Even as aviation experts are scratching their heads to figure out what could have led to the disappearance of the Malaysian Airline Flight 370 ten months back, another flight – AirAsia QZ8501 – went missing on Sunday.
The plane, with 162 people on board, went missing en route from Indonesia to Singapore, after the pilot requested a change of flight plan due to bad weather. It triggered a massive search operation in the third major incident this year, involving a Malaysian carrier.
There were no Indian nationals on board Flight QZ8501. It carried 155 passengers -- one British, one Malaysian, one Singaporean, three South Koreans, 149 Indonesians and seven crew members. The plane lost contact with air traffic control at 07:24 am local time (04:54 am IST Sunday).
What is the cause of the accident?
There are various theories doing the rounds – from bad weather to wrong judgement by the pilot. Jitender Bhargava, author of Descent of Air India and aviation commentator, said: "Though satellite images showed storm and lightning in the region, the density of aircraft was also high. Lots of other planes were there. The suddenness of it (the incident) is baffling as the pilot might not have got the time to press the Mayday alarm," he said.
Is everyone agreed on the weather factor?
One analyst differed in her opinion about bad weather leading to the plane's disappearance. "Ordinarily, pilots would get updated weather from air traffic control and, of course, their onboard radar. So whether there was bad weather in the area would not be a mystery," she said.
Has AirAsia got a poor safety record?
Some aviation analysts questioned the recent safety records of Air Asia. Although Air Asia has an impeccable safety record, there had been recent changes in Indonesia where local low-flight carriers merged with AirAsia, an expert said. This was a worrying trend as budget airlines in Indonesia had a poor safety record, and, at least one, Adam Air, was closed down by Jakarta.
Why did the pilot sought a change in flight path?
The pilot wanted to raise the altitude to 38,000 feet from 32,000 feet to "avoid clouds." Thunderstorms were reported in the area, with clouds up to 50,000 feet. Bhargava said it is best to leave it to experts to solve the mystery. "Till the black box is found, everything will be in the realm of speculation," he said.
What's AirAsia saying?
A statement on the AirAsia Facebook page said the captain of the flight had a total of 6,100 flying hours and was the first officer to have 2,275 flying hours under his belt. "The aircraft had undergone its last scheduled maintenance on November 16, 2014."
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