A passenger jet is missing with 162 people on board. Roughly an hour before the scheduled landing -- AirAsia flight 8501 lost contact with traffic control.
The flight was on its way from Indonesia to Singapore. It left the airport at about 5:30 a.m. local time Sunday and was expected to arrive roughly three hours later.
AirSsia says the pilot wanted to change the planned flight route because of weather. then communication with the plane was lost.
17 News spoke with a Bakersfield man who is on vacation in Indonesia. He says he has flown on AirAsia multiple times.
Shayn Pullano said, "The air crafts, at least in my experience are very well maintained, and it's a newer fleet and the flight crew is very well trained and very courteous."
"There are quite a few people very concerned. Locally, the host family that I am staying with here they've been contacting family and friends in Surabaya just to ensure that their all safe and accounted for. At this point there have been no negative reports of anybody missing at this point in their family, but they are still waiting to hear back from a couple of people to make sure," said Pullano.
AirAsia says people from four nationalities were on board -- Indonesia, South Korea, Malaysia and Singapore. Of those passengers, 16 kids and one infant were on the flight.
Search and rescue crews have been activated.
President Obama has been briefed on the plane's disappearance. White House officials say they will continue to monitor developments.
The flight was on its way from Indonesia to Singapore. It left the airport at about 5:30 a.m. local time Sunday and was expected to arrive roughly three hours later.
AirSsia says the pilot wanted to change the planned flight route because of weather. then communication with the plane was lost.
17 News spoke with a Bakersfield man who is on vacation in Indonesia. He says he has flown on AirAsia multiple times.
Shayn Pullano said, "The air crafts, at least in my experience are very well maintained, and it's a newer fleet and the flight crew is very well trained and very courteous."
"There are quite a few people very concerned. Locally, the host family that I am staying with here they've been contacting family and friends in Surabaya just to ensure that their all safe and accounted for. At this point there have been no negative reports of anybody missing at this point in their family, but they are still waiting to hear back from a couple of people to make sure," said Pullano.
AirAsia says people from four nationalities were on board -- Indonesia, South Korea, Malaysia and Singapore. Of those passengers, 16 kids and one infant were on the flight.
Search and rescue crews have been activated.
President Obama has been briefed on the plane's disappearance. White House officials say they will continue to monitor developments.
