• Divers Find Black Boxes from AirAsia Flight 8501

    Investigators in charge of finding out what caused the demise of AirAsia Flight 8501 a little more than two weeks ago have just retrieved a major piece to the puzzle. On Monday, Jan. 12, divers recovered the flight data recorder from beneath a wing at the bottom of the Java Sea. They also have located the cockpit voice recorder about 105 feet below the water, buried beneath wreckage. Divers are reportedly working to free that second black box from beneath heavy wreckage. Flight 8501 left Surabaya for Singapore two Sundays ago only to find itself caught in horrible weather. The pilot had asked for permission to climb to a higher altitude and, by the time that permission was granted a few minutes later, all contact had already been lost with the craft. Indonesian officials have speculated that icing may have built up, causing the engine to stall out and leading to the plane plummeting into the sea. Everything at this point is sheer speculation, but two things are certain, though. There were six other planes flying in exactly the same storm as Flight 8501 and they made it safely to their destinations, so this flight should not have even been in the air. AirAsia is permitted to run the Surabaya-to-Singapore route four days a week, and Sunday is not one of those days, so if they had been following their legal guidelines this plane would never have been in the air, let alone lost. Investigators are hopeful that they will get answers about what happened from these boxes.

  • Bodies, Debris Recovered from AirAsia Flight 8501 Crash Site

    Families of the 162 passengers aboard AirAsia Flight 8501 are grieving this morning, as it has been confirmed that the wreckage has been found in the ocean about 6 miles from the Airbus's last-known location. About halfway into the two-hour flight, the crew encountered extremely bad weather early Sunday morning, Dec. 28, and when Capt. Iriyanto requested permission to climb to a higher altitude, he was denied. Two minutes later, the controller told him that it was safe to proceed to 38,000 feet, but got no response. Loved ones held out hope for more than two days, only to have the worst confirmed early this morning, Dec. 30. AirAsia group CEO Tony Fernandes has attempted to handle this tragedy with great care and has been nothing but supportive and empathetic toward the families who were waiting for official word. Today, Fernandes tweeted, "My heart is filled with sadness for all the families involved in QZ 8501. On behalf of AirAsia my condolences to all. Words cannot express how sorry I am." He has since flown back to Surabaya to be with the grieving families. He also has chartered a flight to take them out to the airspace over the Java Sea to say their final goodbyes to loved ones in the area where they lost their lives.
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