KUCHING: What should have been a short two-hour flight between Surabaya and Singapore has become the source of countless theories and questions throughout the nation and across the globe, while families and friends wring their hands waiting for good news.
At this stage, the most pressing questions are:
1. Was there a distress call from QZ8501?
2. Was there any emergency transponder code broadcasted by QZ8501?
3. Was there any radar contact in the area including via military primary radar, which the public has come to understand in the aftermath of MH370 as monitoring sovereign territory.
4. Was the request to climb from 32,000ft to 38,000ft approved? If so, did the pilot confirm reaching 38,000ft? Was there a heading change during this time?
5. Were there any other aircrafts in the vicinity of QZ8501 when it lost contact with Air Traffic Control?
Since flight QZ8501 was still within Indonesia’s Flight Information Region (FIR), we would expect the appropriate responses from them.
So far the latest update on AirAsia Indonesia’s Facebook page stated that there were 155 passengers on board: 137 adults, 17 children and one baby. The airline crew included 2 pilots, 2 cabin crew and one technician.
The nationality breakdown of all those travelling on board are Singaporean (1), British (1), Malaysian (1), South Korean (3), French (1) and Indonesian (155).
Below is the passenger manifest from the Indonesian Ministry of Transportation website (www.dephub.go.id).
AirAsia Indonesia introduced the Surabaya-Singapore route in 2013 along with Medan-Jakarta and Jakarta-Johor Baru routes.
Other stories on Missing QZ8501:
• AirAsia aircraft with 162 on board missing
• Malaysian Sii’s family prays for his safety
• QZ8501 has flown 13,600 flights, accumulated some 23,000 flying hours
• Flamboyant AirAsia boss confronts his first major crisis
• Najib: Malaysia prepared to assist Indonesia over missing AirAsia Indonesia plane
• Kuching police seek witness who claimed to have seen aircraft flying low
• Relatives of missing AirAsia Indonesia flight anxiously waiting for safety of loved ones
• Malaysian passenger on QZ8501 hails from Bintangor
• AirAsia Indonesia flight QZ8501 update
• Singapore aviation agency issues statement on missing AirAsia plane
• AirAsia confirms flight missing
• Contact lost with AirAsia flight from Surabaya to Singapore
• AirAsia Indonesia flight loses contact with air traffic control