Teams Mobilized to Search for Missing AirAsia Airliner

Bangkok: Search-and-rescue teams were mobilized from across Southeast Asia on Sunday after a commercial airliner with 162 people on board lost contact with ground controllers off the coast of Borneo, a search effort that evoked a distressingly familiar mix of grief and mystery nine months after a Malaysia Airlines jetliner disappeared over the Indian Ocean.

This plane, too, had Malaysian connections: The Airbus A320-200 was operated by the Indonesian affiliate of AirAsia, a regional budget carrier based in Malaysia.

And while it seemed premature to make such comparisons, the Indonesian authorities could not explain Sunday why the AirAsia jet disappeared from radar screens about 40 minutes after leaving the Indonesian city of Surabaya around 5:30 a.m.

By nightfall, more than 12 hours later, searchers facing bad weather had found no sign of the wreckage and the search was called off for the night, Indonesian officials said.

The weather along the path of Flight QZ8501 to Singapore was cloudy, and a United States-based weather monitoring service reported a number of lightning strikes along the way. But the monsoon conditions did not seem insurmountable for a modern airliner.

The route was a well-traveled part of the Indonesian archipelago; six other aircraft were in the vicinity of Flight QZ8501 when it disappeared, according to data by Flightradar24, an organization that tracks aircraft.

Boats and planes from at least three countries had joined the search along a 100-mile stretch of the Java Sea near the island of Belitung, between the islands of Borneo and Sumatra, the plane's last known location. The search was to continue Monday morning.

Shortly before contact was lost on Sunday, the cockpit crew informed air traffic controllers in Jakarta that they were planning to rise to 38,000 from 32,000 feet to avoid a cloud, Djoko Murjatmodjo, the acting director general of Air Transport at Indonesia's Ministry of Transportation, told reporters at a news conference in Jakarta.

"At the moment, we don't know where the exact location is, except that this morning at 6:17, we lost contact," Djoko said. The Singapore authorities said contact was lost at 6:24 a.m. Jakarta time; the discrepancy has not been explained.

Djoko said the authorities had not detected any emergency distress beacons that are normally triggered by an accident.

"Therefore we cannot assume anything yet," he said.

Kompas newspaper in Indonesia quoted Djoko as saying that the plane's request to divert from its flight path was approved but that air traffic controllers denied the request to ascend to 38,000 feet "because of traffic." He did not elaborate.

The paper also quoted Syamsul Huda, director for aviation and meteorology at the Indonesian state weather agency, as saying that there were "many clouds along the route," including large cumulonimbus clouds.

Earth Networks, a company that tracks weather conditions across the globe, said it had recorded a number of lightning strikes "near the path" of Flight 8501 on Sunday morning between 6:09 and 6:20.

While it is rare for a lightning strike to cause serious structural damage that threatens the safety of an aircraft, it can disrupt navigation systems, such as magnetic compasses. A lightning flash, particularly at night, can also momentarily disorient the pilots.

The turbulence associated with a big storm can sometimes be severe and sudden  shifts in wind direction could disrupt the airflow through a jet engine, potentially causing it to shut down. However, a shutdown of all engines in such a scenario would be highly unlikely and the Airbus A320 is certified to fly up to three hours on a single engine, in compliance with global aviation safety regulations.

The Malaysian founder of the airline, Tony Fernandes, said in a Twitter message on Sunday that he was traveling to Surabaya, where most of the plane's 155 passengers were from.

Indonesia dispatched at least three warships and five aircraft to search for the plane, Malaysia deployed three boats and three aircraft, and Singapore said it sent a C-130 plane to assist in the search. Australia also offered to lend ships and aircraft to the effort.

AirAsia said in its statement that the passengers included 16 children and one infant. A crew of two pilots and five cabin crew members were also on board.

The passengers and crew included 155 Indonesians, three South Koreans, one Singaporean, one Malaysian, one Briton and a French citizen, AirAsia said.

The captain was identified as Irianto, who like many Indonesians uses only one name. France's Foreign Ministry said the French citizen was the co-pilot.

Airbus said in a statement Sunday that the aircraft was delivered to the airline in 2008, and it had flown around 13,600 flights.

The missing plane capped a disastrous year for Malaysian airlines. In addition to the Malaysia Airlines jet lost over the Indian Ocean in March, which has yet to be found, another Malaysia Airlines jet was shot down over eastern Ukraine in July. Both of those planes were Boeing 777-200ERs.

But the AirAsia plane's disappearance was perhaps even more rattling for Indonesia, which has seen explosive growth in air travel despite a troublesome safety record and a string of plane accidents over the years.

While many accidents have not caused fatalities, the recurring headlines and images of dazed passengers swimming ashore have raised concerns abroad that Indonesia's air safety regulations have failed to keep pace with the industry's growth.

Since 2007, the European Union has barred dozens of carriers from Indonesia from its skies, in an effort to pressure local regulators to shore up air safety standards. The majority of airlines that appear on the European Union's so-called aviation blacklist - which includes airlines from several African countries - do not operate flights to Europe. However, travel agencies across the 28-member bloc are required to inform all European passengers who have plans to travel on a carrier listed on the aviation blacklist.

AirAsia, one of the world's fastest-growing airlines, has an excellent safety record. Its Indonesian subsidiary is not included on the European safety list, which was most recently updated this month. However, a budget long-haul affiliate, Indonesia AirAsia X, is among the airlines listed.

The missing aircraft last underwent scheduled maintenance on Nov. 16, AirAsia said.

AirAsia waited more than four hours to announce on its Facebook page that the aircraft was missing. The airline did not explain the delay.

Eric Schultz, a White House spokesman, said that President Barack Obama, who is vacationing in Hawaii, had been briefed on the search for the plane, and that "White House officials will continue to monitor the situation."

On Sunday, Malaysia Airlines posted a message on its Twitter account: "#staystrong @AirAsia - Our thoughts and prayers are with all family and friends of those onboard QZ8501."