Indonesia AirAsia Flight QZ8501 (Airbus 320-200) lost contact with Jakarta air traffic control at approximately 6:17am EST with 162 passengers on board – no distress signal had been sent. The pilots asked to change course to avoid bad weather during a flight from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore. “The aircraft was on the submitted flight plan route and was requesting deviation due to enroute weather before communication with the aircraft was lost,” the airline said in a statement. Continue reading for another video and more information.
Yahoo News reports, “The aircraft had been flying at 32,000 feet and had asked to fly at 38,000 feet to avoid clouds, he added. Tanjung Pandan is the main town on Belitung island, roughly half way between Surabaya and Singapore. There was bad weather over the island at the time. The plane had been due in Singapore at 8:30 a.m. Singapore time (0030 GMT).”
[Source]
