AirAsia Flight Missing

(Updated)

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There was plenty of weather along the route of AirAsia Flight QZ8501 early Sunday but nothing airlines that ply the busy air corridors over the Java Sea don’t regularly cope with. Weather officials said lightning strikes were recorded in the same area and at the same time the A320 with 162 people on board “lost contact” with air traffic control. The crew had just asked for a weather diversion and a climb from 32,000 to 38,000 feet (the route change was approved, the climb was not) when voice, then radar, then ADS-B signals from the aircraft stopped at 6:18 a.m. local time. Cloud tops in the area at the time were higher than 40,000 feet. Indonesian searchers spent almost 13 hours looking for signs of the aircraft but spotted nothing. They were joined part way through the day by SAR aircraft from Singapore. The search resumed in good weather Monday morning, among growing chatter about possible contributing factors.

As the incident takes on an aura of mystery, there are plenty of theories being circulated on various forums. Most center on the slow groundspeed of the aircraft as allegedly shown on a “leaked” image of an air traffic control console. The image shows (data point on the lower left) the flight climbing through 36,300 feet and with a groundspeed of just 353 knots, close to the stall at that altitude. None of this information has been confirmed by Indonesian authorities, who are leading the investigation. Also adding to the online intrigue is an emergency AD issued by EASA and the FAA earlier this month on the whole family of single-aisle Airbus airliners that warns that if the angle of attack probes on the aircraft are blocked, the control laws could put the plane into an unrecoverable dive.

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