Lost Adam Air Flight Indonesia

[Peter11]

There is a CNN article discussing the Adam Air flight that has been lost somewhere over Indonesia. Within the article is the following quote:

"Air navigation can be difficult in Indonesia, which spans 6 percent of the equator, due to gaps in communications systems. Last year, an Adam Air Boeing 737 flew off course along 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."


Is this an accurate statement? With modern GPS navigation systems is it really that hard? Are they saying that flying near the equator in general that there are gaps in even GPS service? Or perhaps they are talking simply about voice communications, which are not really necessary for navigation?

[AndrewSQ011]

Here is an aricle from CNN, they said that plane is still missing and the search for it has turned international because Singapore and the United States are helping Indonesia on finding the missing B734. Maybe they are talking about the voice communications between the aircraft anf Indonesian ATC:

Story Highlights

• U.S. experts join hunt for missing aircraft
• Officials say jet vanished after flying into 130 kph (80mph) winds
• Indonesia widens search around Sulawesi island, air force says
• Officials say plane did not issue any distress signal
-------------------------------------

MAKASSAR, Indonesia (AP)-U.S. experts arrived on Indonesia's Sulawesi island Saturday to help investigate the apparent crash of a jetliner that disappeared with 102 people on board after battling fierce winds and storms.

The pilot did not issue a mayday before dropping off the radar near the coastal town of Majene, and there has been no emergency location signal to guide thousands of rescuers fanning out across the island's dense jungles and surrounding seas.

By nightfall Saturday, after a fifth day of searching, there was still no trace of the Boeing 737 of Indonesian budget carrier Adam Air.
"It's impossible that it just disappeared," Indonesia's Vice President Jusuf Kalla said after meeting with search officials and families of the passengers of Flight KI-574. He promised to spare no efforts in finding out what happened.

"Even if it takes a month ... we have to keep searching," Kalla said.
Patrick Smith, a U.S.-based airline pilot and aviation commentator, said "whatever happened to the plane, it was likely rapid and catastrophic," pointing to a possible massive structural failure due to metal fatigue, or an onboard explosion.

He noted that in many accidents, "there are no distress calls simply because the cockpit crew is too busy dealing with the situation rather than calling around for help."

The plane left Indonesia's main island of Java for Manado on Sulawesi on Monday afternoon. It altered course and turned westward halfway into the two-hour trip after being warned of rough weather near the city of Makassar, said Eddy Suyanto, head of the search and rescue mission.
When it ran into winds of more than 130 kph (80 mph) over the Makassar Strait, it changed course again, bringing the plane eastward toward land, then lost contact, he said.

Kalla said finding the plane has now become an "international issue" because of the length of time the plane has been missing.

Singapore has already joined the search, and a U.S. National Transportation Safety Board team arrived on Sulawesi to help investigate the possible crash of the American-made plane, which was carrying a man from the U.S. state of Oregon and his two daughters.

The six-member team -- which included representatives from Boeing, General Electric and the Federal United States' Aviation Administration -- made no comment upon arriving in Makassar. U.S. embassy officials said they would provide Indonesia with whatever help they could in the investigation.

It is not clear why there were never any transmissions from the plane's emergency locator.

Smith speculated it may not have been working, or -- in the event of a crash at sea -- that it could have sunk into an underwater trench from which its signals could not be picked up.

Saturday's aerial search focussed on land and waters along 500 kilometers (300 miles) of coastline from Palu city in the north to Makassar in the south, said Suyanto.

Three warships will also comb the Makassar Strait area, said Suparman, chief of Makassar Search and Rescue Agency. Like many Indonesians, Suparman uses a single name.

Authorities had wrongly said Tuesday that the wreckage had been found with a dozen survivors, causing further anguish to relatives camped out at airports and hotels in Manado and Makassar.

Many family members have provided the disaster crisis center with medical records, photographs and other information that would be needed to help identify the dead.

"All we do is watch television," said Fandi, who had four relatives on the plane. "Officials from Adam Air aren't able to tell us anything."

Adam Air is one of about 30 budget carriers that sprang up in Indonesia after 1998, when the industry was deregulated. The rapid expansion has led to cheap flights to scores of destinations across Indonesia, but has also raised concerns about maintenance of the leased planes.

Air navigation can be difficult in Indonesia, which spans 6 percent of the equator, due to gaps in communications systems. Last year, an Adam Air Boeing 737 flew off course along 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.