Story highlights
- AirAsia flight disappears during journey to Singapore
- Pilots requested diversion due to bad weather
- "Bad weather per se does not bring down aircraft," says CNN's Richard Quest
- Thunderstorms could have been too high for plane to fly over
(CNN)The passengers and crew aboard AirAsia Flight QZ8501 expected to land in Singapore at 8:30 a.m. on Sunday, after a flight of just over two hours.
They departed Juanda International Airport in Indonesia's East Java early that morning, but amid increasingly bad weather one of the pilots requested to deviate from their planned route, AirAsia said in a statement.
Although little is known about the aircraft's disappearance, the region has been struck by torrential rain -- which has some speculating that inclement weather could have played a role in the flight's disappearance
The plane was still traceable about five minutes before it disappeared, according to Indonesian state media. One minute before it lost contact, the pilot requested to raise the plane's flying altitude due to bad weather.
Former pilot: Thunderstorms pose risks 02:35
Photos: The search for AirAsia Flight QZ8501
Photos: The search for AirAsia Flight QZ8501
Crews remove the fuselage of AirAsia Flight QZ8501 from a vessel at the Tanjung Priok Port in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Monday, March 2. AirAsia Flight QZ8501 was en route from Surabaya, Indonesia, to Singapore when it lost contact with air traffic control on December 28. There were 162 people on board.
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Photos: The search for AirAsia Flight QZ8501
The fuselage is lifted from the Java Sea during the recovery mission on March 2.
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Photos: The search for AirAsia Flight QZ8501
Indonesian search and rescue personnel unload recovered bodies at the Kumai seaport on Sunday, February 8.
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Photos: The search for AirAsia Flight QZ8501
Workers load the tail of the plane onto a truck February 7 at the Kumai seaport.
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Photos: The search for AirAsia Flight QZ8501
Crew members inspect body bags on the deck of a ship in the Java Sea on Friday, January 23.
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Photos: The search for AirAsia Flight QZ8501
A police officer stands guard near pieces of the plane's wreckage at a warehouse in Pangkalan Bun, Indonesia, on Monday, January 19.
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Photos: The search for AirAsia Flight QZ8501
This photo, taken by a remotely operated underwater vehicle and released Wednesday, January 14, by Singapore's Defense Ministry, shows part of the plane's fuselage lying on the floor of the Java Sea.
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Photos: The search for AirAsia Flight QZ8501
Indonesian officials remove the cockpit voice recorder from AirAsia Flight QZ8501 on Tuesday, January 13. Indonesian divers retrieved it from beneath the wreckage of the plane.
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Photos: The search for AirAsia Flight QZ8501
A flight data recorder was retrieved from the Java Sea on Monday, January 12.
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Photos: The search for AirAsia Flight QZ8501
An Indonesian worker cuts part of the plane's tail January 12 after debris from the crash was retrieved from the Java Sea.
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Photos: The search for AirAsia Flight QZ8501
A portion of the plane's tail section is seen on the deck of a rescue ship after it was recovered from the Java Sea on Saturday, January 10.
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Photos: The search for AirAsia Flight QZ8501
An Indonesian rescue helicopter flies during search operations in the Java Sea on Friday, January 9.
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Photos: The search for AirAsia Flight QZ8501
Search personnel unload the body of a victim upon arriving at the airport in Pangkalan Bun on January 9.
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Photos: The search for AirAsia Flight QZ8501
Members of the Indonesian Search and Rescue Agency carry pieces of the jet in Pangkalan Bun on January 9.
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Photos: The search for AirAsia Flight QZ8501
There was a major breakthrough in the search for the wreckage on Wednesday, January 7. Indonesian search and rescue officials released an image of the plane's tail section as seen on the floor of the Java Sea.
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Photos: The search for AirAsia Flight QZ8501
Writing could be made out, showing the AirAsia insignia and other identifying features. The find is important because the plane's flight recorders were located in the tail section.
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Photos: The search for AirAsia Flight QZ8501
Divers were sent to take images of the section after metal detectors identified large objects in the water where officials were searching for the lost plane.
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Photos: The search for AirAsia Flight QZ8501
Search and rescue personnel carry seats from the flight on Monday, January 5.
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An Indonesian navy member holds a piece of window panel that was recovered during search operations.
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Photos: The search for AirAsia Flight QZ8501
Crew members in an Indonesian air force helicopter look out of the windows over the Java Sea during a search operation on Sunday, January 4.
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Members of an Indonesian search and rescue team carry items recovered from the search area in Pangkalan Bun on January 4.
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Members of the Mawar Sharon Church attend a prayer service for the relatives of lost loved ones January 4 in Surabaya, Indonesia.
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Photos: The search for AirAsia Flight QZ8501
Indonesian navy officers coordinate the recovery of bodies taken to the vessel KRI Banda Aceh during recovery operations on Saturday, January 3.
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Photos: The search for AirAsia Flight QZ8501
Members of the Indonesian navy return to the vessel with remains recovered from the crash area.
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Recovered victims are placed on the deck of the Indonesian ship on January 3.
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Photos: The search for AirAsia Flight QZ8501
Members of an Indonesian search team carry a coffin at Iskandar Air Base on Friday, January 2.
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Photos: The search for AirAsia Flight QZ8501
Relatives and friends grieve as they attend a ceremony January 2 in Surabaya.
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Photos: The search for AirAsia Flight QZ8501
A member of the Indonesian Red Cross prepares coffins at a hospital in Pangkalan Bun on January 2.
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Members of the National Search and Rescue Agency and Indonesian soldiers carry coffins containing bodies of victims in Pangkalan Bun on January 2.
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This photograph released by the Singapore Defense Ministry shows the front and back of a piece of debris that resembles an aircraft window panel.
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Members of a search and rescue team carry the body of a victim in Pangkalan Bun on Thursday, January 1.
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Marine divers prepare their gear on the deck of a ship before searching for passengers and debris January 1 at Kumai port in Pangkalan Bun.
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Photos: The search for AirAsia Flight QZ8501
Indonesian soldiers carry a victim's coffin upon arrival at an air force base in Surabaya on Wednesday, December 31.
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Photos: The search for AirAsia Flight QZ8501
Indonesian soldiers carry coffins of crash victims on December 31.
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Photos: The search for AirAsia Flight QZ8501
Relatives of passengers pray together inside a holding room at Juanda International Airport in Surabaya on December 31.
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Photos: The search for AirAsia Flight QZ8501
Indonesian air force personnel show debris, including a suitcase, that was found floating near the site where the AirAsia flight disappeared.
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Photos: The search for AirAsia Flight QZ8501
Debris floats in the Java Sea on December 30.
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Photos: The search for AirAsia Flight QZ8501
A member of the Indonesian navy monitors a radar screen during a search operation over the waters near Bangka Island, Indonesia, on December 30.
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Photos: The search for AirAsia Flight QZ8501
Family members of missing passengers react at an airport in Surabaya after watching news reports on December 30.
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Photos: The search for AirAsia Flight QZ8501
Debris floats in the Java Sea on December 30.
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Relatives of missing passengers comfort each other December 30 at Juanda International Airport in Surabaya.
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Relatives gather at Juanda International Airport as they wait for news on December 30.
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An Indonesian military airman looks out the window of an airplane during a search over the waters of Karimata Strait on Monday, December 29.
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Photos: The search for AirAsia Flight QZ8501
Members of Indonesia's Marine Police pray before a search operation on December 29.
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Military personnel perform a search operation on Sunday, December 28.
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Sunu Widyatmoko, CEO of Indonesia AirAsia, gives a press conference in Surabaya announcing that the flight lost contact with air traffic control.
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An official from Indonesia's national search and rescue agency points to the position where AirAsia Flight QZ8501 went missing.
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CNN meteorologist Karen Maginnis says that this maneuver could have been made in order to avoid turbulence.
"Turbulence doesn't bring an aircraft down," Maginnis said. "It may be a pilot reaction to the turbulence. It may be perhaps it got too close to a thunderstorm. There could be so many variables."
It's unclear where the diversion took place, but CNN's aviation expert Richard Quest says that's where investigators' attention should focus.
"Bad weather per se does not bring down aircraft," he said. "How the pilot may respond to bad weather could be an issue in this case."
Torrential rains
The region has been plagued by heavy rain and severe flooding in recent weeks -- something that the pilots should have been acutely aware of and trained to respond to, according to Maginnis.
"It is typical they would encounter monsoon weather," Maginnis said. "They (the pilots) would have had monsoon training."
With around 8,000 flying hours between them, the pilots could be considered "moderately experienced," Quest said.
Tony Fernandes, the CEO and founder of AirAsia, told CNN's Andrew Stevens that the captain had 20,000 hours of flying experience, 7,000 of which were with AirAsia on the same model of plane that disappeared.
Mary Schiavo, CNN aviation analyst and former inspector general of the U.S. Department of Transportation, said weather can change quickly and there may have been little time to act.
"This weather system might have built up very quickly and they're on their own up there. With the weather up to 52,000 feet, and the operation ceiling is up to about 40,000 on this plane, so they might not have had many options," she said.
Search and rescue
The plane was flying through Indonesian-monitored airspace -- or Indonesia's flight information region -- when contact was lost, according to AirAsia.
Several hours after it disappeared, Malaysia's Ministry of Transport confirmed the Indonesian government had started a search and rescue mission for the missing plane.
"They need to be searching the water but not necessarily for a plane, they need to be searching for any clues," Schiavo said.
The flight's original flight path, a journey of 1,362 kilometers (846 miles), took it over the Java Sea.
And while the search won't cover as large an area as that of MH370, the Malaysia Airlines flight that disappeared in March, it is still a "broad area," which will be affected by weather, according to Maginnis.
