The hunt for AirAsia flight QZ8501 has begun for a third day, with the search area now expanding far beyond the plane's original flight path.

Countries around the region as well as the US, France and Australia are joining the search over the Java sea.

The Airbus A320-200, carrying 162 people, disappeared on Sunday shortly after leaving Surabaya in eastern Java on its way to Singapore.

The pilot's last contact was a request to divert around bad weather.

Indonesian officials say air traffic control approved one request, then gave clearance to a second request two to three minutes later for the plane to climb.

No reply was received from the plane, which then disappeared from radar. No trace has been found despite a two-day search.

After debris has been located, some truly horrific photos of victims at #QZ8051 crash site now being broadcast on Indonesian TV. 6 victims confirmed found.

Indonesian officials confirm that bodies and debris found in Indonesia's Java Sea are from AirAsia flight QZ8501

Have any survivors been found yet? ???

Have any survivors been found yet? ???
Judging from reports on CNN yesterday there is no possibility for survivors.

The funeral is held of the first AirAsia Flight QZ8501 victim, a passenger whose body was recovered from the Java Sea after the crash on Sunday.

Search teams scouring the Java Sea find "two large objects" believed to be from the wreckage of AirAsia flight QZ8501, Indonesian officials say.

It has been reported that the Cockpit Voice Recorder has been located.

It has been reported that the Cockpit Voice Recorder has been located.
...and the Black Boxes have been recovered.

...and the Black Boxes have been recovered.


I thought they were orange.

http://images.dailytech.com/nimage/BlackBox_Wide.jpg

I thought they were orange.

http://images.dailytech.com/nimage/BlackBox_Wide.jpg
I had always thought that the inventor of the Black Box had the surname Black, but I am wrong.

From wiki:

"The modern term "black box" seems to have entered the English language around 1945. In electronic circuit theory the process of network synthesis from transfer functions, which led to electronic circuits being regarded as "black boxes" characterized by their response to signals applied to their ports, can be traced to Wilhelm Cauer who published his ideas in their most developed form in 1941. Although Cauer did not himself use the term, others who followed him certainly did describe the method as black-box analysis. Vitold Belevitch puts the concept of black-boxes even earlier, attributing the explicit use of two-port networks as black boxes to Franz Breisig in 1921 and argues that 2-terminal components were implicitly treated as black-boxes before that.

In cybernetics, a full treatment was given by Ross Ashby in 1956. A black box was described by Norbert Wiener in 1961 as an unknown system that was to be identified using the techniques of system identification. He saw the first step in self-organization as being to be able to copy the output behaviour of a black box."

"In aviation, the flight recorder is often called a "black box", especially by the media, although it is usually bright orange to facilitate their being found after a crash."

The main body of the AirAsia plane that disappeared in December has been located and photographed in the Java Sea, say officials.

The AirAsia flight that crashed in the Java Sea, killing 162 people, climbed too fast before stalling, Indonesia's transport minister has said.

Ignasius Jonan told a parliamentary hearing in Jakarta that flight QZ8501 had ascended at a speed of 6,000ft (1,828m) per minute.

He said it was not normal for a passenger jet to climb so fast.

Salvage teams have begun an operation to raise the fuselage of AirAsia flight QZ8501, which crashed into the Java Sea last month killing all 162 on board.

However, the initial attempt was unsuccessful as ropes around the fuselage snapped.

Another four bodies have been recovered, bringing the total to 69, with more thought to be inside.

Salvage teams have begun an operation to raise the fuselage of AirAsia flight QZ8501, which crashed into the Java Sea last month killing all 162 on board.

However, the initial attempt was unsuccessful as ropes around the fuselage snapped.

Another four bodies have been recovered, bringing the total to 69, with more thought to be inside.
The Indonesian official leading efforts to recover AirAsia flight QZ8501 says the fuselage appears to be too fragile to be lifted, after failed bids to raise it.

The Indonesian official leading efforts to recover AirAsia flight QZ8501 says the fuselage appears to be too fragile to be lifted, after failed bids to raise it.


They will need to rig the fuselage with netting and not ropes.

They will need to rig the fuselage with netting and not ropes.
It all centres on how deep the fuselage is, the deeper the harder it will be.

It all centres on how deep the fuselage is, the deeper the harder it will be.


The waters in that area are only about 100 feet deep, so water depth is not insurmountable.  Weather conditions are more of an issue in that situation, specifically wind and high waves.

The waters in that area are only about 100 feet deep, so water depth is not insurmountable.  Weather conditions are more of an issue in that situation, specifically wind and high waves.
Tropical depressions are common this time of the year, I have experience a few just recently.