AirAsia Believed To Be 'Large Object' On Sonar, Search For Fuselage, Flight Recorders On
In new developments in the AirAsia Search, 2 big parts of wreckage have been found. Officials say they are close to finding the tail end of the plane where the flight recorders are stored. As the crash and rescue operations runs into a 5th day, there is little chance to find new bodies.
Searchers found two large metal objects under water and sonar readings sight a large dark object under the ocean, believed to be the main wreckage of AirAsia QZ 8501.
And reports confirm that AirAsia A320 that crashed into the Java Sea, 42 minutes into its flight was not authorized to fly the Surabaya - Singapore route on Sunday. This may mean bad news for AirAsia's operations in Indonesia since the transport ministry has suspended AirAsia's license to fly on that route.
"It violated the route permit given, the schedule given, that's the problem," he told AFP. "AirAsia's permit for the route has been frozen because it violated the route permit given."
Bambang Soelistyo was quoted as saying by the Guardian.com, "With the discovery of an oil spill and two big parts of the aircraft, I can assure you these are the parts of the AirAsia plane we have been looking for."
The Guardian reported that "The first object measures 9.2 x 4.6 x 0.5 meters (30 x 15 x 1.6 feet), and the second measures 7.2 x 0.5 meters (24 x 1.6 feet). A remote-operated vehicle has been sent to capture images of the objects."
The USS Simpson now has 2 more bodies on board. So far four recovered bodies were identified and one woman who was a teacher has been buried in her village. The other bodies were those of flight attendant Khairunisa Haidar Fauzi, whose body will be transported home, accompanied by Tony Fernandes, AirAsia CEO. The remaining two of the four were Grayson Herbert Linaksita and Kevin Alexander Soetjipto.
Kane Ray, an analyst with the International Bureau of Aviation said in a report by the Guardian, "In the A320 family, accidents and incidents range from fan-cowl detachment, landing gear collapse, bird strikes, right through to hull losses through pilot error."
He added, "Most aircraft have teething problems, and in most cases, these are eradicated. Very rarely, these issues cause disasters -- largely because of a culmination of factors that lead to the event."
