Missing Plane Air Asia

a reply to: kismetpair927

That's why the government announced it. It's a complete CYA move by the transportation ministry.

It's not unusual at all and happens a lot. Airlines put on extra days all time during holiday periods etc. Depends on demand. Someone will be in trouble for allowing it as they didn't have a licence for that day, but it would have been bookable for a long time before.

For example, Air Asia and Thai Airways don't have flights from where I live every day in low season but it changes to almost everyday in high season from here.

Its now being reported by the msm that all the oil slicks,debris, pings and wreckage sightings have not panned out. They're now investigating reports of smoke rising from an island in the java sea.
Source here...
So its still a mystery?? Did the bodies not help in the locating of the wreck area?
Apologies, I just saw this article was six days old. It showed up under breaking news on my app :/ carry on, nothing to see here.

a reply to: TopCat1

Bodies drift. Some of the wreckage moved 30+ miles due to waves and current.

According to one report the crew didn't request a weather briefing before departure.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
According to one report the crew didn't request a weather briefing before departure.

Surprising as it is always a procedure to go thru, but the flight was preponed so they may have overlooked it, but didn't the pilots question the pre-ponment even out of curiosity? Something just doesn't add up.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
According to one report the crew didn't request a weather briefing before departure.

We used to get weather maps and paperwork briefings all included in the flight plan paperwork; requested or not. By the time I retired there was a running joke that when the paperwork weighed as much as the aircraft you were ready to launch. We had color maps and progs with everything plus, on the actual flight plan for each segment of the flight, there were numbers posted about the ride. Low numbers (1s and 2s) were smooth and higher numbers were bumpy. That was the weather briefing and on occasion after reviewing the paperwork dispatch and the Captain might get together via phone and change things such as altitude, fuel load, or even the route of flight if needed/possible...

This crew added extra fuel so they were probably cognitive of the enroute weather and the possibility of deviations and delays.

Scheduled Air carrier, key word is scheduled .

Sometimes you launch with doubts about being able to make a landing at the intended destination.... thus we always had an alternate airport or TWO incase of some inclimate weather. The 'alternates' weather forecast had to be sufficient and was not always 600-2 or 800-2 + or minus 1 hour weather minimums that most military pilots are/were (?) used to. I don't know what they use today but that used to be standard alt requirements for the military or the branch I was in.

I wonder if the accident investigation will show the airbus Pitot/airdata flight management system went fubar or if the Captain allowed his flight to penetrate a sever cell that exceeded the capabilities of the airframe and or the crew. Either way a sad day in aviation for the crew, passengers, and loved ones. I have had radar go out at very inopportune times and even once in the 737-800 (brand new bird) both Flight management screens go Black at night.. Boeing said impossible but there was a fix that came out later because I was not the only guy that crap happened to. Stuff happens not often but it happens..
2009 crash of Air France Flight 447, which killed 228 people
www.abovetopsecret.com...

The article is a short 9 page read. Basically a design flaw in the side controller sticks which are used to manually fly the aircraft and having a new guy co-pilot who was afraid of weather and clouds (especially at night) all played their part in sitting up the accident. The final straw was when the pitot tubes iced over and they (the crew) started receiving erroneous readings..

Crew Resource and management was a big deal at our airlines. I actually participated in some of the flights that were used for the final report and study which started the whole concept.

I knew from experience even if you are capable of doing everything yourself (in a severe emergency) if you do not get your other crew members involved... when you really do need them they will either be frozen in fear or late to the party.

The other part of the article about automation is absolutely true. We have a generation of pilots who are great push button system monitors... but when it comes to basic stick and rudder they really have very little experience except in a simulator.

This was a terrible accident and as usual there was not one thing that lead to the aircraft crashing and loss of life.

a reply to: 727Sky

The government has launched a campaign to cover their ass and place the blame squarely on AirAsia.

a reply to: Zaphod58

And if it comes out that there was a mechanical problem(i.e. frozen pitot tubes), AirAsia will launch a campaign to place the blame squarely on Airbus.

originally posted by: 727Sky That was the weather briefing and on occasion after reviewing the paperwork dispatch and the Captain might get together via phone and change things such as altitude, fuel load, or even the route of flight if needed/possible...

I read an article that mentioned how AirAsia usually plans the route and leaves it all up to the pilots to get through it on their own. It said that there's pretty much no discussion between dispatch and the crew.

a reply to: justwanttofly

Of course. It's all about CYA.

It's believed that they have found the tail section on sonar. They haven't been able to get divers down to identify the wreckage yet however.

In the meantime, several tower operators, and other aviation officials have been suspended by the Indonesian government. Singapore has said that the AirAsia certificate on their end allowed flights on Sundays. Indonesia is investigating all airline certificates of airlines that operate there in response to the accident. They will also require a weather briefing for all crews prior to departure.

a reply to: Zaphod58

The fact that they have to require that crews get a weather briefing should tell you something about flying in this part of the world.

a reply to: justwanttofly

Yeah, that should be a huge red flag right there. I always hated getting on a plane in the Philippines. I was fine getting to there usually, but once there, really hated flying.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Yeah righto. There just seems to be a lot of planes mysteriously vanishing without a trace, getting blown out of the sky by morons or mysteriously plunging into the ocean leaving experts baffled recently. That's all.

a reply to: twentyeight

By "A lot" of planes disappearing, do you mean: One?

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: justwanttofly

Yeah, that should be a huge red flag right there. I always hated getting on a plane in the Philippines. I was fine getting to there usually, but once there, really hated flying.

I used to fly into Manila only if I had to... The runway sucked, bumpy and everything seemed old and worn out.. Our Ops there was actually pretty good and the paperwork we got was the same as we got in the states because of our international software. hahahah Cheap paper and printers that did not always work but they always managed to get it right one way or the other..

The CYA part you brought up reminded me of the air France airbus that tried to go around and instead augured into the trees.... Blamed it on the test pilot and crew.... even though he had the throttles fire walled.... the bird's computer said nope we are landing.... if I remember correctly... been a long time.. There were stories when it first came out of being unable to steer the aircraft off the runway at LAX because the computer said no... maybe all Boeing propaganda ?

There will be someone come along and say they have thousands of hours in an airbus with never a problem.. To that I say 'good'... Operators the world over think highly of the aircraft now and some of the aircraft really do have long weight bearing legs... But like I might have already said, " Any machine is no better than the crew up front who know it's quirks".

youtu.be...

a reply to: twentyeight

One plane disappeared last year. One plane was shot down last year. This one crashed and was found.

Ok, we're up to three. In September of 2014, in the US alone, there were 742, 574 revenue departures flown. From October 2013-September 2014, in the US alone, there were 9, 127, 403 revenue departures.

Yep, it's happening all the time alright!

a reply to: 727Sky

I'm not sure about not being able to clear the runway, but yeah, you're right on that first crash. They initially said the computer wouldn't climb and it was a computer issue, then later said that it was the pilots fault, and threw him in jail for manslaughter, because they flew the show performance with passengers on board.

a reply to: 727Sky

Anyone that's ever landed an Airbus in a crosswind knows has stupid the computer can be. It fights you all the way down, so you end up having to fight the computer and the crosswind at the same time.