimantan province on Borneo.
Divers and ships with
sonar equipment are being sent to the site, where the depth of the sea
at the site varies between 25 and 30 meters, Sulistyo said.
Ships, planes and helicopters have been scouring the sea for Flight 8501 since it went missing on its way to Singapore.
The Airbus A320-200 lost
contact with air traffic control early Sunday shortly after the pilot
requested permission to turn and climb to a higher altitude because of
bad weather, according to Indonesian officials.
Unanswered questions
Authorities mounted a huge effort to find the aircraft, mapping out a search zone covering 156,000 square kilometers.
Questions remain unanswered about why Flight 8501 lost contact with air traffic control and what happened afterward.
Some experts have
speculated that the aircraft might have experienced an aerodynamic stall
because of a lack of speed or from flying at too sharp an angle to get
enough lift.
Analysts have also
suggested that the pilots might not have been getting information from
onboard systems about the plane's position or that rain or hail from
thunderstorms in the area could have damaged the engines.
The key to understanding what happened is likely to be contained in the aircraft's flight recorders.
"Until we get the black
boxes, we won't know what's going on with the engines," Bill Savage, a
former pilot with 30 years of experience, told CNN.
'It was to be his last vacation with his family'
Details have emerged about some of the people on board the plane.
They include Alain
Oktavianus Siauw, whose fiance says she was on her way to the airport to
pick him up when she heard the plane had gone missing.
Louise Sidharta said
Siauw was supposed to be enjoying a family vacation before the two got
married. "It was to be his last vacation with his family," she said.
Siauw's Facebook page says he lives in Malang, a province in Indonesia.
The disappearance of Flight 8501 also stirred painful memories of the families of people on board Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which dropped off radar over the South China Sea in March.
Nearly 10 months later,
searchers are still combing remote reaches of the southern Indian Ocean
for any trace of the Boeing 777 that had 239 people on board.
"The lack of ability to
close things down emotionally is just exhausting," said Sarah Bajc told
CNN on Monday night. Her partner, Philip Woods, was on board Flight 370.
When news broke that another plane had disappeared this week, Bajc said, "I just started to shake."
Searchers think missing jet is at 'bottom of the sea'
Official: AirAsia Flight QZ8501 likely at 'bottom of the sea'
(CNN) -- The missing AirAsia jet probably crashed
into the sea, Indonesia's top rescue official said Monday, citing radar
data from the plane's last contact.
"Our early conjecture is
that the plane is in the bottom of the sea," Bambang Sulistyo, head of
Indonesia's national search and rescue agency, told reporters, saying
the view was based on the plane's flight track and last known
coordinates.
But searchers still don't
know exactly where the aircraft is, he said, and may need help from
other countries for an underwater search.
The search for 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 looking for the missing aircraft, according to
Indonesian authorities, who are leading the search and rescue
operations.
It's unclear if weather
played a role in the aircraft's disappearance, but rescuers say it could
be a factor that influences how quickly they find the plane.
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're combing a "very broad search area."
Report: Higher altitude request denied
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 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 -- Indonesian
authorities said.
Before the plane, an Airbus A320-200,
lost contact with air traffic controllers, one of the pilots asked to
change course and fly at a higher altitude because of bad weather,
officials said. Heavy thunderstorms were reported in the area at the
time.
Air traffic control
approved the pilot's request to turn left but denied permission for the
plane to climb to 38,000 feet from 32,000 feet, Djoko Murjatmodjo, an
aviation official at the Indonesian Transport Ministry told the national
newspaper Kompas.
The increased altitude request was denied because there was another plane flying at that height, he said.
In addition to Indonesia's 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 country's
military says it's sending two more ships to the search area. Malaysia's
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.
The U.S. Navy Seventh Fleet said it stands ready to assist the search efforts but so far hasn't been asked to help.
Indonesia has reached
out to the United Kingdom, France and the United States for help with
sonar technology that may be needed for an underwater search, Sulistyo
told reporters Monday.
Anxious wait for relatives
After hours of waiting
in anguish for any word about the passengers aboard the missing plane,
several dozen of their family members met with airport and airline
officials in a closed-door briefing Monday at the airport in Surabaya.
As they waited for news,
some relatives took cell phone pictures of a flight manifest posted on a
wall. The black-and-white papers showed every passenger's name and seat
number, but not their fate.
Others simply sat and dabbed tears from their eyes.
Oei Endang Sulsilowati and her daughter were looking for information about her brother, his wife and their two children.
"We don't know what to do," Sulsilowati said. "We are just waiting for news."
"Our concern right now
is for the relatives and the next of kin," AirAsia CEO Tony Fernandes
said during a news conference in Surabaya.
Fernandes confirmed that
storm clouds caused the pilot to ask for a change in flight plan, but
added, "We don't want to speculate whether weather was a factor. We
really don't know." Once the aircraft is found, there will be a proper
investigation, he said.
Of the people on board
the passenger jet, 155 are Indonesian, three are South Korean, one is
British, one is French, one is Malaysian and one is Singaporean, the
airline said.
Eighteen children,
including one infant, are among the passengers, the carrier said. Seven
of the people on board are crew members.
The MH370 mystery
AirAsia, a successful budget airline group headquartered in Malaysia,
had a clean safety record until the disappearance of Flight 8501. The
missing plane is operated by the company's Indonesian affiliate.
The loss of contact with
the plane comes nearly 10 months after the disappearance of Malaysia
Airlines Flight 370, which dropped off radar over Southeast Asia on
March 8 with 239 people on board.
Searchers have yet to
find any remains of Flight 370, which officials believe went down in the
southern Indian Ocean after mysteriously flying thousands of kilometers
away from its planned route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.
But some aviation experts don't think the search for Flight 8501 will be as challenging as the hunt for MH370.
"We are not talking
about the deep Indian Ocean here," CNN aviation correspondent Richard
Quest said. "We are talking about congested airspace around Southeast
Asia. There will be much better radar coverage. There's certainly better
air traffic control coverage."
AirAsia Flight QZ 8501 with 162 on board goes missing on way to Singapore
Relatives of the passengers of AirAsia Flight
QZ8501 comforted each other at Juanda International Airport in
Surabaya, Indonesia, on Sunday.
(CNN) -- The search is on for an AirAsia passenger jet carrying 162 people that lost contact with Indonesian air traffic control early Sunday, gripping Southeast Asia with a second missing plane crisis in less than a year.
Before communication was lost, a pilot on AirAsia Flight QZ 8501 asked to deviate from its planned route -- from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore -- because of bad weather, officials said.
The aircraft went missing
as it flew over the Java Sea between the islands of Belitung and
Borneo, according to Indonesian authorities, who are leading the search
and rescue operations.
Of the people on board
the Airbus A320-200, 155 are Indonesian, three are South Korean, one is
British, one is French, one is Malaysian and one is Singaporean, the
airline said.
Seventeen children,
including one infant, are among the passengers, the carrier said. Seven
of the people on board are crew members.
At the airport in Surabaya, loved ones gathered and wept as they waited for any word on the passengers.
Some took cell phone
pictures of a flight manifest posted on a wall. The black-and-white
papers showed every passenger's name and seat number, but not their
fate.
Others simply sat and dabbed tears from their eyes.
"Thank you for all your
thoughts and prayers. We must stay strong," AirAsia Chief Executive Tony
Fernandes said on Twitter. He later announced he was traveling to
Surabaya, saying most of the passengers are from there.
As word spread of the
missing plane, the airline changed the color of its logo on its website
and social media accounts from red to gray.
Heavy thunderstorms in area
Flight 8501 "was
requesting deviation due to en route weather before communication with
the aircraft was lost," the airline said.
The flight's captain
asked permission to climb to a higher altitude, said Djoko Murdjatmojo,
the head of aviation at the Indonesian Transportation Ministry,
according to the national news agency.
According to flight tracking websites, almost the entire flight path of the plane was over the sea.
Bad weather gripped the region at the time, CNN meteorologist Derek Van Dam said.
"We still had lines of
very heavy thunderstorms" when the plane was flying, Van Dam said. "But
keep in mind, turbulence doesn't necessarily bring down airplanes."
CNN aviation analyst
Mary Schiavo said that if there was an onboard emergency, the pilots
should have issued a mayday call or a pan-pan call.
"Mayday means you're
immediately in danger of losing the flight; pan-pan means that it is
urgent but that you can continue the flight and request an alternate
route or an alternate airport," said Schiavo, a former inspector general
for the U.S. Department of Transportation.
"It's disconcerting in that the standard procedures for an emergency don't seem to have been deployed," she said.
The bad weather in the
area is also likely to hamper the search efforts for the aircraft, said
Alan Diehl, a former U.S. air accident investigator.
The Malaysian government
said it has deployed three vessels and three aircraft to help
Indonesian authorities in the search for the plane. Singapore said it
has activated its rescue and aviation agencies. Australia said it had
also offered assistance.
There was conflicting
information about when exactly Flight 8501 went missing. AirAsia said
contact was lost at 7:24 a.m. Sunday, Surabaya time (7:24 p.m. Saturday
ET), but Indonesian aviation authorities said it happened earlier, at
6:17 a.m.
'Very good' safety reputation
AirAsia is a
Malaysia-based airline that is popular in the region as a budget
carrier. It has about 100 destinations, with affiliate companies in
several Asian countries.
The missing plane is
operated by AirAsia's Indonesian affiliate, in which the Malaysian
company holds a 48.9% stake, according to its website.
AirAsia has a "very good" reputation for safety, CNN aviation correspondent Richard Quest said.
Flight 8501's captain
has a total of 6,100 flying hours, and the first officer a total of
2,275 flying hours, the airline said. The plane's last scheduled
maintenance was on November 16, it said.
The French Foreign
Ministry said the first officer is the French citizen who is on the
plane. A state-run company in Indonesia that manages airports identified
the first officer as Remi Emmanuel Plesel.
Airbus said the plane
had "accumulated approximately 23,000 flight hours in some 13,600
flights." The aircraft manufacturer said it would provide full
assistance to authorities in charge of investigating the missing plane.
The loss of contact with
the AirAsia plane comes nearly 10 months after the disappearance of
Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which dropped off radar over Southeast
Asia on March 8 with 239 people on board.
The Malaysia Airlines
plane, a Boeing 777-200ER, lost contact with air traffic control over
the South China Sea between Malaysia and Vietnam.
Searchers have yet to
find any debris from Flight 370, which officials believe crashed in the
southern Indian Ocean after veering dramatically off course.
U.S. President Barack
Obama has been briefed about the missing AirAsia plane, White House
spokesman Eric Schultz said, adding that U.S. officials will continue to
monitor the situation.
CNN's Holly Yan, Yousuf Basil, Steve Almasy,
Radina Gigova, Paula Hancocks, Joe Sutton, Euan McKirdy and Larry
Register contributed to this report. Journalist Chan Kok Leong also
contributed to this report.
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