Indonesia Air Asia flight QZ 8501 loses contact with ATC

[Archphoto]

It doesn't have to be rational. I don't want to push my luck.

A fair comment, John. I had to fly BKK-ADL about 6 weeks after MH370 disappeared, and the price for flights on MH were *extremely* enticing; I however decided against them, simply because:

1. They hadn't found the plane;
2. Their lack of action regarding it's disappearance;
3. My (most probably unfounded) concern it could happen again whilst I was flying with MH.

It was more #2 that actually got to me - thinking how family & friends would feel, more-so than an accident itself; stupid? Yes, most probably it was, but at the time it's how I felt, and if I have to travel I like to actually enjoy it and relax.

Here's hoping they do find QZ8501 soon - to not only answer many questions, but also to give relatives and friends some sort of "closure".

 

[QF WP]

Time to get back on topic. If the plane did stall on the climb through FL360 and the pilots were trying to get control back (on the way down). I wish I knew more about aerodynamics...

 

[anat0l]

Touch wood, if one of our two major home carriers had a similar kind of accident of sorts (aircraft "disappeared", or even shot out of the sky), would people stop flying that carrier as a matter of safety/superstition/"risk reduction"?

 

[MarkD]

Touch wood, if one of our two major home carriers had a similar kind of accident of sorts (aircraft "disappeared", or even shot out of the sky), would people stop flying that carrier as a matter of safety/superstition/"risk reduction"?

Oh god help us if that happened. I have seen how irate some around here get when they dont get a personal greeting when they step onboard, never flying them again etc. Hopefully we dont have that issue though

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Touch wood, if one of our two major home carriers had a similar kind of accident of sorts (aircraft "disappeared", or even shot out of the sky), would people stop flying that carrier as a matter of safety/superstition/"risk reduction"?

It would depend on the reasons why.

If it was something that looked like it could be pilot error, company error (including procedures or training), or the company refused to even discuss any responsibility (MH17), yes I would stop flying a local carrier.

 

[anat0l]

It would depend on the reasons why.

If it was something that looked like it could be pilot error, company error (including procedures or training), or the company refused to even discuss any responsibility (MH17), yes I would stop flying a local carrier.

It's clear that there are people - even on this forum including yourself - who are far from considering any particular reasons why in making a dismissive decision.

I've got two bits that if a USA based carrier (hypothetical, work with me here) were shot down instead of MH17, there would be no question as to why that aircraft was in that space. The Russians would be unilaterally blamed, the USA would disavow any kind of mitigating responsibilities whatsoever, Tony Abbott would kiss butt and subscribe to the USA theory and support either WW3 or the next Cold War against Russia.

So much is a matter of who seems to be involved, and very little matters when simpleton public try to...."rationalise"....

 

[Alanslegal]

Pulled a link of pprune (yes I know it can be alot of BS or playstation experts) but any relationship to JQ's A320 situation?

Incident: Jetstar A320 enroute on Mar 12th 2014, alpha floor activation

 

[Himeno]

A fair comment, John. I had to fly BKK-ADL about 6 weeks after MH370 disappeared, and the price for flights on MH were *extremely* enticing; I however decided against them, simply because:

1. They hadn't found the plane;
2. Their lack of action regarding it's disappearance;
3. My (most probably unfounded) concern it could happen again whilst I was flying with MH.

It was more #2 that actually got to me - thinking how family & friends would feel, more-so than an accident itself; stupid? Yes, most probably it was, but at the time it's how I felt, and if I have to travel I like to actually enjoy it and relax.

I was looking at getting MH on PEK-KUL during my last DONE3. Planning for the flights was around the time of MH17. The only reason I ended up going PEK-HKG-SIN instead was because I didn't want a 1am flight out of PEK.

 

[Flying mermaid]

It doesn't have to be rational. I don't want to push my luck.

After MH370 I had a chat with a good friend about whether it was still sensible/safe to travel Malaysian. (She always did). I said it was silly to blame the airline and they had a good safety record so she booked her next trip with them. She and her husband were on MH17 - while I don't think I bear total responsibility I do wish I had been less rational.....

 

[Awesom Andy]

After MH370 I had a chat with a good friend about whether it was still sensible/safe to travel Malaysian. (She always did). I said it was silly to blame the airline and they had a good safety record so she booked her next trip with them. She and her husband were on MH17 - while I don't think I bear total responsibility I do wish I had been less rational.....

It could've been anyone, really. They aren't the only ones flying over there.

 

[JohnK]

After MH370 I had a chat with a good friend about whether it was still sensible/safe to travel Malaysian. (She always did). I said it was silly to blame the airline and they had a good safety record so she booked her next trip with them. She and her husband were on MH17 - while I don't think I bear total responsibility I do wish I had been less rational.....

Sorry to hear.

I keep thinking about MH and I will fly them again one day. I just think it is too soon for Air Asia.

And I do hope they find something quickly. The longer this goes the more speculation about foul play.

 

[FreddyFattler]

Pardon if I have missed this, because none of us have read everything published about the missing AirAsia plane, but I have not seen any comments by an oceanographer about the range of depths in the sea and features of the seabed in the area that is being searched.

Im sure i read yesterday that the seabed is 40-50m.

Apparently they could see an object on the seabed from the air with good light.

Heres hoping today brings some sort of breakthrough in relation to finding the aircraft or debris.

 

[Awesom Andy]

Heres hoping today brings some sort of breakthrough in relation to finding the aircraft or debris.

Or preferably a few life rafts with a hundred-odd people, as unlikely as that might be.

 

[jb747]

Pulled a link of pprune (yes I know it can be alot of BS or playstation experts) but any relationship to JQ's A320 situation?

Incident: Jetstar A320 enroute on Mar 12th 2014, alpha floor activation

Given that we don't know what happened to Air Asia, then anything would be a guess...but then pprune is full of that. Looking at the JQ event it's quite a mix of things, with, most probably, a number of protections coming into play in sequence. The aircraft reaction to overspeed is to pull up to control the speed, and it will leave an assigned altitude to do so. Something else that you can't override. Pulling the thrust to idle with simultaneous speed brakes, in a climb, is a recipe for big speed decay. Activation of alpha floor is a reaction to the uncontrolled speed decay that invariably follows.

Nevertheless, whilst very untidy, the JQ sequence isn't inherently dangerous (other than issues with not being at the assigned altitude). The aircraft wasn't stalled, and the systems sound like they were working as designed.

 

[dajop]

Seems that people/media like talking about MH370 in the same sentence as this event - but little reference to AH 5017, which disappeared in July, also during bad weather. I guess the difference there was being over land it was much easier to find, but superficially at least (admittedly to someone who knows nothing about the technical side of things) there seems to be more similarities.

Always hits home more if familiar with the route, having flown at least a dozen returns between SIN and SUB and one departure on QZ itself (to KUL) from SUB its very sobering. Several occasions pilots mentioned longer flying time due to diversions around weather.

 

[jb747]

Seems that people/media like talking about MH370 in the same sentence as this event - but little reference to AH 5017, which disappeared in July, also during bad weather. I guess the difference there was being over land it was much easier to find, but superficially at least (admittedly to someone who knows nothing about the technical side of things) there seems to be more similarities.

There's no relationship to MH370...except in some minds. The AH flight was in some weather, but again, until a lot more is known about this event, there is little to hang any relationship on. Superficially, the closest is AF447, but even that is likely to be misleading. Generally events all manage to stand alone, with new lessons to be learnt each time.

 

[pagingjoan]

There's no relationship to MH370...except in some minds. The AH flight was in some weather, but again, until a lot more is known about this event, there is little to hang any relationship on. Superficially, the closest is AF447, but even that is likely to be misleading. Generally events all manage to stand alone, with new lessons to be learnt each time.

Indeed. The "Liability of Newness" in terms of learning and performance.

 

[Ansett]

Looks like they may have found debris from the flight

Plane door, slide seen in AirAsia search - 9news.com.au

May they RIP

 

[kpc]

Looks like they may have found debris from the flight

Plane door, slide seen in AirAsia search - 9news.com.au

May they RIP

Does look like it unfortunately (or fortunately)...

 

[whatmeworry]

One of pax was a uni student @ Melbourne.