“The Adam Air Boeing 737 sent out two distress signals before crashing Monday half way through its two-hour flight from Indonesia’s main island of Java to Sulawesi, in the northeast of the sprawling archipelago.”
Link now headlines as, “Officials deny Indonesian jetliner found”!
Story simply reads as, “JAKARTA, Indonesia - Aviation officials say that rescuers have not found the wreckage of an Indonesian jetliner, despite earlier claims.”
Original story (found the same story word-for-word at CNN.com):
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) – Rescuers found the wreckage of an Indonesian jetliner that crashed into a remote mountainous region during stormy weather, killing at least 90 people, aviation officials said Tuesday, clinging on to fading hopes that a dozen others survived.
Bodies and debris were scattered over 300 meters (yards) of jungle and jagged cliff on Sulawesi island’s west coast, said Lt. Col. Firdaus, an air force officer who goes by only one name.
The Adam Air Boeing 737 sent out two distress signals before crashing Monday half way through its two-hour flight from Indonesia’s main island of Java to Sulawesi, in the northeast of the sprawling archipelago.
Rescue and search teams hiked through heavy rain and slippery forest paths for four hours Tuesday before reaching the plane’s wreckage.
A spokesman for the airline said earlier that 12 people had survived. However, Firdaus and other officials disputed that, saying they remained unaccounted for. Local villagers and soldiers were searching for them.
“I hope the people are alive, but so far there is no clear information about that,” said national aviation chief Ichsan Tatang.
The accident followed weeks of seasonal rains and high winds in Indonesia that have caused deadly floods, landslides and maritime accidents – including the sinking of a ferry in the Java Sea late Friday that killed or left missing around 400 people.
Firdaus and other aviation officials said 90 bodies were found. Three of the 102 on board were American citizens, the U.S. Embassy said, but it was not clear if they were among the dead. There were no other known foreigners on board.
Hundreds of people gathered at Manado airport, the aircraft’s destination. Some collapsed when they learned about the high death toll, while others angrily banged on the door of the Adam Air office there, demanding information, witnesses said.
Justin Tumurang’s twin sister was on the plane.
“Being a twin, we share almost every feeling. I felt something was not right, and it grew worse. Now I feel pain,” she said.
Adam Air is one of at least a dozen that have emerged in the country since 1999, when the industry was deregulated. The rapid expansion has led to cheap flights to scores of destinations around the sprawling nation, but has raised some safety concerns, since maintenance on the leased planes is reportedly poor.
Tatang said the plane involved in Monday’s disaster was 17 years old, had flown 45,371 hours and passed its last inspection on Dec. 25.
“Everything was in order, the condition of the plane was good,” he said, saying it was too early too speculate on the cause of the crash though it went down in severe weather.
Last year, an Adam Air jetliner lost all communication and navigation systems for four hours during a flight between the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, and Makassar on Sulawesi Island, forcing the pilot to make an emergency landing at a small provincial airport.
A day later, the plane flew to a regional airport with proper maintenance facilities without being given the go-ahead by aviation authorities, a major violation of national and international safety rules.
In September 2005, a Mandala Airlines Boeing 737 crashed after takeoff on Sumatra, killing 143 people.
In September 1997, a Garuda Airlines Airbus crashed into a jungle-covered mountain slope in Sumatra, killing all 234 people aboard. Two months later, a Silk Air Boeing 737 jet crashed into a river on Sumatra, killing 104 people.
Adam Air, which began operations in 2003, was founded by Agung Laksono, the speaker of Indonesia’s house of representatives and the company’s chairman.
How do you go from a body-count of 90 and 12 survivors to “rescuers have not found the wreckage”? 
It’s called “third world press vs. third world government.” No wonder there are so many disasters over there, and little accurate information on any of them until years later. I don’t think the spokesmen making statements know any more than you or me, and we’re 8,000 miles away. SOMEBODY is obviously handing out bogus facts like Halloween candy.
As of Wednesday night (East coast time) This 737 has yet to be found. In the avent of little-to-no debris field, Does anyone believe it could have ditched in the ocean?
I’d say there’s a pretty good chance of that! They said it sent it’s distress calls halfway through the 500-mile flight…
There’s a 115 square mile island that’s 65 miles Southwest of the halfway point. There could possibly be some smaller islands in the area that don’t show up on my map.
Missing Adam Air Jet Could Have Exploded In Mid-air, Says Indon Pilot
JAKARTA, Jan 5 (Bernama) – An experienced Indonesian pilot said the missing Adam Air jetliner could have exploded in mid-air and its fragments disappeared in the deep waters of Makassar Straits.
Capt Mohammad Rendy Sasmita Adji Wibowo, who has 32 years experience as an aircraft pilot, said this despite reports saying that a Singaporean radar had detected an Emergency Locator Beacon Aircraft (ELBA) in Bolmong district in North Sulawesi yesterday.
“It is a possibility because the pilots of the ill-fated jet have no chance to communicate with the air traffic control tower,” Mohammad was cited by the official Antara news agency today.
“There is strong suspicion that something unusual had happened to the missing aircraft because it suddenly vanished from radar.”
He said the aircraft will not explode if struck by lightning because they are lightning proof.
Meanwhile, a pilot, Lieutenant Colonel Mudjianto who conducted aerial search said no life or wreckage has been detected so far.
The aircraft with 96 passengers and six crew, went missing on Monday. It was halfway through a flight from Surabaya, in central Java to Manado on Sulawesi’s north-east tip.
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So how long will it take for debris to start washing up on shore somewhere?
Adam Air Plane Not Yet Found, Search Operations Expanded
US team joins search for missing plane
“In what officials said was his last conversation with air traffic control in Makassar, the pilot said the flight had encountered crosswinds and needed safe coordinates.”
OOOOhhhhhh… CROSSWINDS! As my 3-year-old daughter would say, “scawy”. I wonder if it occurred to him to fly a crab-angle into the wind… I imagine the 733’s FMC could figure out the WCA. For want of an E6B, 102 souls are lost?
Now sit right back and you’ll hear a tale…
Gilligan flying right seat - Skipper says, “I told you to check the weather!”
Gilligan replies, "Oh, I thought you said “neck with Ginger”
Skipper takes off his captain’s hat and slaps Gilligan atop his head with it and says, “OH GILLIGAN!”
Air navigation can be difficult in Indonesia, which spans 6 percent of the Equator, because there are gaps in the communications systems. Last year, an Adam Air Boeing 737 flew off course on a stretch of the same route and was lost for several hours before it made an emergency landing at a small airstrip hundreds of kilometers (miles) off course.
I hope this is not the airlines official excuse. In this day of Global Nav, GPS even Loran this is unconscionable. They don’t have HF in Indonesia? Too many things in these releases make no sense including “a Singaporean radar had detected an Emergency Locator Beacon” from a 32 year veteran captain.
MAKASSAR, Indonesia - An Indonesian navy ship has detected metal on the ocean floor that might be the wreckage of a jetliner that disappeared one week ago with 102 people on board, a top commander said Monday.
“The strait is a remarkably rich source of marine creatures including shrimp, giant prawns, skipjack tuna, shark, squid, sea-cucumber, abalone, sea tortoise and flying fish which Mandarese trap for subsistence and, recently, for cash-export.”
http://www.cs.org/publications/CSQ/CSQ-article.cfm?id=465
There’s probably good reason no bodies have been recovered.
One body has been recovered, but they haven’t yet determined identity or whether she was a passenger.
Accident occured on January 1/2007 - report just released.
aviation-safety.net/database/rec … 20070101-0
Synopsis of the accident
dephub.go.id/knkt/ntsc_aviat … elease.pdf
98 page pdf full report
Pilots forgot to fly the airplane.