Under The Angsana Tree: Search Area Expanded for AirAsia QZ8501

Tail of crashed plane found: January 7 at 06:12 AM

Searchers have been scanning the sea from helicopters and ships

The tail of crashed AirAsia flight QZ8501 has been found in the Java Sea, the head of Indonesia's search and rescue has said.

The tail houses the "black boxes" - the voice and flight data recorders - which could give investigators clues as to the cause of the crash.

The aircraft was en route from Surabaya, Indonesia, to Singapore on 28 December with 162 people on board when it disappeared from radar.

What we know so far
Church in mourning
Air France lessons
Who were the victims?

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Tail of missing AirAsia plane discovered in Java Sea

Indonesia’s search and rescue chief says divers and an unmanned underwater vehicle have spotted the tail of the missing AirAsia plane in the Java Sea, the first confirmed sighting of any wreckage 11 days after Flight 8501 disappeared with 162 people on board.

Henry Bambang Soelistyo told reporters Wednesday that searchers were able to get a photograph of the debris.

The find is particularly important because the all-important cockpit voice and flight data recorders, or black boxes, are located in the aircraft’s tail.

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Divers join AirAsia wreck hunt, but no sign of black box

Search teams including divers took advantage of a let-up in bad weather on Tuesday to try to reach the wreckage of an AirAsia jet, but nine days after the plane crashed officials said there was still no sign of the crucial black box flight recorders.

Indonesian officials believe they may have located the tail and parts of the fuselage of the Airbus A320-200 at the bottom of the Java Sea, but strong currents, high winds and big waves have hindered attempts to investigate the debris.

Flight QZ8501 plunged into the water off Borneo island on Dec. 28, about 40 minutes into a two-hour flight from Indonesia's second-biggest city of Surabaya to Singapore. There were no survivors among the 162 people on board.

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AirAsia Flight 8501' black boxes may be 'buried in seabed'

Fluctuating weather conditions and choppy seas continued to complicate the multinational search efforts to locate more bodies and black box of the ill-fated AirAsia Flight 8501 as divers struggled to scour the Java Sea for more remains from the crashed plane. Meanwhile, in first punishments in the wake of crash, all officials who were involved with AirAsia Flight 8501's alleged schedule violation, would be suspended, said reports.

According to Indonesian search and rescue agency chief Bambang Soelistyo, the search teams were expanding the priority search area on Tuesday as the weather had improved. Also, underwater devices were deployed to help divers locate the plane parts effectively.

The weather on Tuesday appeared to be "pretty good" though there were chances that it might get uglier during the later part of the day, said Indonesia Air Force Lt Col Jhonson Supriadi.

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Time Running Out to Recover Floating Bodies

Indonesian Armed Forces Chief Moeldoko visited ships searching waters near the crash site of AirAsia Flight 8501 on Tuesday, as officials said time was running out to recover any bodies still floating at sea

Local news reports said earlier that passengers’ family members were expected to join Mr. Moeldoko’s entourage for a ceremony at sea, but a search-and-recovery official said relatives weren't part of Tuesday’s expedition. It couldn’t be independently confirmed who traveled with Mr. Moeldoko to the crash site.

The official said Indonesian helicopters were on standby and not searching this afternoon because of the high-level visit, while two of three U.S. helicopters involved in the search operation were used to ferry the visitors out to sea.

Meanwhile, searchers found two more bodies and were expected to bring them to Pangkalan Bun later this afternoon. Flight 8501 was carrying 162 people, most of whom were Indonesian. After more than a week of searching, a multinational team has recovered about three dozen bodies floating in an expanding zone of debris.

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AirAsia flight QZ8501 search area expanded

Indonesian officials have expanded their search area as the hunt for missing AirAsia flight QZ8501 goes on.

The flight from Surabaya, Indonesia to Singapore crashed into the sea on 28 December - 37 bodies have been recovered out of 162 people on board. Officials believe they may have located the tail, which holds the “black boxes”, and parts from the fuselage. But poor weather has repeatedly delayed efforts to reach and identify the debris and bring it to land.

It is still not known what caused the crash and despite a massive search the main part of the plane has not been found.

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Search Area Expanded for AirAsia Flight Victims, Data Recorders

A military ship is seen from Indonesian Air Force NAS 332 Super Puma helicopter during a search operation for the victims of AirAsia Flight 8501, off Pangkalan Bun, Central Borneo, Indonesia, Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2015

The head of Indonesia's National Search and Rescue Agency said the search area for the wreckage and victims of AirAsia Flight 8501 is being expanded, as the hunt for the plane's "black boxes," or flight data recorders, continues.

Henry Bambang Soelistyo made the announcement at a news conference Tuesday, saying authorities are opening up a "second priority" search area in the Java Sea off Indonesia. The plane went down into the sea more than a week ago during a storm, though no official cause has been determined. "All underwater devices have started to be revealed in the search location priority. The divers have also dived lower in the search area," he said.

Recovery teams have been struggling to reach what they believe to be the plane’s tail section, where the flight data recorders are located.

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Insurers see 'no problems' with claims despite confusion over route permits

Insurers have begun processing claims in the crash of an Indonesia AirAsia aircraft last month and hope to identify the beneficiaries by the end of January, an official from Indonesia's financial regulator said on Tuesday. Speculation about insurance payments surfaced after Indonesia's transport ministry said the airline only had permission to fly the plane's Surabaya-Singapore route on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. The flight which crashed took off on Sunday, December 28.

Firdaus Djaelani, non-bank financial institutions supervisor at the Indonesian financial services authority, told reporters that the incident remained "claimable" despite the confusion over the route permit. "AirAsia didn't fall because it was a Sunday," he said, adding that initial investigations showed that weather appeared to have been a factor. "Whatever the reason, the airline has to be responsible for its passengers." The "money has been prepared", he added. Indonesia AirAsia, 49% owned by Malaysia-based AirAsia, has made little comment on the route permissioning, but said it would fully cooperate with investigations.

The next of kin of each passenger will get up to 1.25 billion rupiah ($98,853) from the airline's insurers, PT Asuransi Jasa Indonesia and Asuransi Sinar Mas, Djaelani said. Allianz SE, the lead reinsurance firm, has declined comment on the extent of its exposure, or to identify others exposed to the crash of the Airbus A320-200. Some passengers may have taken an additional insurance policy via the airline from PT Asuransi Dayin Mitra, Djaelani added. Elizabeth Quendangen, technical deputy director at Asuransi Dayin Mitra, said the additional payout could be up to 750 million rupiah for each passenger.

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Families of victims offered compensation

AirAsia Indonesia has offered some families of those who perished on its Flight 8501 an initial compensation of about US$24,000 for each victim, said several family members. But most families are confused about the legality of the offer and have been reluctant to accept it.

Imam Sampoerno lost his daughter, son-in-law and two grandchildren on Flight QZ8501. He has heard about AirAsia's offer to compensate families financially, but is unclear about the wording and legality of the compensation letter. He has yet to receive an official offer of compensation.

According to Indonesian Transport Ministry regulations, families are eligible to receive an insurance payment of almost US$100,000. Mr Imam is worried that AirAsia will only fork out the initial sum of almost US$24,000 - a quarter of the full amount.

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AirAsia victim told family she’d ‘spend time alone at sea’

The coffin of Meiji Thejakusuma, a victim of AirAsia Flight QZ8501, is brought into the Adi Yasa funeral home in Surabaya

A woman who perished in the AirAsia disaster told her relatives at the airport she was going to “spend time alone at sea” for her birthday — chilling words that have left her family reeling.

Meiji Thejakusuma, a fashion store owner, uttered the eerily prescient words before she boarded Flight QZ8501, which mysteriously went down in the Java Sea on Dec. 28 with 162 people aboard, the Daily Mail reported.

Thejakusuma planned to mark her 45th birthday on Jan. 3 with a luxury cruise to Malaysia and Thailand. Instead, her body was recovered at sea and returned to her grief-stricken family in Surabaya, Indonesia.

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4 air traffic control workers sacked after flight schedule blunder

Staff who failed to sport the doomed plane was flying the wrong schedule have reportedly been dismissed following an official review into safety proceedings

Four air traffic controllers have been sacked after a review found they were responsible for 'failing to check the approved flight schedule' for AirAsia QZ8501.

The doomed plane, on which 162 people lost their lives, was flying an unauthorised route, Indonesia's transport ministry said on Saturday.

Pilots were travelling from Surabaya to Singapore but were using the summer schedule - as opposed to the winter one - which allows them to fly on different days.

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Black box located 'not far' from where large objects were found, says search ops chief

The chief of Indonesia's search and rescue agency Basarnas expressed optimism on Sunday that the black box of AirAsia Indonesia flight QZ8501 was located "not far" from five large objects the search operation had spotted in the Java Sea.

"Blackbox should not be far from the five significant objects we found," Mr Fransiskus Bambang Soelistyo told a media briefing at the agency's headquarters in Jakarta late on Sunday.

Officials had believed they were close to a major breakthrough after pinpointing five large objects on the sea floor thought to be parts of the Airbus A320-200 jet this weekend.

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Focus turns to airline's alleged missteps

Recovery at sea: Indonesian Navy divers and underwater demolition unit sailors transport body bags holding the remains of bodies from Air Asia Flight QZ8501 to the KRI Banda Aceh landing platform dock, at sea

As more than 30 bodies from AirAsia Flight QZ8501 were recovered from the Karimata Strait this weekend, leaked official documents have given rise to allegations that AirAsia Indonesia violated procedures that lead to the disaster.

The first allegation came to light in a leaked document that was originally sent by the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) to Transportation Minister Ignatius Jonan on Wednesday, revealing that the pilots of the flight had not received a required weather report from the agency.

"AirAsia took the [BMKG] weather report at 7 am," on Dec 28, the day of the crash, BMKG head Andi E. Sakya said. The time was after the plane's departure from Surabaya's Juanda International Airport at 5.35 am.

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Recovery bid for Air Asia jet’s fuselage hampered by weather

Soldiers carry a coffin containing a victim of the AirAsia crash to a hospital in Surabaya, Indonesia

Searchers halted efforts to reach the submerged fuselage of the crashed AirAsia jet on Sunday because of poor visibility in the murky Java Sea.

One week after the airliner went down on its flight from Surabaya, Indonesia, to Singapore, recovery crews have located several large objects on the seafloor that are believed to be the fuselage of the Airbus A320-200. The flight ran into a thunderstorm but the exact cause of the crash won’t be known until the flight recorders can be retrieved from the wreckage.

Officials earlier Sunday sent 21 Indonesian navy divers equipped with cameras and sonar beacons into the water with the aim of reaching the largest object, which survey vessels had measured at about 60 feet long.

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Flight attendant's young life cut short

On New Year's day, the two hottest stories in The Star Online were on Khairunnisa Haidar (pic), the stewardess on Indonesia AirAsia Flight QZ8501 that crashed into the Java Sea on its way from Surabaya to Singapore on Sunday.

According to Outbrain (a company that tracks website traffic), among the top three stories in The Star's news website on that day were: "I will accompany Khairunnisa's family home, says (AirAsia Group CEO Tan Sri Tony) Fernandes" and "She (Khairunnisa) died doing what she loved".

From the Facebook comments on the two news articles, you'll get an insight on why both stories were hot. For example, on the report that Fernandes will accompany Khairunnisa's family to her Palembang hometown once her body has been positively identified, Facebook user Reetha Rae Deepest commented: "Condolences to Nisa family... salute to the kind-hearted CEO of AirAsia... very rare but you are one...".

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Bad weather frustrates AirAsia search divers

Dark clouds fill the sky during the search in the Java Sea for passengers on board AirAsia flight QZ8501. Photograph: Reuters/Beawiharta

The main focus of the search is about 90 nautical miles off the coast of Borneo island, where five large objects believed to be parts of the plane – the largest about 18 metres (59 feet) long – have been pinpointed by ships using sonar.

“Based on past experience, the black box is not far from the plane debris we have found,” Soelistyo said. But he added that none of the searching ships had detected any “pings”, the locator signals the black box should transmit after a crash.

Until investigators can examine the black box recorders the cause of the crash remains a mystery, but the area is known for intense seasonal storms. BMKG, Indonesia’s meteorological agency, has said bad weather may have caused ice to form on the aircraft’s engines.

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Crash plane 'shouldn't have flown'

A body is unloaded from a US Navy helicopter on to the USS Sampson (AP)

Indonesian authorities have grounded AirAsia flights from Surabaya to Singapore, saying the plane which crashed into the Java Sea should not have flown on the day of the tragedy.

The country's Transport Ministry said the budget airline did not have a permit to fly on Sundays. AirAsia said it was reviewing the suspension.

Meanwhile, after nearly a week of searching for the victims of Flight 8501, rescue teams battling monsoon rains pulled many more bodies from the sea, some still strapped to their seats. Of the 30 recovered so far, 21 bodies were found yesterday, many of them by a US Navy ship.

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Ice to blame for AirAsia crash?

Families members of passengers aboard the ill-fated AirAsia QZ8501 plane that crashed. Credit: AFP

Weather was the "triggering factor" in the crash of AirAsia Flight 8501 with icing likely causing engine damage, Indonesia's meteorological agency said as divers prepared to search the plane wreckage Sunday.

The Airbus A320-200 crashed during a storm en route from Indonesia's second city Surabaya to Singapore, and relief workers are hunting for flight data recorders to determine the cause of the crash.

An initial report on the website of BMKG, Indonesia's meteorological agency, suggests the weather at the time the plane went down sparked the disaster after it appeared to fly into storm clouds.

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Fifth large object found on seabed

Indonesia's search and rescue teams on Sunday located a fifth large object on the seabed believed to be of the missing AirAsia Flight QZ8501 plane. National Search and Rescue Agency head Bambang Soelistyo said the object - 9.8 metres long, 1.1 metres wide and 0.4 metre high - has been located on the seabed.

Nine ships have been sent to the area to continue the search, Soelistyo was quoted as saying by Xinhua. The latest finding has made the total number of located objects to five, as four others were found on Saturday. The biggest one among them measures 18 meters long. The Airbus A320-200 aircraft with 155 passengers and seven crew members aboard went missing soon after taking off from Surabaya Dec 28 en-route to Singapore's Changi airport. The debris were spotted last Tuesday.

It is believed to have crashed in the Java Sea, near Karimata Strait, some 153 km from Pangkalan Bun in Central Kalimantan province in Borneo island. Earlier in the day, a pinger locator was deployed to find the black box of the plane.

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Divers being sent down to examine AirAsia wreck

Debris found by searchers in the hunt for a missing AirAsia flight. (AFP)

Divers are preparing to examine the wreckage of AirAsia Flight 8501 as the weather improves.

They hope to retrieve the rest of the bodies and find clues to what caused the plane to crash in stormy weather a week ago.

The breakthrough in the hunt for the Airbus A320 came after sonar equipment aboard search ships detected four massive objects on the ocean floor in the Java Sea, and Indonesian officials said they were confident they belong to the plane.

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'Crashed AirAsia jet's pilots did not get weather report'

AirAsia Indonesia allegedly violated standard procedures which resulted in the pilots of the airline's doomed plane not receiving a required weather report before takeoff

AirAsia Indonesia allegedly violated standard procedures which resulted in the pilots of the airline's doomed plane not receiving a required weather report before takeoff, a media report has said citing leaked official documents.

The Jakarta Post reported that the leaked documents have given rise to allegations that AirAsia Indonesia violated procedures that lead to the crash of the Flight QZ8501 carrying 162 people in the Java Sea.

The first allegation came to light in a leaked document that was originally sent by the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) to Transportation Minister Ignatius Jonan on Wednesday, showing that the pilots of the flight had not received a required weather report from the agency. "AirAsia took the (BMKG) weather report at 7 AM," on December 28, the day of the crash, BMKG head Andi E Sakya said.

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AirAsia Flight QZ8501 Updates: