Malaysia, Indonesia, and AirAsia 8501 crash location.

[cccourt1942]

Nearly 30 years ago I lived in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia for 4 years.  That's about 200 miles north of Singapore.  The last year we were overseas, we lived on Borneo....there are two "states" of Malaysia on the northern side of Borneo.  We lived in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia on Borneo.   

Now then, that map you see on TV where the AirAsia plane crashed...if you took a ruler and laid it diagonally across Borneo KK is a bit south of that mark, along the coast line from the opposite corner of that island, that is where I lived.  It's an amazing area of the world.  When I see all these maps it evokes such wonderful travel memories for me amidst all the sadness I feel for the families of the lost.

ccc

[irish]

That is really interesting and you sure had some great experiences I bet. Now, tell us about the weather patterns in this area---though weather is changing over the years. I also just read on man. news that they think this pilot tried a water landing cause of the good shape the bodies are in and the fact that the slide was in the water like in position to evacuate. Hard to believe as they said the seas were rough, but we may never know. Irish

[cccourt1942]

I have no idea what weather is like at the altitude where planes fly.  Many people don't realize monsoons are wind and rain which produce LOTS of water.  LOTS.  Flash floods occur within minutes.  The areas where I lived and traveled the most were low lying areas on islands or peninsulas.  That is, Kuala Lumpur is actually called peninsular Malaysia.  Plus...most of these places are coastal towns.  If you recall the tsunami of ten years ago, the devastation occurred at areas which were sea level in the first place.  That happened during the same time of year (monsoon season) and things were likely already saturated.   Phuket is on a small peninsular area in far west Thailand.  It's almost an island.  Phuket is where you saw all the pictures taken by vacationers.  When we lived there, we drove to Phuket.  Only way to get there.  It is REMOTE.  Banda Aceh is on the northern most point on North Sumatra...northern most island of the Indonesian archipelago. The tsunami almost swept everything away due to its location.   Anyway...all that to say...once the monsoons hit, everything is saturated.  I would venture to say Banda Aceh still had above ground sewage lines..and Phuket's sewage lines were buried around the tourist area.  Primitive is a safe description.  So monsoons alone can batter this geographical region.  Here's the thing about monsoons:  they don't last for days ...say, like hurricanes.  You can have a monsoon "rain" and it will last maybe 2 hours..then the sun comes out.  AND..the flooding goes down as rapidly as it came up.   I am sure I flew during monsoon rains; I don't recall.  I grew up about 70 miles inland from the Gulf Coast.  So hurricanes were always a threat. During my lifetime (72 years) hurricanes only affected my home town twice.  Some of these islands aren't 70 miles wide.  Rain is affecting the land mass from both sides.  So how WOULD this affect flights?  All I can tell you is hurricanes stop airline movement in their tracks.   Monsoon season is what it sounds like- seasonal.  And really I don't recall how long what they call  a season lasts.  There are no seasons there.  Monsoon season is their winter.  People wear sweaters. (When the rain stops..it's still high 90s).  So you can see airlines have to fly.  I do remember being delayed in Jakarta more than once.  (northwest of Surabaya) but it was probably mechanical , not weather.  I did not fly the small planes from tiny place to tinier place but a couple of times.  This is when people were on the planes with pigs in baskets (on their laps) and other packages that made you think you were on a bus in the middle of India instead of a plane...and we were happy the planes were pressurized!  Those were scary with or without rain.  I have never heard the size of this plane.  It is NOT one of those tiny planes of which I just spoke.  But..it was a smaller plane.  And that's because the airports in the remote towns are just like our small town airports:  small landing and take off strips.  Can't accommodate the larger planes.  This makes them that much more tenuous with threatening weather conditions.  In fact, as I think of it, it's really amazing there aren't more accidents..and I am talking about all the countries in that geographical area:  Indonesian archipelago all the way thru Japan.  I mean:  think of the Phillipines!!

Yes..the landing of the plane in the water must have been the pilot's plan.  Too much evidence.  The reason I explained the terrain and massive amounts of water at ground and sea levels is to explain the surfaces were just as dangerous.  Must have been the lesser of two evils for this pilot to make that decision.