ATR 42-300 of Indonesian carrier Trigana Air crashes – 54 killed

The ATR 42-300 twin-turboprop plane of Trigana Air of Indonesia, carrying 44 adult passengers, five children and five crew, crashed in remote eastern Indonesia. Rescuers have moved to the site of the crash where debris has been spotted.
This has been reported in zeenews.india.com dated 17 August 2015.

The plane lost contact with air traffic control during a short 45-minute flight in bad weather from Jayapura, capital of Papua province. It disappeared about 10 minutes before reaching its destination Oksibil which is a remote settlement in the mountains south of Jayapura. The incident happened shortly after it requested for permission to start descending to land.
This accident gets added to the incidents of air accidents in Indonesia. The country has suffered major incidents recently. One of these was the crash of an AirAsia plane in December in which 162 lives were lost.
Incidentally, Trigana Air is a small domestic airline and due to a number of safety incidents it is not allowed to operate in European Union airspace.
(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

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Plan your 2016 holidays today - AirAsia offers domestic tickets starting from Rs 799

Those who want to go on vacations in 2016 can plan now itself because low-cost airline AirAsia has announced yet another round of big sale promo on the flights throughout the airline’s route network. The huge discounts will be available between June 22 and June 28 June and will be for domestic travel between February 15, 2016 and August 31, 2016.
This has been reported in zeenews.com dated 23 June 2015.

The all-inclusive one way fare will start from as low as Rs 799 for flights from Bengaluru to Kochi.
It will be Rs 999 from Bengaluru to Goa/ Pune/Vishakapatnam.
And - Rs 1599 from Bengaluru to Jaipur , Rs 1799 from Bengaluru to Chandigarh , Rs 1999 from New Delhi to Bengaluru and Goa , Rs 1799 from New Delhi to Guwahati and vice versa.
(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

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AirAsia flight QZ8501 – one black box recovered, second box located

#AirAsia #QZ8501 #BoeingAirbus #flightdatarecorder The latest news about AirAsia flight QZ8501 is that sixteen days after the Boeing Airbus-A320 crashed in the Java Sea, Indonesian Navy divers have successfully retrieved one of the black boxes of the crashed plane.
The second black box or cockpit voice recorder has also been located inside the wreckage and efforts are on to retrieve this also – it is still stuck in the plane debris.
These orange colored flight data recorder or cockpit voice recorder would come as a major breakthrough in the multinational search in which the teams had to, at times, weather the rough seas and zero visibility – the orange colored black box is believed to be holding vital clues about the last moments before the plane's crash.
The flight had 162 people on board and, so far, only 48 bodies have been recovered, at least two of them still strapped to seat belts. Majority of passengers we Indonesians. The ill-fated Flight QZ8501 had gone off the radars just after 42 minutes after taking off of taking off and was on a trip to Singapore from Surabaya.
The pilot of the Airbus had made a request to climb to 38,000 feet to avoid stormy clouds but permission was not granted because there was another plane in that route.

Recovery of tail portion of AirAsia Flight QZ8501 hampered by huge waves

#AirAsia #AirbusA320 #QZ8501 #flightdatarecorder The tail portion of the AirAsia Boeing Airbus A320 Flight QZ8501 has been located and divers are struggling against strong currents and waves as they attempted to hoist the wreckage out of the Java Sea two weeks ago after it went down. All 162 people on board have been killed.
It seems inflatable bags were being attached to the rear of the aircraft, and then a crane will be used to lift it from a depth of about 100 feet. However, the tail part is getting heavier due to strong currents and piles of sand and mud and, as Suryadi B. Supriyadi, the National Search and Rescue Agency's operational director, has indicated many more inflatable bags would be required.
Intermittent underwater ping-like sounds have been picked up about a kilometer (half mile) from where the tail was located. It could not be confirmed as to whether the pings were from the cockpit voice and flight data recorders of the aircraft that are usually located in the rear portion of the Airbus A320.
Reports indicate discovery of four more bodies bringing the total number of bodies recovered so far to 48 — the two bodies were still strapped in their seats.

Startling new facts emerge on AirAsia Flight QZ8501 – it did not have permission to fly

#AirAsia #FlightQZ8501 #BoeingA320200 #JavaSea It has now been revealed that AirAsia did not have permission to operate on the Surabaya and Singapore route on Sundays – hence, Flight QZ8501 was an unauthorized one and could be banned from offering flights in Indonesia. The Flight QZ8501 had crashed into the Java Sea.
Moreover, AirAsia also faces allegations that the pilot of the Boeing Airbus A320-200 did not ask for a weather report from meteorologists before take-off, amid concerns that the Airbus A320 went down in stormy conditions. It is reported that Indonesia's transport ministry has suspended all AirAsia flights between Surabaya and Singapore.
To make matters worse, the other schedules of this budget airline are also under investigation, as it was not permitted to make this journey on Sundays. Underwater remote operating vehicles have tried to capture images of the debris that includes four large items.
There are no survivors of the ill-fated Flight QZ8501, which had 162 people on board and, the crucial black boxes are yet to be located – data captured in these boxes could reveal what happened in the last few minutes of the plane.
The pilot of the Boeing had 6,100 flying hours on the A320 and had asked for permission to ascend to 38,000ft before contact was lost with air traffic control. Radar data tends to indicate that the plane had made an "unbelievably" steep climb before it crashed, probably due to stalling.

AirAsia flight QZ8501 has met a watery grave

#AirAsia #QZ8501 #Airbus320200 #Borneo The ill-fated flight QZ8501 Airbus 320-200 of AirAsia has crashed in the Java Sea and bodies of some passengers have been sighted and recovered by rescue teams. It is finally known that the flight has crashed.
The Black Box of the aircraft has to, now, be retrieved to know the possible reasons of the crash. Till then, it can only be conjectures. It has been established that the pilot of the Boeing wanted to climb to a higher altitude due to the bad weather but did not get the permission in time.
It seems there was no distress signal from the plane. The pilot wanted to avoid the bad weather because of heavy air traffic and take up the aircraft to a safer altitude but his speed was low – that way, he could have encountered a stall situation and the aircraft crashed.
The bodies have been reported by Lieutenant Airman Tri Wobowo who was co-pilot of one of the Hercules aircraft that was on a search and rescue mission. He had seen eight bodies – some of them were holding hands - the location was off the coast of Borneo. Indonesia’s National Search and Rescue Agency chief has confirmed about the discoveries - one of the bodies was that of a flight attendant.

Missing AirAsia Flight 8501 - US sending destroyer to join search operations

#AirAsia #Flight 8501 #JavaSea #Airbus #USSSampson AirAsia Flight 8501, an Airbus A320-200 with 162 people on board vanished after seeking permission to climb above threatening clouds – permission was denied and possibilities of the Boeing crashing into the Java Sea cannot be ruled out especially when there are reports of oil slicks having been noticed.
It seems one of the pilots had sought permission to climb from 32,000 feet (9,754 meters) to 38,000 feet (11,582 meters) because of the weather. It was a two-hour journey from Surabaya, Indonesia, to Singapore.
A U.S. destroyer is therefore on its way to the Java Sea to join the search for the AirAsia jet that was on a scheduled flight from Indonesia to Singapore over the weekend.
The 7th Fleet has revealed that the USS Sampson, which was already on an independent deployment in the Western Pacific, has been asked to proceed to the scene.
The probable location based on the plane's last known coordinates appears that the aircraft "is at the bottom of the sea" – this has been informed by Indonesia search-and-rescue chief Henry Bambang Soelistyo. However, searchers have plans to expand their efforts to the land as well.
Already nearly 30 ships, 15 aircraft and seven helicopters were looking for the jet and majority of the crafts were Indonesian but Singapore, Malaysia and Australia are also contributing to the effort. Aircraft from Thailand is also expected to join the search.

Year-end panic as AirAsia A320-200 with 162 on board goes missing

#A320200 #AirAsia #Indonesia #Singapore #MH370 An Airbus A320-200 of AirAsia en-route from Surabaya, Indonesia, to Singapore with 162 people aboard lost contact with air traffic control about an hour before it was to land and is missing. The crew included two pilots, four flight attendants and one engineer. This has been confirmed by officials of AirAsia Indonesia.
The crew of the Airbus A320-200 It was the Flight QZ8501 that took off from Juanda International Airport and lost contact with air traffic control at about shortly before it was to land at Singapore.
As revealed by Djoko Murjatmodjo, Indonesia's acting director general of transportation, the pilot of the plane lost contact with the air traffic control shortly after the pilot asked to avoid a cloud bank by turning left and going higher to 34,000 feet.
There was no distress signal from Flight QZ8501 - the distance between Surabaya and Singapore is about 860 miles and the contact was lost about 42 minutes after takeoff from Surabaya airport. It seems at that time, the plane was believed to be over the Java Sea between Kalimantan and Java islands. The weather in the area was cloudy.
The plane was carrying 155 passengers, including 138 adults, 16 children and an infant and most of them were Indonesian nationals. However, there also were one passenger each from Singapore, Malaysia and France and three from South Korea. This is another mysterious disappearance of a flight similar to the Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370 which went missing shortly after takeoff from Kuala Lumpur.