Galih, the 10-year-old son of AirAsia Flight QZ8501 pilot Capt Iriyanto, is still unaware of what has happened to his father
SURABAYA: It seemed like any other Saturday morning at the home of Indonesia AirAsia Flight QZ8501 pilot Capt Iriyanto, with the television on and birds chirping outside in Jalan Pondok Jati in an upscale neighbourhood of Siduarjo, East Java.
So much so, a stranger wouldn’t have guessed that the owner of the two-storey bungalow was involved in the air crash last Sunday and remains missing. And this impression was intentional – put on for the benefit of the experienced pilot’s 10-year-old son, Galih (pic).
“Until today, he doe not know what has happened to his father. We are not planning to tell him until the remains of his father are found,” said Capt Iriyanto’s brother-in-law Wahyu Budi Bornomo.
Wahyu, 53, said Galih would usually ask about his father if he did not see him around.
“He would ask if ‘papa’ was home. If he did not see him, he would assume that his father was out somewhere flying – Galih is used to not seeing Capt Iriyanto most of the time.”
He said the schoolgoer’s obsession with video games would keep him preoccupied at home, when asked if he noticed the unusual crowd that had been coming to their residence every night for prayers since the plane went missing.
“He is an avid video gamer and spends most of his time upstairs.
“He would wonder about the crowd (that were coming to the house because of the tragedy), but was never curious,” said Wahyu.
When The Star visited the house at 8am local time, his wife, Ida, was talking to her sisters at the porch, politely declining to be interviewed.
“Maaf ya, nanti aja. Saya ngak mau cakap. (I am sorry, just wait. I do not want to talk),” she said, before walking back into the house.
Clad in a T-shirt and shorts, Capt Iriyanto’s daughter, Ninis, 25, was seen going in and out of the house to run errands.
Wahyu said Capt Iriyanto was “a loving husband and father”, and a caring man who helped his neighbours.
“He will be missed dearly by everyone.”
Not too long after that, Galih, who was still in his Mickey Mouse pyjamas, came down from his room, looking for his sister.
“Smile for the camera!” Ninis told Galih as The Star’s photographer points her camera towards him.
Asked if Capt Iriyanto’s family had been this calm since the news of the tragedy hit them, Wahyu said: “At first, of course, we were all shocked. Ida refused to talk to anyone, but as days passed by, she became okay.”
It is unlikely that Indonesia AirAsia Flight QZ8501 exploded in mid-air, air crash experts say, as the first pieces of debris were spotted and some bodies recovered.
Chances are that the plane hit the Java Sea intact and broke up upon impact before plunging to the ocean floor.
The wreckage of the Airbus 320-200 was found more than 48 hours after the ill-fated flight, which left Surabaya for Singapore on Sunday morning with 162 people on board, went missing.
A search and rescue worker preparing to load body bags onto a flight to
Kalimantan in Pangkal Pinang on Indonesia's Bangka island yesterday. As
operations move to search and recovery, it would take weeks before the
authorities and investigators are able to determine how and why the
crash happened. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
Search teams reported seeing some bodies intact.
An air force plane reportedly spotted a shadow of what looked like a plane on the seabed.
AirAsia QZ8501 debris
As the operations move from search and locate, to search and recovery, it would take weeks before enough pieces of wreckage and human remains are recovered for the authorities and investigators to determine how and why the crash happened.
Critical to this is finding the plane's black boxes which record conversations in the cockpit and preserve data on the position and speed of the aircraft.
But looking at what is known so far, there are several possibilities on what could have happened.
Retired United States airline pilot John Cox, who runs his own consultancy, said: "I am now seeing doors and reports of a large section located on the sea floor which are indicators, but not conclusive evidence, that the plane was in one piece when it hit the ocean.
"If the wingtips, nose and tail are found in the same area, then it will be conclusive that the plane was intact upon impact with the water."
AirAsia QZ8501 search areas
Mr Jacques Astre, president of industry consultancy International Aviation Safety Solution, said: "The fact that the debris field is relatively small would suggest the aircraft broke up upon impact with the sea and not in flight."
If some bodies are found intact, it would suggest the same, said Mr H.R. Mohandas, a former pilot and now programme head for the diploma in aviation management at Republic Polytechnic.
Mr Astre added: "The close proximity of the debris field to its last known location also suggests the aircraft descended fairly quickly."
The area is about 10km from the aircraft's last known location over the Java Sea.
The first sign of trouble came about 45 minutes after the plane left Surabaya at 5.30am - an hour behind Singapore time - for the two-hour sector. At 6.12am, the cockpit requested permission from the Jakarta air traffic control to turn left to avoid a storm, which is common procedure when pilots encounter rough weather.
The pilot then asked to take the plane higher to 38,000 feet from its position at 32,000 feet, without explaining why.
The air traffic control decided to allow the plane to increase its height but only to 34,000 feet, because at that time another AirAsia flight was flying at 38,000 feet.
But when this was communicated to the pilot of QZ8501, there was no response from the cockpit.
Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) servicemen onboard a C-130 aircraft take part in the search and locate (SAL) operation for missing AirAsia flight QZ8501 over the Java sea on December 30, 2014.--PHOTO: AFP
Data from Indonesia's meteorological agency showed slight rain in the Belitung and Pontianak areas when the plane was estimated to be flying through the vicinity, with thick cumulonimbus clouds as high as 45,000 feet.
Such clouds can produce lightning and other dangerous weather conditions, such as gusts, hail and occasional tornadoes.
Mr Mark D. Martin, founder and chief executive officer of Martin Consulting, said: "In the unfortunate event of entering a cumulonimbus cloud at flight levels between 31,000 feet and 38,000 feet, it is common to see heavy updrafts and downdrafts, icing on control surfaces which can freeze corrective pilot actions, aggressive aircraft manoeuvres and the aircraft dramatically lose altitude in excess of 5,000 feet per minute."
A similar incident had occurred in June 2009 when Air France Flight AF447 plunged into the Atlantic Ocean, leaving no survivors, during a flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris.
Official investigations concluded that the aircraft crashed after pilots failed to react correctly to temporary inconsistencies between air speed measurements.
This was likely due to ice crystals blocking the plane's pitot tubes, which measure air speed.
Mr Mohandas said: "It is possible that something similar happened to Flight QZ8501. In their attempt to avoid extreme weather conditions, the pilots could have taken some actions, including possibly initiating a climb which requires more power.
"This coupled with adverse weather conditions, including turbulence, and possibly the formation of ice on the surface of the aircraft at high altitude, could have disengaged the plane's auto-pilot systems."
He said: "With little or no visibility and without auto pilot, you don't know what's in front of you and the crew could have become disorientated. Under such circumstances, the plane could have gone into an uncontrolled descent."
With the wreckage found, experts can start piecing together the final moments of Flight QZ8501.
To the relatives of those who perished, this may bring a sense of closure but, perhaps, no relief from the pain.
AirAsia flight QZ8501 lost contact with air traffic control at 7.24am yesterday. There were 162 people on board - 155 passengers, and 7 crew members. The plane was last seen between the Indonesian island of Belitung, and Pontianak in Borneo. There was bad weather over Belitung at the time.
Key points:
- An AirAsia flight QZ8501 from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore lost contact with air traffic control on Sunday at around 6:17 am local time.
- AirAsia has established an emergency call center. The number is +622129850801.
- Plane requested to deviation due to bad weather before contact was lost
- Plane is carrying 162 people - 155 Indonesian, three South Koreans, one French, one Malaysian, one Briton and one Singaporean.
Briton Choi Chi Man and his two-year-old daughter feared missing on the Air Asia plane was only on board because there was no room on an earlier flight, friends said. His wife and son flew on earlier flight.
Mr Choi, who is originally from Hull, Yorkshire, lives in Singapore but works in Indonesia where he is a unit managing director for electronic manufacturing firm Alstom Power.
An engineering graduate of Essex University, his parents still live in Hull, after emigrating from Hong Kong, and he is understood to have a brother and sister in the UK. - the Daily Telegraph
AirAsia,has been operating in Indonesia for 10 years, is 49% owned by Malaysia-listed AirAsia Bhd. The remaining stake is held by an Indonesia company that has 3 individuals as shareholders: Pin Harris with 20%, Senjaya Wijaya with 21% and a privately held entity PT Fersindo Nusaperkasa with 10%
The private company is believed to be linked to Riza Chalid, a tycoon said to have close links to Probowo Subbianto, who put up a strong challenge against Joko Widodo for the presidency post recently.
The incident caps a disastrous year for Malaysia-affiliated airlines.
Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370 went missing on March 8 on a trip from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 passengers and crew on board and has not been found.
On July 17, the same airline's Flight MH17 was shot down over Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board.
Experts compare disappearance to vanished Malaysia Airlines flight MH370
Google
Weather: The last communication between QZ8501's pilot and
air traffic control was when he requested to increase altitude due to
bad weather
Hours after the disappearance of QZ8501 aviation experts have begun comparing the incident with still-missing Malaysian Airlines MH370.
Like
MH370, the AirAsia flight disappeared from radars and made no further
communication with Air Traffic Control - not even an emergency “squawk”.
Yesterday aviation expert Peter Stuart Smith said it was strange
that QZ8501 had made no further contact was made with Air traffic
control.
“Even if we assume that the aircraft did encounter such
incredibly adverse weather conditions that it broke up in midair or the
conditions led to the pilots losing control, there are still a number of
questions that need answering,” said Mr Smith.
“Obviously the
first priority for the pilots is to fly the aircraft but relaying a
message to Air Traffic Control (ATC) about what’s happening only
involves depressing a single button on the control column and simply
speaking.
“It would also only take a few seconds to squawk 7700
(emergency) on the SSR box which would alert ATC to there being a
problem -although not what the problem was.”
Passenger who boarded Flight QZ8501 joked 'goodbye forever' to pal hours before plane vanished
A passenger who boarded missing Flight QZ8501 joked "goodbye forever"
to a pal hours before the plane vanished en route from Indonesia to
Singapore.
The distraught friend, a man in his 20s, told
Indonesia's TV One on Sunday: "This morning, before I went to pray, one
of them called me and jokingly said: 'See you in the new year and
goodbye forever'.
"That's all and then the bad news came."
The man said he had planned to go on the trip but cancelled it two weeks ago because he was busy.
"I have two friends who were with five family members," he said tearfully.
"Yes, I planned to spend (New Year's Day) in Singapore actually.
"I hope for a miracle and may God save them all.
"I should have gone with them but I cancelled it two weeks ago as I had something to do."
Galih, the 10-year-old son of AirAsia Flight QZ8501 pilot Capt Iriyanto, is still unaware of what has happened to his father
SURABAYA: It seemed like any other Saturday morning at the home of Indonesia AirAsia Flight QZ8501 pilot Capt Iriyanto, with the television on and birds chirping outside in Jalan Pondok Jati in an upscale neighbourhood of Siduarjo, East Java.
