AirAsia, Indonesia and Effective Crisis Management

Jakarta Globe, Bloomberg, Dec 31, 2014

President Joko Widodo on board a Hercules plane taking part in the
search for AirAsia Flight QZ8501, on Tuesday.(Antara Photo/Andika Wahyu)

In his run for president this year, Joko Widodo pledged to bring greater openness and accountability to Indonesia. As his administration faces its first international crisis, the mysterious crash of an AirAsia jet, he’s proving to be a man of his word.

You can tell a lot about a nation from its response to great tragedy, whether it’s Japan’s 2011 Fukushima crisis, Malaysia’s lost Boeing 777 in March or South Korea’s deadly ferry accident in April. So far, Joko has performed admirably.

Since news broke on Sunday that an Airbus A320 flying from Surabaya, Indonesia, to Singapore vanished with 162 people on board, Joko has coordinated search-and-rescue efforts, demanded a review of air safety regulations and called on weather agencies to provide timelier information. His government is giving steady updates, and Joko has sought help from Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea, Australia and, remarkably, China and the US in finding Flight QZ8501.

In contrast, last spring, Malaysia was widely criticized for the secrecy and paranoia that surrounded its search for a Malaysia Airlines flight that disappeared with 239 people aboard. Welcoming US and Chinese military ships into Indonesia’s orbit speaks to Joko’s confidence as a leader.

Let’s hope this is a harbinger of future competence. Joko is the fifth president since dictator Suharto was ousted in 1998 but the first true political outsider to run Southeast Asia’s biggest economy. Because he’s not a member of a dynastic family or the military, he isn’t beholden to vested interests looking to siphon the benefits of Indonesia’s 5 percent growth. That gives him latitude to dismantle the kleptocracy that Suharto built during his 32-year reign and raise Indonesia’s competitiveness.

As governor of Jakarta, starting in 2012, Joko brought a surprising level of transparency. He moved budget procurement and tax collection processes online. He’s now working to make national government services electronic to reduce opportunities for graft and improve efficiency. Opening up the process of granting licenses for developing infrastructure, mines and plantations alone would do much to clean up the nation’s political and business climate.

Indonesia’s aviation industry also has long cried out for greater oversight. Its carriers, air traffic controllers and the skies around the archipelago of 250 million people are notorious for their regulatory laxity. As recently as 2009, state carrier Garuda was banned from European Union airspace. That laxity is a product of decades of cronyism and institutional neglect.

While Joko’s predecessor Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono made inroads against graft, Indonesia’s still ranks behind Djibouti and Argentina and a sober 22 rungs below India in Transparency International’s latest corruption perceptions index. The daylight Joko wants to shine on the government is needed to attract more foreign investment and ensure that scarce revenues are spent on education, health care and poverty programs.

The openness and assertiveness with which Joko has responded to Flight QZ8501 gives me reason to hope that Indonesia will be prepared for whatever comes its way.

William Pesek is a Bloomberg View columnist based in Tokyo and writes on economics, markets and politics throughout the Asia-Pacific region.

President Joko Widodo, center, talks to the head of Indonesia’s national search
 and rescue agency, Soelistyo, left, and Chief of the Sea Security Coordinating
 Agency, Vice Admiral Desi Albert Mamahit, right, shortly before a news conference
 about missing Indonesia AirAsia flight QZ 8501 in Jakarta, on Dec. 29, 2014.
 (EPA Photo/Bagus Indahono)

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Korean Air heiress arrested for 'nut rage'

Yahoo - AFP, 30 Dec 2014

Korean Air heiress Cho Hyun-Ah (centre) grabs an arm of a prosecution official
as she leaves for the prosecutors office in Seoul, on December 30, 2014 (AFP)

Korean Air heiress Cho Hyun-Ah was arrested on Tuesday for delaying a flight with a tantrum over snacks in a "nut rage" incident that caused a national uproar, according to a media report.

Cho has been accused of forcing the chief purser off a December 5 New York-Seoul flight and of compelling the taxiing plane to return to the gate so he could disembark.

She had taken exception to being served macadamia nuts she had not asked for -- and in a bag, not a bowl.

Cable news network YTN showed Cho as she was taken by prosecutors to prison late Tuesday -- the 40-year-old kept her head low and said "I'm sorry" as she left the building, broadcast footage showed.

The prosecutors' office had applied for an arrest warrant last week -- this was finally granted by a court in Seoul late Tuesday, Yonhap news agency said.

Cho was charged with violation of the aviation safety law, coercion and interference in the execution of duty.

An unidentified KAL executive was also arrested Tuesday on charges of destroying evidence from the incident.

Cho -- one of three children of Korean Air boss Cho Yang-Ho, the patriarch of business conglomerate Hanjin Group -- has publicly apologised and resigned from all her posts in the organisation.

The transport ministry has vowed to sanction the airline with a flight ban, most likely on the New York-Seoul route, that could last for up to a month, or with fines of up to $2 million.

However the investigation into the incident has also been tainted with scandal.

A ministry investigator was arrested last week for leaking details of the investigation to KAL officials.

Separately, the transport ministry has vowed to punish eight of its officials after admitting their investigation into the incident was unfair.

Speaking at an official briefing Monday, Shin Un-Chul, a ministry auditor, said the investigation into the incident had been impaired due to the fact that a KAL staffer had been present, which may have intimidated witnesses.

"We have found our fairness was impaired by an imprudent investigation," Shin told reporters.

Four of the eight officials who questioned Cho will receive a warning, while the others will be referred to a disciplinary committee and could face dismissal.

Related Article:

South Korean heiress apologizes to flight attendants for 'nut rage'

AirAsia Disappearance Revives Specter of Indonesian Aviation Safety Woes

The country’s poor reputation for aviation safety goes back several years

Jakarta Globe, Tabita Diela, Dec 30, 2014

AirAsia passengers line up to check in at the budget airline’s counter at
Singapore’s Changi airport on Dec. 29, 2014. (EPA Photo/Francis R. Malasig)

Jakarta. The disappearance on Sunday of an Indonesian passenger jet with 162 people on board has put the country’s aviation safety record back in the public glare, even as the industry insists that standards have improved.

The Indonesia AirAsia plane dropped off the radar over the Java Sea en route from Surabaya to Singapore at 6:18 a.m. on Sunday, carrying 155 passengers and seven crew members.

Malaysia-based AirAsia and its regional subsidiaries, including the Indonesian unit in which it holds a 49 percent stake, has never faced a major incident like this since it began operations in 1996.

“The incident is unexpected, considering that AirAsia’s reputation as a low-cost carrier is perfect,” Arista Atmadjati, an aviation analyst and lecturer at Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta, told the Jakarta Globe on Monday.

“They mostly are on time, have new planes, and are known to have a good track in terms of engine maintenance schedule. This is really bad luck for AirAsia.”

Indonesia AirAsia had until Sunday managed to avoid the safety incidents that routinely dogged other low-cost carriers in Indonesia — in particular Lion Air — which have pursued breakneck expansion, often at the expense of safety and maintenance standards.

The last major incident before Sunday’s disappearance of Flight QZ8501 was the crash-landing of a Lion Air flight in the sea just before the runway at Bali’s Ngurah Rai International Airport as it was coming in to land in April 2013. All 108 passengers on board survived, and none were seriously injured. It was Lion Air’s seventh accident since 2002.

The most recent deadly incident involving a large jet occurred in May 2012 when a Russian-made Sukhoi Superjet 100 crashed into the side of a mountain in West Java during a promotional flight, killing all 45 people on board. Voice recordings recovered from the wreckage suggested the pilot was chatting with a potential buyer in the cockpit prior to the crash.

The country’s poor reputation for aviation safety goes back several years. In September 2005, a flight from now-defunct Mandala Airlines killed 149 people after the plane that took off from an airport in Medan, North Sumatra, crashed into a densely populated residential area. It claimed the lives of 100 people on board and 49 on the ground.

The local aviation safety record hit a nadir in 2007 when the US Department of Transportation’s Federal Aviation Administration downgraded Indonesia’s safety rating following a series of high-profile incidents — notably the disappearance of Adam Air Flight DHI574, which crashed into the Makassar Strait on Jan. 1, 2007, killing all 102 people on board.

That same year, the European Union banned all Indonesian airlines from flying in European airspace in light of the incidents. The ban was only partially lifted in 2009.

But the days of poor safety records is a thing of the past, says the Indonesian National Air Carriers Association, or INACA.

“Nowadays the safety aspects of all Indonesian airlines is much better than in previous years,” INACA chairman Arif Wibowo, who is also the newly appointed president director of flag carrier Garuda Indonesia, said on Monday.

Arif, who previously headed Citilink, Garuda’s low-cost subsidiary, said that all airlines were subjected to stringent systems audits to ensure their compliance with safety standards before they could get a an air operation certificate, required to operate commercial flights.

President Joko Widodo said on Monday that he had asked Transportation Minister Ignasius Jonan to perform a thorough evaluation of aviation safety procedures in Indonesia.

“I have ordered the transportation minister to recheck all procedures for all flights to maximize” prevention of such incidents in future, Jokowi said at a press conference in Jakarta on Monday.

He also said he had ordered the meteorological agency, or BMKG, to do more to assist airlines in anticipating patches of bad weather — something that Flight QZ8501 had requested permissions from air traffic control to fly over before contact was lost.

The president said he had asked authorities to cooperate with their counterparts from Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea and Britain, who have all offered technical assistance in the continuing search for the missing plane, believed to have fallen in the Java Sea.

Ignasius said the government would perform a review of Indonesia AirAsia’s business and operation, especially with regard to safety standard compliance.

“In the near term, we will review the operations and the business of [Indonesia] AirAsia to ensure a better future performance, especially from the safety aspect,” he said

He previously said one of his missions in the Transportation Ministry was to improve Indonesia’s aviation safety image in the eyes of the international community.

With additional reporting by Laila Ramdhini & Hari Gunarto

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Bodies Retrieved in AirAsia Search, Extensive Recovery Operation Set for Wednesday

Jakarta Globe, Basten Gokkon, Dec 31, 2014

Jakarta. The search for the missing Indonesia AirAsia plane carrying 162 people appeared to be over on Tuesday evening after rescuers pulled bodies and debris from the sea off the coast of Kalimantan.

The Indonesian Navy confirmed that more than 40 bodies had been pulled from the sea as dusk fell, and authorities will continue with an extensive recovery operation on Wednesday.

The military chief, Gen. Moeldoko, refused, though, to confirm the Navy’s comments about the bodies and said all statements about the number of bodies recovered would have to go through Indonesia’s National Search and Rescue Agency, or Basarnas, which is coordinating the search efforts.

Basarnas chief Bambang Soelistyo said at a press conference that six bodies were found and three had been retrieved as well as some of the debris from the water and all of those were brought to the Central Kalimantan town of Pangkalan Bun.

“We’ve been able to verify that three of the bodies are those of two women and one man,” he said at the agency’s headquarters in Jakarta.

Items resembling an emergency slide, plane door and other objects were spotted in the sea during an aerial search for Flight QZ8501 about midday.

Basarnas confirmed with certainty that the items spotted during an aerial search was debris from the plane.

“Today we can confirm 100 percent that the debris and bodies are from the plane that we have been looking for,” Soelistyo said.

The breakthrough came more than 48 hours after the plane disappeared over the Java Sea en route from Surabaya to Singapore.

There were 155 passengers on board, including 149 Indonesians, three South Koreans, one Singaporean, one Malaysian and one Briton. The seven-member crew consisted of six Indonesians and the French co-pilot.

A number of vessels were on their way to the waters of the Karimata Strait, some 160 kilometers from Pangkalan Bun, to collect the debris on Tuesday.

The navy later confirmed a large part of the missing Airbus A320-200 was also found 62 kilometers from the area where debris was first spotted.

“We have found some more debris and the cargo hold, which is still 65 percent intact,” 1st Lt. Galang told news portal Detik.com.

(JG & Beritasatu.com Graphics/Nadia Tammu & Danung Arifin)

An extensive search

President Joko Widodo spoke at a press conference at Juanda International Airport in Surabaya at around 7 p.m. to express his condolences to family members of the passengers and crew of the flight, adding that an extensive search will be conducted on Wednesday.

“Tomorrow morning, there will be a huge search operation by using aircraft and vessels,” Joko said. “I’ve instructed the National Search and Rescue Agency to make a joint operation to find the body of the airplane and also passengers and flight crew. I’ve instructed them to focus on retrieving the passengers and flight crew.

“I also want to thank and give my highest appreciation to the National Search and Rescue Agency, the Indonesian Armed Forces, the National Police, the volunteers and also the fishermen who have helped in the search of the airplane, the passengers and flight crew.

“I also want to thank the neighboring countries who have joined in in the search — from Singapore, Malaysia and Australia,” he said.

“For the families of the passengers and flight crew, I’m also at a loss from this incident and I’m sending my prayers to the families so that they can find the strength to get through this misfortune,” Joko said.

AirAsia Group chief executive Tony Fernandes was also present at the press conference, saying that he hoped that the flight recorder box will be recovered as part of the investigation as to why the aircraft went down into the sea. He defended the captain’s experience and the performance of the aircraft but accepted responsibility as leader of the company.

“You don’t know what went wrong,” Fernandes said. “This is a scar that will be with me for the rest of my life.”

He offered his condolences to the family members of the passengers and crew, adding that the focus would be on the recovery of remains and the aircraft.

“Words can’t express what they’re going through, but I’ve talked to the families with my limited bahasa Indonesia,” Fernandes said.

Compensation will be given to the families, he said, but he will wait for an investigation on the cause of the aircraft’s accident.

“We’ll keep investigating what went wrong during the accident,” he said.

A crew member on an Indonesian Maritime Surveillance looks out the window
during a search for Indonesia AirAsia’s flight QZ8501, north of Bangka island
on Dec. 30, 2014. (Reuters Photo/Darren Whiteside)

‘Be strong’

Soelistyo  of Basarnas said in an interview with Metro TV at around 8:30 p.m. that the extensive search will commence at 6 a.m. on Wednesday and will include 47 divers to the nine who are already stationed at Pangkalan Bun. The nine divers were supposed to help in the search on Tuesday but were held back because of bad weather, he said.

Soelistyo  had told reporters earlier in the day that a “shadow” on the seabed spotted by an Air Force plane was believed to be the missing AirAsia jet.

“On information regarding shadows on the seabed, we received that information from one of our units. We will investigate based on the information and find out whether it’s the airplane or another object. I will deploy vessels that have sonar systems to investigate it,” Soelistyo told Metro TV.

Relatives of the 155 passengers and seven crew members burst into tears and hugged each other after footage of a body was broadcast during the Basarnas press conference on Tuesday afternoon.

Surabaya Mayor Tri Rismaharini comforted relatives at the airport and told them “to be strong.”

About 30 ships and 21 aircraft from Indonesia, Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea and the United States have been involved in the search of up to 10,000 square nautical miles.

The plane, which did not issue a distress signal, disappeared after its pilot failed to get permission to fly higher to avoid bad weather because of heavy air traffic, officials said.

The flight was led by Capt. Irianto, who had a total of 6,100 flying hours under his belt. His first officer had clocked in 2,275 flying hours.

Air traffic controllers lost contact with the plane about 45 minutes after it left Surabaya’s Juanda International Airport at 5:36 a.m. on Sunday.

AirAsia Indonesia said in a statement that its employees have been sent to the site and will cooperate fully with Indonesian authorities.

The airline said it would invite victims’ families to Surabaya and where a team of dedicated carers would be assigned to each family. Counselors and “religious and spiritual personnel” had also been invited, the company said.

Sunu Widyatmoko, chief executive of Indonesia AirAsia, said the company would like to extend its sincerest sympathies to the family and friends of those on board the flight.

Additional reporting from AFP & Reuters

Jokowi: An extensive search on #QZ8501 will be conducted on Wednesday

Items Resembling Slide, Plane Door ’95 Percent’ Certain to be Debris From AirAsia Plane

Jakarta Globe & AFP, Dec 30, 2014

This aerial view taken from an Indonesian search and rescue aircraft over the
 Java Sea shows floating debris spotted in the same area as other items being
investigated by authorities. (AFP Photo/Bay Ismoyo)

Jakarta. Indonesia’s National Search and Rescue Agency, or Barsanas, has confirmed with “95 percent” certainty that the items spotted during an aerial search on Tuesday is debris from the missing Indonesia AirAsia plane.

“We can confirm that with 95 percent certainty that what we found are the objects from the plane QZ8501,” Barsanas chief Bambang Soelistyo told a press conference.

Items resembling an emergency slide, plane door and other objects were spotted in the sea during an aerial search for Flight QZ8501 about midday.

BeritaSatu TV reported Indonesian rescue teams found the debris 194 kilometers off the coast of Pangkalan Bun.

Bambang said vessels were on their way to the site to collect the debris and would take it to Pangkalan Bun.

“We’re also sending a task force of 11 divers from the Navy and 10 divers from Basarnas,” he said. “We’re leaving it up to the KNKT [The National Committee for Transportation Safety] to finalize the investigation of the debris.”

Local media have reported six bodies have been retrieved from the sea, but the Jakarta Globe has been unable to confirm the number.

Relatives of the 155 passengers and seven crew members burst into tears and hugged each other after footage of a body was broadcast during the Basarnas press conference in Jakarta. AirAsia CEO Tony Fernandes tweeted he was rushing to Surabaya to be with the victims’ families.

Bambang told reporters that a “shadow” on the seabed spotted by an Air Force plane was believed to be the missing AirAsia jet.

“At 12:50 the air force Hercules found an object described as a shadow at the bottom of the sea in the form of a plane,” he said.

Earlier on Tuesday, an AFP photographer on the search flight that spotted the debris said he had seen objects in the sea resembling a life raft, life jackets and long orange tubes.

Indonesian air force official Agus Dwi Putranto told reporters: “We spotted about 10 big objects and many more small white-colored objects which we could not photograph.”

“The position is 10 kilometers from the location the plane was last captured by radar,” he said.

Agus displayed 10 photos of objects resembling a plane door, emergency slide, and a square box-like object.

“It is not really clear … it could be the wall of the plane or the door of the plane,” he said.

“Let’s pray that those objects are what we are really trying to find,” he said in Pangkalan Bun in Central Kalimantan.

Indonesia AirAsia flight QZ8501 disappeared Sunday morning over the Java Sea with 162 people on board enroute from Surabaya to Singapore.

The search is focused on waters around the islands of Bangka and Belitung in the Java Sea, across from Kalimantan.

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Family members of passengers onboard the missing Malaysian air carrier

 AirAsia flight QZ8501 react after watching news reports showing an unidentified body

 floating in the Java sea, inside the crisis-centre set up at Juanda International 

Airport in Surabaya on Dec. 30, 2014. (AFP Photo/Manan Vatsyayana)

Oil Slick Fuels Search for AirAsia QZ8501

Gone: Search teams from four nations are scouring the Java Sea for signs of the missing plane with 162 people aboard

Jakarta Globe, Dec 29, 2014

 (JG Graphics/Azalea Phinata)

Jakarta. Search and rescue parties have reportedly spotted what seems to be an oil slick in the Java Sea, giving officials a glimmer of hope that the missing Indonesia AirAsia Flight QZ8501 could be found within this week.

“One of our Air Force planes conducting a search over Belitung spotted some kind of oil spill,” National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) chief Bambang Soelistyo said on Monday.

Belitung is an island off the coast of Sumatra, the site of where the flight last made contact with air traffic control.

Soelistyo said a Navy patrol vessel had been deployed to the area to conduct further investigations, but warned reporters the discovery may have no relation to the missing Airbus A320-200 jet.

“We haven’t concluded that the oil spill came from [the missing] plane,” he said.

The pool of oil was spotted 105 nautical miles (194 kilometers) off the island of Bangka, in the Bangka-Belitung archipelago off the southeastern edge of Sumatra.

“Hopefully it is from the AirAsia plane. But we can’t confirm it,” Soelistyo said.

The search for Flight QZ8501 was resumed at dawn on Monday. Singapore, Malaysia and Australia have dispatched aircraft and ships to assist Indonesia in the search, which was divided into seven zones. Seven helicopters, 11 fixed-wing aircraft and 16 ships were deployed to search a 160-square-kilometer area, officials said.

Soelistyo said that search crews would expand their search to focus on parts of the Java Sea between Belitung and West Kalimantan.

“A further four [search] zones will be added. It is merely an expansion of the existing zones,” he said.

Though he remained confident that search crews would find the aircraft, the Basarnas chief did not expect to find survivors, telling journalists the plane was most likely “at the bottom of the sea.”

“That’s the preliminary suspicion and it can develop based on the evaluation of the result of our search,” he said.

President Joko Widodo, center, talks to the head of Indonesia’s national search
 and rescue agency, Soelistyo, left, and Chief of the Sea Security Coordinating
 Agency, Vice Admiral Desi Albert Mamahit, right, shortly before a news conference
 about missing Indonesia AirAsia flight QZ 8501 in Jakarta, on Dec. 29, 2014.
 (EPA Photo/Bagus Indahono)

Search teams are currently scouring an area of the Java Sea that runs 40 to 50 meters deep, he said, adding that Indonesia had reached out to other countries for equipment needed to search the seabed.

“Due to the lack of technology at our disposal, I asked our foreign minister to approach countries who have offered their services. They are the UK, France and the United States,” he said. “The search will not be easy… [but] we will not be discouraged in any way.”

Meanwhile, Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) chief Andi Eka Sakya said on Monday that the next two days would provide the best opportunities for rescue teams to locate the missing plane.

The agency predicted light showers with waves no higher than 1.5 meters in the search areas. The weather is then expected to deteriorate, with heavy rains and waves up to three meters high.

The BMKG chief confirmed the missing AirAsia plan had run into inclement weather at the time it vanished from radar.

The jet carrying 162 people was traveling at an elevation of 32,000 feet (9,700 meters) at 6:12 a.m. on Sunday when it radioed for permission to turn left and climb to 38,000 feet to avoid bad weather, according to Transportation Ministry spokesman J.A. Barata.

The pilot request’s was denied due to  air traffic above the plane.

Twelve minutes later, at approximately 6:24 a.m. the aircraft disappeared from air traffic control’s radar.

At 7:55 a.m., Flight QZ8501 was officially declared missing.

Air traffic control officers confirmed they received no emergency broadcasts.

AirAsia confirmed the 155 passengers onboard comprised 149 Indonesians, three South Koreans, one Singaporean, one Malaysian and one Briton. The seven-member crew consisted of six Indonesians and the French co-pilot.

A member of the Indonesian military looks
 out of the window during a search and
rescue operation for missing Indonesia
AirAsia flight QZ8501, over the waters 
of the Java Sea on Dec. 29, 2014. (AFP
Photo/Juni Kriswanto)

The flight was lead by Captain Irianto, who had a total of 6,100 flying hours under his belt. His first officer had clocked in 2,275 flying hours.

Air traffic controllers lost contact with the plane about 45 minutes after it left Surabaya’s Juanda International Airport at 5:36 a.m.

The missing plane was operated by Indonesia AirAsia, a unit of Malaysian-based AirAsia, which dominates Southeast Asia’s booming low-cost airline market.

The Transportation Ministry said it would review the company’s operations.

“We will do a ground check as well as a review of AirAsia’s operations in Indonesia to ensure that all of its [aviation] activities can improve,” Transportation Minister Ignasius Jonan told reporters.

The plane had last undergone its scheduled maintenance on Nov. 16.

Australia on Monday joined the Indonesia-led search for the plane. A Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) AP-3C Orion took off from the northern city of Darwin early on Monday to join the operation, the Australian Defense Force said.

“The RAAF AP-3C Orion aircraft has a well-proven capability in search and rescue and carries maritime search radar coupled with infrared and electro-optical sensors to support the visual observation capabilities provided by its highly trained crew,” said chief of defense Air Chief Marshal Mark Binskin.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has pledged to help Indonesia in the search for the missing aircraft, calling President Joko on Sunday to offer his full assistance in the matter.

Additional reporting from AFP & Reuters

Indonesia Widens Search for Missing AirAsia Flight QZ8501

Jakarta Globe, Basten Gokkon & Agencies, Dec 29, 2014

Commander of the Search and Rescue (SAR) Team of the Indonesian Navy,
Admiral Abdul Rashid, points to the search area on a map at the Navy Port,
in Batam, Riau. (EPA Photo/Massulis Mbasan)

Jakarta. The search for AirAsia flight QZ8501 missing off Indonesia with 162 people on board was expanded on Monday, but one top official warned it was likely at the bottom of the sea.

Teams from Indonesia, Australia, Singapore and Malaysia resumed the search at dawn for the Indonesia AirAsia plane, which lost contact with air traffic control en route from Surabaya to Singapore on Sunday. It was carrying 155 passengers and seven crew members — the majority of whom were Indonesian.

Seven helicopters, 11 fixed-wing aircraft and 16 ships have been deployed to search a 160 square-kilometer area, authorities said.

Monday’s search was expanded northward into the waters between Sumatra and Kalimantan and now takes in Singkep island, the Karimata Strait and the northern reaches of West Kalimantan.

“We added three sectors to the north of the [four] search areas we had yesterday,” said Bambang Soelistyo, chief of Indonesia’s National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas).

But Bambang told journalists the plane was most likely “at the bottom of the sea.”

“That’s the preliminary suspicion and it can develop based on the evaluation of the result of our search,” he said.

Currently search teams are scouring an area where the sea is 40 to 50 meters deep, he said, adding that Indonesia was coordinating with other countries to access any equipment needed to scour the seabed.

“Due to the lack of technology that we have, I have coordinated with our foreign minister so we will borrow from other countries which have offered. They are the UK, France and US,” he said.

“It is not easy to look for something underwater … that will not break our spirit to continue searching, no way.”

Hoping for news

Distraught relatives spent Sunday night in Surabaya hoping for news of loved ones.

Intan, 28, urged Indonesia to seek international help to find the plane which was carrying her brother and his family and friends.

“My hope is Indonesia seeks as much help as possible from other countries. Don’t claim ‘We have sophisticated technology’, just ask other countries because they are better equipped,” she said.

“My prayer is I really, really hope that there will be news about the people on board. Whatever it is, what is important is we know where they are now,” Intan said.

One Indonesian family of 10 is counting themselves incredibly lucky after they arrived too late to catch flight QZ8501.

“Maybe it is all God’s plan that my family and I were not on the flight. It was a blessing in disguise,” said Christianawati, 36.

The family failed to board the plane after Christianawati’s husband  missed an e-mail notifying him about a change in departure time.

AirAsia said the 155 passengers onboard the plane comprised 149 Indonesians, three South Koreans, one Singaporean, one Malaysian and one Briton. The seven-member crew consists of six Indonesians and the French co-pilot.

Air traffic controllers lost contact with the Boeing A320-200 about 45 minutes after it left Surabaya’s Juanda International Airport at about 5:35 a.m.

Shortly before the plane disappeared, the pilot asked to ascend by 6,000 feet to 38,000 feet to avoid heavy clouds but his request was turned down due to another flight above him.

The missing plane was operated by Indonesia AirAsia, a unit of Malaysian-based AirAsia which dominates Southeast Asia’s booming low-cost airline market.

The Transportation Ministry said it would review the company’s operations.

“We will do a ground check as well as a review of AirAsia’s operations in Indonesia to ensure that all of its activities are better in the future,” Transportation Minister Ignasius Jonan told reporters.

The plane had last undergone its scheduled maintenance on Nov. 16, 2014.

Related Article:

Family of 10 Narrowly Miss Boarding AirAsia Flight QZ8501

Family of 10 Narrowly Miss Boarding AirAsia Flight QZ8501

Jakarta Globe, Dec 29, 2014

Ari Putro Cahyono and nine members of his extended only narrowly missed
flight QZ 8501, which went missing enroute from Surabaya to Singapore. (EPA
Photo/Wallace Woon)

Jakarta. An Indonesian family are counting themselves incredibly lucky after they missed Indonesia AirAsia flight QZ8501, which went missing over the Java Sea with 162 people onboard on Sunday.

Ari Putro Cahyono and 9 members of his extended family only narrowly missed the flight, which disappeared en route from Surabaya to Singapore after the crew requested a change of flight plan due to stormy weather. The plane was carrying 155 passengers and seven crew members.

Ari’s family had planned to travel to Singapore for New Year’s eve celebrations, but failed to board the plane after Ari missed an email notifying him about a change in departure time.

The family were left annoyed and stranded after the flight, which was scheduled to leave Juanda International Airport at 7:20 a.m., instead left at 5:30 a.m. About 45 minutes later, the Boeing A320-200 lost contact with Jakarta air traffic control.

Ari, who by then had spent a good deal of time trying to negotiate a new flight with AirAsia staff at the check-in desk, said he realized something was wrong after he noticed people inside the terminal starting to panic.

“I was still in the airport at that moment and I saw people running around looking for information about their family,” Ari told Indonesian news portal, Okezone.

After learning that contact with the plane had been lost, Ari canceled the family’s trip to Singapore and returned home, despite being offered seats on another flight.

He said he felt deeply concerned for the 162 people on the flight QZ8501, but he was grateful that he and his family were unable to board.

Trikora Hardjo, general manager of Angkasa Pura I, the operator of Juanda International Airport, said 23 people did not read AirAsia’s notifications about a change in departure time — a decision made due to bad weather.

The search for flight QZ8501 was resumed at dawn on Monday. Singapore, Malaysia and Australia have dispatched aircraft and ships to assist Indonesia in the search, which is centred on the Java Sea. The US has also said it was ready to assist.

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"The Way Synchronicity Works" – Aug 24, 2013 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll)  - (Text version)

“…The System

There is a system that my partner has taught in these meetings for years. It's a system we have mentioned in countless messages, and we've never really dedicated an entire channel to it in the way we are doing today. This is a system that most of you don't even know how to use, yet some of you use it all the time. You just don't know when you're using it, since it's not intuitive to what you have learned.

This message is going to be about the way synchronicity works, and we'll sub-title it, "The Demise of the Bell-shaped Curve"! [Kryon laugh] When something happens to you that is good, your friends around you may say, "What a lucky person you are! What are the chances that this would happen to you?" When you go into a difficult situation, something that is common to humanity like surgery, and you come out with results that are positive beyond expectations, your friends may again exclaim, "What a lucky person you are!" Then somehow you continue to be "lucky" over and over.

Perhaps you go someplace and you accidentally meet just the right person who knows someone else who has just the right information that you were looking for. This leads you to end up with exactly what you wanted. What are the chances of this? Your friends are amazed! "What an incredibly lucky person you are!" That's all a Human can say, since there simply is no other explanation in their reality. The idea that you might actually be bending the bell-shaped curve of average and, by chance, using an available system will never occur to them.

Humans do not see the structure of synchronicity. It is not part of any kind of system that they use. They believe it is simply chance. The only structure that is used is goal setting, planning, and forward-looking systems. Only through these does the Human believe they can help control their lives. Indeed, this is the only way a Human can achieve things in a linear fashion so that they will arrive at a pre-set goal. In this linear system, no matter what kind of process you have studied that will get you from A to B, there must be a goal. Some of you take those goals and you will paste them to the refrigerator so you'll see it every day. This is a linear process for a linear Human Being and is well known.

What if I told you that there is a process that is not linear and has only conceptual goals? A conceptual goal is one that says, "Dear God, put me in the right place even though I don't know where it is. Dear God, when you do it, make it comfortable for me and help me to see the sense of it. Make it easy and bring me the right situations and synchronicities to put me in this place I don't know about." How about that?

If you told that statement to someone off the street, they would say, "You must be New Age!" They see you as silly and floating around without a goal, hoping the Universe will somehow show you the way. They laugh. But the Human who begins to use synchronicity as their life's path is simply changing the box of belief to include something that is available to all but is not in 3D. In fact, some of you have been using this process a very long time, but you're just not aware of it. ... "  

"..... Hard Concepts

The hardest things for Humans in all this is what I'm going to present next. The process is different than you think. First, we have established that it's not linear. It's a conceptual attribute that you cannot plan on. The timing is not known, so you cannot paste a goal for something you don't know about on your refrigerator. Instead, it requires the Human Being to be in faith and with no clock. That's number one.

Then we've established that the information comes from a part of you that is on the other side of the veil, because you cannot hold all of the mastery that you have in the corporeal body. You are part of the creative source and always will be. Part of you is on my side of the veil - the part that talks to you intuitively and says, "Go left, go right, stand up, sit down, go over there and meet that person."

And the next one, it's the hardest concept of all. How do we describe it? There are seven billion souls on the planet and they all have the same attribute as you do - all of them. They are all on the other side of the veil as well as being here, just like you. They're all talking at the same time and broadcasting things, just like you. The things they are broadcasting are using the same "mind of God" that you have because they are on my side of the veil. The divine parts of humanity are still divine, no matter what the corporeal and intellectual parts are believing or doing. Are you understanding this?

So even if they have a corporeal self on Earth that is completely and totally unaware and has no radio to receive, it doesn't make any difference. They're still broadcasting potentials and loving intuitive messages. These messages are benevolent and for all humanity. This means you can listen to them as well and they're tuned to your frequency, since that frequency is not proprietary. The result? They'll tell you things that intuitively will help guide you and help you to work with their corporeal counterparts. This is difficult to understand. Think of it this way: The divine parts of Humans you may never meet know you are listening. Therefore, by broadcasting to you, they help their own soul counterparts, for you are working on peace on Earth and compassionate action.

In your 3D singularity, you're hooked up to one soul - you - right? On my side of the veil? No. On my side, you're hooked to all of them. So, therefore, even the soul parts and pieces of complete nonbelievers are still broadcasting information that will help humanity. It's a hard concept. Think of it as a collective, intuitive force.

"Wow!" people say. "Look at that tragedy you escaped. Why did you leave the building before it fell down?" You might say, "I don't know. Something told me to go and I did." This happens over and over, dear ones, and now you know why it works. Is it possible that the Human soul is connected in such a way that it talks to everybody at the same time? The answer is yes.

When an intuitive healer sits before a totally dense and stubborn unbeliever, do they still get messages to help heal that person? Yes! So the intuitive innate of every Human Being is working no matter if that Human has the ability to "hear" it or not. It's broadcasting to the healer! It's broadcasting to all. This alone should show you that intuition does not come from the synapse of the brain, but rather the portal of the pineal.

What are you supposed to do with this information? Well, we've already covered a little of it. First, understand the process and believe it. Do not get disappointed that your planning is not working. You can't have both, dear ones. You can't have plans in the corner waiting, just in case. The synchronicity won't work, since you'll void it if you try to plan around it. Do you see that?

Second, understand that synchronicity may take you to a place you didn't plan on. Is that OK? The old soul will sit in the chair and say, "Of course. Yes, it's OK. Anything is good." Really? Really? Humans like it their way. You might be pushed and pulled to uncomfortable situations and places you would not have initially chosen on your own. Can you honor this? Can you say, "It is well with me. I know I'm supposed to be here because this is where synchronicity placed me"? Feel the love of God surge through your heart and all the cells of your body. Then say, "Thank you God for putting me in the right place at the right time." It may take awhile to figure out the "whys" of it all, but eventually you will see it clearly and smile. You will realize that you could never have planned it, and it was perfect.

Let me tell you something: Perhaps your 3D goal will never be accomplished. Is that OK? Instead of settling into a final goal, you'll always be in motion, always. Is that OK? There'll always be the ladder to climb in knowledge, in awareness, and energy. New things will always be coming your way. It will be this way until the moment you take your last breath. You will feel that you "never arrived" at your goal, but that's not true, for each day you have arrived. It's a mindset - and you don't like that either, do you? Instead, you want to arrive in a place and say "I made it!" Then you wish to purchase a T-shirt that confirms it. [Laughter]

Synchronicity can put you in places that are beautiful. It can save your life, and often does. It voids all the karmic attributes that have pushed and pulled you around forever. It changes the way people think about you because you change. It changes the way you think about others because you are put in the places to see who you are. It rearranges that which you believe because you start to have reinforcement of action, and you know that it is working. You can stand tall and tell the others that you have no idea where you are going and you are proud of it! All the while, you are healthier than they are, and you're happier than they are, and you love people they won't love. Do you see what I'm saying?

This is a change in perception of life. It's a change in everything that the Human Being has been taught in 3D, and it's not "let go and let God". It is a partnership - a new arrangement that's conceptual and demands work on your part, demands it.

Expect synchronicity, but if it doesn't come when you think it might, don't be disappointed. It simply wasn't supposed to! Humans are funny. Look at the phrases that many in your culture use. They know about this! "Well, I guess it was supposed to happen." They have no idea! Yes!! [Kryon laugh] Or, "The universe had a message for me." They have no idea, that's exactly right! Exactly right.

So I've just given you the mechanics of it and it's beautiful and it's just for you. Benevolent, helpful Information is being broadcast all the time, even from the non-believing souls. Their "God part" is active and knows that you are hearing them. It helps the old soul to go from A to B. More than that, it helps you find processes and principles and people who can make a difference on the planet. This is what's new.

There's going to be a beginning of a marriage not just to help Humans navigate the now but to navigate that which is coming. These are set-ups for the next time around Akashically. What did we tell you the last time we spoke? We discussed Akashic Inheritance. What you learn this time carries into the next time, so the set-ups you have in this life will carry into the next. You'll remember them and you'll keep going. Today's synchronicity is tomorrow's future. It's important, old soul, that you start to learn how to use it and to carry it. Learn how to expect it, how to believe in it, and change the way things work for you. As part of this new teaching, we tell you it's time to void the bell-shaped curve of 3D that tells you about averages and the probability of your life. All you have to do is nudge that curve a little with a multidimensional energy called synchronicity and you design your own curve. Synchronicity is learning to acknowledge the Higher-Self and the fact that God is inside. It shows a willingness to listen in a way you never have before to a source that is personal, loving, benevolent, and beautiful - an energy that will never change.

And so it is.

KRYON.