Heli TNI AU Lihat Genangan Minyak di Area Pencarian QZ8501
An Indonesian Helicopter Saw Two Oily Spots in the Search Area Monday Afternoon
Editor : Ismail Gani
Translator : Novita Cahyadi
PANGLIMA Komando Operasi Angkatan Udara I (Pangkoopsau) Marsekal Muda TNI Agus Dwi Putranto mengatakan pada Senin mendapat laporan dari pesawat Orion Australia yang mendeteksi benda-benda yang mencurigakan di dekat pulau Nangka, sekitar 160 kilometer di barat daya dari Pangkalan Bun, Kalimantan Tengah.
Lokasi tersebut sekitar 1.120 kilometer dari lokasi ketika pesawat kehilangan kontak.
"Namun, kita tidak bisa memastikan apakah itu bagian dari pesawat AirAsia yang hilang," kata Marsekal Muda Putranto.
"Kami sekarang bergerak ke arah itu, meskipun kondisinya berawan."
Sebuah helikopter Indonesia melihat genangan minyak di area pencarian Senin siang, dan sebuah pesawat pencari Australia melihat benda mencurigakan ratusan mil jauhnya.
Sebelumnya Senin, Kepala Search and Rescue (SAR) Marsekal Madya TNI F Henry Bambang Sulistyo mengatakan pihaknya semula menduga itulah lokasi pesawat jatuh.
"Berdasarkan koordinat yang kita tahu, hasil evaluasi menyatakan bahwa posisi pesawat diperkirakan berada di laut, dan hipotesisnya pesawat berada di dasar laut," katanya.
Komunikasi terakhir dari kokpit dengan menara pengawas lalu lintas udara adalah permintaan pilot untuk menaikkan ketinggian pesawat dari 32.000 kaki ke 38.000 kaki karena cuaca buruk.
Kontrol lalu lintas udara tidak dapat segera mengabulkan permintaan pilot karena ada pesawat lain pada ketinggian 34.000 kaki, kata Bambang Tjahjono, Plt Dirjen Perhubungan Udara Kementerian Perhubungan.
Pada saat ketinggian pesawat tersebut sudah aman, QZ8501 telah hilang kontak, kata Tjahjono.
Pesawat bermesin ganda, jenis single-aisle, yang tidak pernah mengirim sinyal bahaya, terakhir terlihat di radar empat menit setelah komunikasi terakhir dari kokpit.
Upaya pencarian reruntuhan pesawat kembali dilakukan Senin dan difokuskan di sekitar wilayah Laut Jawa dekat Belitung.
Sejumlah kapal dikerahkan dari Tanjung Pandan, kota terbesar di Pulau Belitung, tetapi tidak diharapkan untuk mencapai area sampai tengah malam waktu setempat, karena kondisi cuaca dan perairan yang buruk, seperti dilaporkan The Sun Herald yang dikutip DailyMirror.
AN INDONESIAN official says objects have been spotted in the sea by a search plane hunting for the missing AirAsia jet.
Jakarta´s Air Force base commander Rear Marshal Dwi Putranto said he was informed on Monday an Australian Orion aircraft had detected suspicious objects near Nangka island, about 160 kilometres south-west of Pangkalan Bun, near central Kalimantan.
It is 1,120 kilometres from the location where the plane lost contact.
´However, we cannot be sure whether it is part of the missing AirAsia plane,´ Rear Marshall Putranto said.
´We are now moving in that direction, which is in cloudy conditions.´
An Indonesian helicopter saw two oily spots in the search area Monday afternoon, and an Australian search plane spotted objects hundreds of miles away.
Earlier Monday, Indonesia search and rescue chief Henry Bambang Soelistyo said it seemed certain that the plane had crashed.
´Based on the coordinates that we know, the evaluation would be that any estimated crash position is in the sea, and that the hypothesis is the plane is at the bottom of the sea,´ he said.
The last communication from the cockpit to air traffic control was a request by one of the pilots to increase altitude from 32,000 feet to 38,000 feet because of the rough weather.
Air traffic control was not able to immediately grant the request because another plane was in airspace at 34,000 feet, said Bambang Tjahjono, director of the state-owned company in charge of air-traffic control.
By the time clearance could be given, Flight 8501 had disappeared, Tjahjono said.
The twin-engine, single-aisle plane, which never sent a distress signal, was last seen on radar four minutes after the last communication from the cockpit.
Search efforts for the plane´s wreckage resumed on Monday and have been focused around the area of the Java Sea near Belitung.
Boats have been sent from Tanjung Pandan, the largest town on Belitung Island, but are not expected to reach the area until midnight local time, due to inclement weather and sea conditions, reported The Sun Herald.
