AirAsia Flight 8501, traveling from Surabaya, Indonesia to Singapore, has been declared missing after losing contact with air traffic control approximately two hours after takeoff. QZ 8501 was requesting permission to deviate from its approved flight plan due to enroute inclement weather shortly before contact was lost.

The aircraft, an Airbus A320-200, was carrying two pilots and five cabin crew members in addition to 155 passengers, whose nationalities include Indonesia, South Korea, Singapore, and Malaysia.  

Flying at 353 knots, QZ 8501 requested to climb to 38,000 feet from 36,300 feet before it disappeared. Commentors on airliners.net, the largest aviation-related web discussion forum, say that the plane was flying at too slow a speed to climb to that height, suggesting that it may have suffered a high altitude stall. 

Search and rescue operations are currently being conducted under the Indonesia Civil Aviation Authority, with the full cooperation of AirAsia. No wreckage confirmed to be QZ 8501 has been found, although Indonesian authorities say that it is no longer possible for the plane to still be flying.

UPDATE Indonesia's authorities: there is no possibility for missing flight #QZ8501 to continue flying. Only had fuel for 4.5hrs. /@cctvnews

— AirLive.net (@airlivenet) December 28, 2014

This story is developing.

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