Contact lost with Indonesian jet

[DoYouEverWonder]

1 January 2007

Contact has been lost with a passenger plane flying between the Indonesian islands of Java and Sumatra, aviation officials say.

The Adam Air plane is a Boeing 737-400 with 96 passengers and six crew on board, Indonesian media reported.

Adam Air said it was still investigating what had happened to Flight KI-574.

Indonesia's transport minister Hatta Radjasa confirmed contact had been lost but could give no more details.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6222629.stm

[HeeBGBz]

1. Geez, didn't they just lose a ferry boat?

Wasn't that yesterday? Bad time for Indonesian transportation.

[Cooley Hurd]

2. Update from the snuff flim channel, CNN: Distress signal sent before...

...they lost contact:

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/01/01/indonesia.plane.ap/index.html

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) -- An Indonesian passenger plane carrying 102 people lost contact with flight controllers Monday, and officials said it was still missing more than six hours after its scheduled arrival.

Transport Minister Hatta Radjasa said a distress signal had been picked up over central Sulawesi and rescue crews were on their way to search for survivors.

"Let's hope the plane had an emergency landing," he told El-Shinta radio.

A senior transport ministry official, Ichsan Tatang, said aviation authorities were gathering information from other flights which "might have picked up the plane's distress signal."

[Eugene]

3. Updated at BBC link: Indonesia hunts for missing plane

Last Updated: Monday, 1 January 2007, 17:10 GMT

Indonesia hunts for missing plane

Indonesia's navy says it has found two possible locations for a passenger
aircraft which is believed to have crashed near the island of Sulawesi.

Contact was lost with the Adam Air plane midway through its flight from
Java to Sulawesi's north-eastern tip.

The Boeing 737-400 has 96 passengers and six crew on board.

The naval commander heading the rescue told the BBC distress signals were
sent from both a forest on Sulawesi and a point offshore in the Makassar
Strait.

-snip-

Full article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6222629.stm

The article goes on to say that the search has been suspended
due to bad weather.

[maddezmom]

4. not looking good for survivors

:(

[DoYouEverWonder]

5. Indonesia plane wreckage is found

2 January 2007

The wreckage of a missing Indonesian plane has been located in mountains in the west of the island of Sulawesi.

Contact was lost with the Adam Air plane en route from Surabaya in Java to Manado in northern Sulawesi on Sunday.

Officials said 90 of the 96 passengers and six crew on board the Boeing 737-400 were dead. The condition of the 12 survivors is unknown.

"The plane is destroyed and many bodies are around there," said local police chief Colonel Genot Hariyanto.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6223825.stm

[maddezmom]

6. update from Reuters:Missing Indonesian plane not found: official

MAKASSAR, Indonesia (Reuters) - Earlier statements that the crash site of a plane with 102 people on board had been found in the mountains of Indonesia's Sulawesi island were wrong, officials said on Tuesday.

"The location has not been found. We apologize that the news that we conveyed was not true," said First Air Marshal Eddy Suyanto, commander of Hasanuddin air base in Makassar.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070102/wl_nm/indonesia_plane_dc

[DoYouEverWonder]

7. What?

From the earlier report

"Ninety people have been confirmed dead but we do not know the condition of the others," said the head of Polewali Mandar region, Ali Baal Masdar.

Local police chief Colonel Genot Hariyanto said the plane had been destroyed and there were "many bodies".


This is coming from government officials. How can they first say 90 people 'confirmed' dead and then turn around and say oops, we didn't really find anything?

This is bizarre.

[maddezmom]

8. AP is reporting the same...just a one liner so far

Officials deny Indonesian jetliner found
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070102/ap_on_re_as/indonesia_plane

[hang a left]

9. Makes you wonder who the passengers were that would cause

a retraction like that.

[maddezmom]

10. Search resumes for Indonesian jetliner

MAKASSAR, Indonesia - Relatives waiting for news about a missing jetliner broke down in tears Tuesday after learning that senior Indonesian officials erroneously reported the Boeing 737's charred wreckage had been found and that a dozen people may have survived.


The Adam Air plane carrying 102 people sent out two distress signals in stormy weather Monday halfway through its two-hour journey from Indonesia's main island of Java to Manado, on the northern tip of Sulawesi, one of the largest islands in the sprawling archipelago.

Ships and planes resumed searching Wednesday. Three navy ships and five air force craft were deployed soon after sunrise over a large section of south and western Sulawesi and nearby waters, Bambang Karnoyudho, the head of the National Search and Rescue Agency, told The Associated Press.

The search covered roughly 300 square miles of sea and land, said South Sulawesi Police Chief Maj. Gen. Ariyanto Budiharjo.

Karnoyudho said that based on radar and satellite readings he thought it most likely that the plane had fallen into the sea.

more:http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070103/ap_on_re_as/indonesia_plane

[Eugene]

11. AFP: US, Singapore join search for missing Indonesian plane

US, Singapore join search for missing Indonesian plane

by Adek Berry
34 minutes ago

POLEWALI, Indonesia (AFP) - US and Singapore military planes were set
to join a massive air, land and sea search for a missing Indonesian
passenger jet with 102 people on board.

The Adam Air Boeing 737-400, with 96 passengers and six crew, vanished
from radar screens Monday halfway through a flight from Surabaya, on
central Java island, to Manado, on the northeast tip of Sulawesi island.

Reports by officials Tuesday that the wreckage and some survivors had
been found on a remote jungle-covered mountain near the town of
Polewali turned out to be false after rescue teams combed the area.

The search was now concentrating on the sea off Majene, 40 kilometres
(25 miles) west of Polewali, as well as areas inland based on coordinates
from distress signals from the plane and its last known position.

-snip-

Full article: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070104/wl_asia_afp/indonesiaaccidentair_070104092352

[malaise]

12. This plane crash is mindblowing

Indonesia has been suffering from severe weather but how does an aircraft just disappear without anyone seeing it. I can't imagine the pain for the families of those missing.

[DoYouEverWonder]

13. Indonesia Jet Didn't Send Distress Signal

January 4, 2007

MAKASSAR, Indonesia -- An Indonesian jetliner that vanished with 102 people aboard did not issue distress signals or report any mechanical problems, a top aviation official said Thursday, contradicting earlier reports.

Meanwhile, a fleet of aircraft took to the skies, ships scoured the sea and soldiers battled rugged jungle terrain for the third day, searching a 28,000-square-mile area -- roughly the size of California. But by late afternoon they had seen no sign of the wreckage.

Earlier this week, officials wrongly reported finding the Boeing 737's wreckage and a dozen survivors, causing anguish among the passengers' families. Among those on board were three Americans: Scott Jackson, a 54-year-old wood-products industry representative, and his daughters, 21-year-old Stephanie and 18-year-old Lindsey.

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-ap-indonesia-plane,0,2070096.story?coll=sns-ap-world-headlines

This story just keeps getting stranger.