C-130 News: Two C-130 aircraft from Singapore scour seas for QZ8501

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SINGAPORE:Two C-130 aircraft from Singapore were sent to the Java Sea, 740 kilometres southeast of Singapore, on Monday (Dec 29) to search for objects linked to missing AirAsia flight QZ8501. The two aircraft were able to cover about 30 per cent of the search area assigned to Singapore by Indonesia.

 

The assigned area measures 60 nautical miles by 190 nautical miles, or about 55 times the size of Singapore. The weather conditions were good during the five-hour search-and-locate operation.

The first C-130 aircraft departed Paya Lebar Air Base at about 6.30am Singapore time. There were 12 personnel on board. Two commanders held marine location markers as they scanned the sea for objects. If they spot anything, they have to fling it into the sea and the marker will emit smoke, allowing pilots to revisit the spot for a closer look at the objects.

 

The crew touched down at about 3:30pm, without finding anything.

 

Said Captain Jason Chai: "It was a good test of what we had gone through during our daily training, our operations are finally put in good use. It has been quite challenging, the weather there has been unpredictable but it is just another day, and a job for us."

 

Aircraft engineer Calvin Tay added: "Because of the limited windows on the aircraft, we divided ourselves into two shifts. One shift would do the spotting for the first hour, followed by another team of six doing the spotting. That allowed us to be more focused and have enough rest.

 

"To be frank, it was disappointing as we couldn't get any answers to the whereabouts of the aircraft and unfortunately we can't provide any closure for the family members yet."

 

The other C-130 flight departed Singapore at about 12.30pm. On Sunday, RSAF had sent a C-130 plane and crew to scour a different area for two hours.

 

View Original article: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asiapacific/two-c-130-aircraft-from/1555484.html

View Facebook Post: https://www.facebook.com/TheRSAF/photos/pcb.643275745780953/643275402447654/?type=1

Edited August 18, 2015 by Casey