QZ8501

Sadly the news has been grievous.

QZ8501 has been found – or parts of it, floating around the Java Sea.

Bodies have also been discovered and the recovery of those bodies and the delivery of them to Surabaya has begun. That will, inevitably, be a slow process.

Naturally enough the cause of the crash has yet to be determined. It will be a while before the ‘black boxes’ are found and their contents analysed.

At least, unlike MH370, some closure is available for the relatives in that the immediate knowledge has been confirmed as a fatal hull loss.

Our deepest condolences go out to the family and friends of those who perished in this tragedy.

Air Asia was the subject of an incident in the Philippines when another A320-200 flying from Manila to Kalibo overshot the runway.

It was said that the weather had been very bad and that the pilot had brought the aircraft in under very windy conditions.

Happily, there was no loss of life (hence it was an ‘incident’ and not an ‘accident’) as all the passengers successfully evacuated the aircraft using the emergency procedures.

This particular A320 is owned by Air Asia ‘Zest’. This is a domestic Philippines airline that is partly owned by Air Asia.

Just to put this into some sort of perspective, runway overruns are fairly common; it is not something we should be getting excited about.

Right now we should be concentrating on MH370 and QZ8501 and waiting patiently for information.