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Missing plane likely at 'the bottom of the

sea,' Indonesian rescue official says

By Jethro Mullen, Susanna Capelouto and Catherine E. Shoichet, CNN

December 29, 2014 -- Updated 0414 GMT (1214 HKT)

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

NEW: Indonesian official: "Our early conjecture is that the plane is in the bottom of the sea"
Ships, planes and helicopters search for missing commercial jet
CNN meteorologist says weather in the search area appears to be improving
Airline briefs passengers' family members at Indonesia airport

(CNN) -- Indonesia's top rescue official says authorities believe the missing AirAsia jet is likely at the bottom of the sea, based on radar data from the plane's last contact.

"(Because) the coordinate that was given to us and the evolution from the calculation point of the flight track is at sea, our early conjecture is that the plane is in the bottom of the sea," Bambang Sulistyo, head of Indonesia's national search and rescue agency, told reporters Monday.

But searchers still don't know where the plane is, he said, and may need help from other countries for help with an underwater search.

The search for AirAsia Flight QZ8501 resumed on Monday, a day after the commercial jet disappeared in Indonesian airspace with 162 people aboard.

Ships, planes and helicopters are looking for the missing aircraft, Indonesian authorities said.

It's unclear if weather played a role in the aircraft's disappearance, but rescuers say it could be a factor that influences how quickly they find the plane.

AirAsia flight goes missing

Plane was on common route

AirAsia pilot requested to change route

Large waves and clouds hampered the search for the plane on Sunday, the agency said. By Monday morning, weather in the area appeared to be clearing up, CNN International meteorologist Tom Sater said.

Authorities say they're combing a "very broad search area."

AirAsia says air traffic controllers lost contact with the aircraft at 7:24 a.m. Sunday Singapore time (6:24 a.m. in Indonesia).

The missing plane, flying from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore, went missing as it flew over the Java Sea between the islands of Belitung and Borneo -- a heavily traveled shipping channel with shallow waters, according to Indonesian authorities, who are leading the search and rescue operations.

Before the plane lost contact with air traffic controllers, one of the pilots asked to fly at a higher altitude because of bad weather, officials said.

AirAsia statement on missing airliner

In addition to Indonesia's teams, several other countries have joined the hunt for the missing plane.

A C-130 plane from Singapore has been participating in the search, and the country's military says it's sending two more ships to the search area. Malaysia's transportation minister said his country has deployed three vessels and three aircraft to assist in the search. And the Royal Australian Air Force said Monday that it was deploying a patrol plane to help.

And Indonesia has reached out to the United Kingdom, France and the United States for help with sonar technology that may be needed for an underwater search, Sulistyo told reporters Monday.

Now that a day has passed since the plane went missing, investigators should have more data to help them find it, said Peter Goelz, former managing director of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board.

"They've had a full 24 hours now to gather all of the available radar data from all of the available sources," he said. "They should be able to put that together, along with any satellite data, and have a more precise location on where to target their search."

Waiting and weeping

After hours of waiting in anguish for any word about the passengers aboard the missing plane, several dozen of their family members met with airport and airline officials in a closed-door briefing Monday at the airport in Surabaya.

As they waited for news before the briefing, some took cell phone pictures of a flight manifest posted on a wall. The black-and-white papers showed every passenger's name and seat number, but not their fate.

Others simply sat and dabbed tears from their eyes.

"Our concern right now is for the relatives and the next of kin," AirAsia CEO Tony Fernandes said during a news conference in Surabaya. He confirmed that storm clouds caused the pilot to ask for a change in flight plan, but added, "We don't want to speculate whether weather was a factor. We really don't know." Once the aircraft is found, there will be a proper investigation, Fernandes said.

Of the people on board the Airbus A320-200, 155 are Indonesian, three are South Korean, one is British, one is French, one is Malaysian and one is Singaporean, the airline said.

Eighteen children, including one infant, are among the passengers, the carrier said. Seven of the people on board are crew members.

Families of AirAsia flight passengers given support through the 'nightmare'

Questions over pilots' communications

Flight 8501 "was requesting deviation due to en route weather before communication with the aircraft was lost," the airline said.

The flight's captain asked permission to climb to a higher altitude, the Indonesian Transportation Ministry's acting director general for air transportation affairs, Djoko Murdjatmojo, said, according to the national news agency.

MH370 and AirAsia very different incidents

Social media reacts to missing flight

What is a black box anyway?

According to flight tracking websites, almost the entire flight path of the plane was over the sea.

What role did weather play?

CNN aviation analyst Mary Schiavo said that if there was an onboard emergency, the pilots should have issued a mayday call or a pan-pan call.

"Mayday means you're immediately in danger of losing the flight; pan-pan means that it is urgent but that you can continue the flight and request an alternate route or an alternate airport," said Schiavo, a former inspector general for the U.S. Department of Transportation.

"It's disconcerting in that the standard procedures for an emergency don't seem to have been deployed," she said.

But Alan Diehl, a former Air Force and NTSB accident investigator, said pilots don't always make mayday calls in an emergency.

"You know that the controllers can't really help you," he told CNN. "You and your co-pilot are going to have to solve this."

It's too soon to know what happened to the missing plane, he said. Details released so far show some similarities, Diehl said, with an Air Algerie flight that disintegrated and crashed in July after changing its flight path because of bad weather.

But there's also a chance that the AirAsia flight didn't crash after losing contact with air traffic control, he said.

The Airbus A320 is equipped with a ditching switch, Diehl said, that essentially turns the plane's fuselage into a boat.

"If they got the aircraft down on the water safely," he said, "it should be floating."

'Very good' safety reputation

As word spread of the missing plane, the airline changed the color of its logo on its website and social media accounts from red to gray.

Indonesia's President Joko Widodo said his nation was "praying for the safety" of those on board. Pope Francis also prayed for the missing, according to Vatican Radio.

AirAsia is a Malaysia-based airline that is popular in the region as a budget carrier. It travels to about 100 destinations, with affiliate companies in several Asian countries.

The missing plane is operated by AirAsia's Indonesian affiliate, in which the Malaysian company holds a 48.9% stake, according to its website.

AirAsia has a "very good" reputation for safety, CNN aviation correspondent Richard Quest said.

Flight 8501's captain has a total of 20,537 flying hours, with 6,100 of them with AirAsia Indonesia on the Airbus A320, the airline said. The first officer has a total of 2,275 flying hours, AirAsia said. The plane's last scheduled maintenance was on November 16, it said.

The French Foreign Ministry said the first officer is the French citizen who is on the plane. A state-run company in Indonesia that manages airports identified the first officer as Remi Emmanuel Plesel.

Airbus said the plane had "accumulated approximately 23,000 flight hours in some 13,600 flights." The aircraft manufacturer said it would provide full assistance to authorities in charge of investigating the missing plane.

The loss of contact with the AirAsia plane comes nearly 10 months after the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which dropped off radar over Southeast Asia on March 8 with 239 people on board.

The Malaysia Airlines plane, a Boeing 777-200ER, lost contact with air traffic control over the South China Sea between Malaysia and Vietnam.

Searchers have yet to find any debris from Flight 370, which officials believe crashed in the southern Indian Ocean after veering dramatically off course.

But some aviation experts don't think the search for Flight 8501 will be as grueling as the search for MH370.

"We are not talking about the deep Indian Ocean here," Quest said. "We are talking about congested airspace around Southeast Asia. There will be much better radar coverage. There's certainly better air traffic control coverage."

CNN's Holly Yan, Yousuf Basil, Steve Almasy, Radina Gigova, Paula Hancocks, Joe Sutton, Euan McKirdy, Larry Register and Martin Savidge contributed to this report. Chan Kok Leong, Archicco Guilianno and http://edition.cnn.com/2014/12/27/world/asia/airasia-missing-plane/ Uhnavy also contributed to this report.

font redaction http://edition.cnn.com/2014/12/27/world/asia/airasia-missing-plane/

airbus.com/aircraftfamilies/passengeraircraft/a320family/a320/

A320Setting single aisle standardsA318 A319 A321

A320

The founding member of the Airbus single-aisle Family, the A320 is the only all-new aircraft in its category.

SETTING THE SINGLE-AISLE STANDARDS

: The A320 is the founding member of Airbus’ single-aisle product line

Airbus launched its single-aisle product line with the A320, which continues to set industry standards for comfort and operating economy on short- to medium-haul routes. Typically seating 150 passengers in a two-class cabin – or up to 180 in a high-density layout for low-cost and charter flights – the A320 is in widespread service around the globe on services that vary from short commuter sectors in Europe, Asia and elsewhere to trans-continental flights across the United States.

The A320’s advanced technology includes the extensive use of weight-saving composites, an optimised wing that is 20 per cent is more efficient than previous designs, a centralised fault display for easier troubleshooting and lower maintenance costs, along with Airbus’ fly-by-wire flight controls.

Advantages of the fly-by-wire controls – which were pioneered on the A320 – are many. They provide total flight envelope and airframe structural protection for improved safety and reduced pilot workload, along improved flight smoothness and stability, and fewer mechanical parts.

COCKPIT STANDARDISATION

In addition, fly-by-wire and cockpit standardization across the A320 Family are at the heart of Airbus’ commonality, which allows a pilot qualified on one Family member to fly them all, using the same type rating. Over 80 per cent of operators with 10 or more A320 Family jetliners in their fleets fly more than one model of the Airbus single-aisle product line – enabling them to benefit fully from the commonality concept through more effective scheduling of aircraft and crews.

Taking the Airbus commonality one step further, an A320-rated pilot can transition to any other Airbus jetliner with reduced training (known as “Cross-crew Qualification”), and is able to operate another Airbus aircraft type while still actively flying the A320 Family (a capability called “Mixed Fleet Flying”).

BENEFITTING FROM SHARKLETS AND NEW ENGINE OPTION

: Sharklets derive their name from the resemblance to a shark’s fin, and are a component of Airbus’ ongoing continuous improvement programme for the A320 Family.

Continuing its role as a pioneer, the A320 was the first version in Airbus’ single-aisle product line to be delivered with the new “Sharklets” large wingtip devices, which are designed to enhance the eco-efficiency and payload-range performance of the A320 Family. In December 2012, Air Asia took delivery of the initial aircraft equipped with these 2.4-meter-tall wingtip devices made from lightweight composites.

Sharklets – which completed their maiden flight outfitted on Airbus’ A320 development aircraft in November 2011 – result in up to four per cent reduced fuel burn over longer sectors, corresponding to an annual reduction in CO2 emissions of around 900 tonnes per aircraft.

In October 2013, Airbus announced a Sharklet retrofit programme for in-service A319 and A320 jetliners. This will bring the benefits of these wingtip devices to earlier production A320 aircraft from 2015, delivering significant performance enhancements and cost savings to operators.

Sharklets also are standard on the A320neo Family, Airbus’ fuel-efficient new engine option which took to the skies for a milestone first flight in September 2014. Improvements with the A320neo Family include a 20 per cent savings in fuel burn per seat, two tonnes of additional payload, up to 500 nautical miles of more range, lower operating costs, along with reductions in engine noise and emissions.

Visit Airbus’ dedicated A320neo page.

SIMPLY THE BEST CABIN

The A320’s right-sized fuselage is seven inches wider than its competitors, enhancing comfort for passengers and increasing revenue opportunities for airlines. It enables choices of four-, five-, and six-abreast layouts with wider seats, along with opportunities for wider aisles and increased overhead storage bins. Rapid turnaround times on the ground are further facilitated by the A320’s bigger passenger and service doors.

Airbus has developed a new interior for the A320 and its other family members that brings a fresh new look to the cabin, a significant increase in overhead stowage, a noticeable reduction in noise, and introduces options for ambience lighting. An added advantage is this updated interior’s lower weight.

NAVIGATING THE FUTURE

Advanced navigation technology contributes to the A320’s operational flexibility. This includes the Required Navigation Performance (RNP) capability, which reduces approach distances for landing while reducing fuel consumption and CO2 emissions; and the Global Position (GPS) landing system, allowing instrument-type approaches where ground stations are not available.

Also offered are the Microwave Landing System (MLS) for increased approach capability in low visibility conditions; and the Future Air Navigation System (FANS) for optimised flight path and reduced aircraft spacing.