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Lost contact with air traffic controllers early sunday morning. the pilot asked to change route because of the weather. and soon after contact with that airplane was lost. the airline says search and rescue operations are under way. we do know 162 people were on board the airbus a-320, an airplane like you see right here. 155 passengers and 7 crew. most indonesians were on the flight, with three south koreans, one singaporean, one malaysian, and one french person on board. weve also learned of t...

Flight investigator and a former captain for u.s. airways. a-320. thousands are there. some 11,000 have been delivered or are on order here. it is one of the two big workhorses around the world. any concern or question about the equipment itself? >> i dont think there is a question regarding the mechanical soundness of the airplane. the airplane had flown several flights, four or five earlier that day. there was apparently no mechanical issues to ground the airplane. there was no reason or evide...

Sophisticated capability, which is important because of the complicated geographic terrain. but depending on how this search develops, there could be some american involvement. white house officials dont expect a further statement from the president today. however, if theres any formal requests for u.s. help, well keep you updated from here. >> for which we thank you in advance, chris jansing. appreciate it. well joining me now, aviation analyst who also served for 25 years as an airline capta...

Around? >> go above. try to climb above it, as it appears right now. they asked for a deviation. however, these type of thunderstorms can exceed the aircrafts climb capability in terms of vertical development. they can actually grow upwards much faster than the aircraft can climb. >> if this plane is cruising at 32,000 feet and anthony, it wants to go up to 38 i understand that an a-320 has a ceiling about 39,000 feet? >> 39 41,000 feet is about its service limit. >> okay. how do you deal with t...

Happened. the only potentially good piece of information is this airbus 320 is equipped with something called a ditching switch. and basically, if they had to set it down in the water, im not saying they landed intact, but if they had to theres a switch you can throw. and this is of course the same kind of aircraft that sully sullenberg landed in the hudson with. he didnt have time to throw the switch but the aircraft will float. so there might possibly be a good outcome. we dont know that this ...

Its an airbus. airbus released a statement while confirming details of the missing flight. airbus is saying that the aircraft was delivered back in 2008. it had accumulated approximately 23,000 flight hours in some 13,600 flights. the a-320 is short to medium range narrow body jet. it can carry up to 180 passengers. it has a range of about 3,700 miles or so. this plane is a very popular plane in wide use around the world. there are 6,000 right now currently in service. joining me via skype, john...

Youre flying along and go from nothing to inside a thunderstorm like this. they asked to go up to 38,000 feet from 32,000 feet. what happens then? >> well, it can happen if you have severe turbulence not the severe tush bleps reported on the news. but the severe turbulence is loss of the control of the aircraft. can that happen instantaneously? yes, it happened from air france coming from south america instantaneously. he and tis pated something. either he was beginning to get moderate turbulenc...

Airline. where does it fly? what are its destinations? what can you tell us? >> well airasias been a phenomenal success story over the last few years. what theyve done is theyve really brought the low-cost model into the region. a gentleman named tony fernandes up in kuala lumpur. its a kuala lumpur-based carrier. and airasia in malaysia has gloen explosively. theyve brachld outbranched out in other regions. in indonesia. thailand. theyre also going to be flying to india as well. its a very big ...

Kae carrier in the region. >> and richard, this aircraft, airbus -- the airbus 320, again, this is a workhorse -- its called the workhorse of the skies. it is one with a remarkable safety record. am i right? >> oh, yes. if you look at the incidents that have taken place with the a-320, and there have been -- i mean, its inevitable there will be a number of incidents. this is a plane that just about -- i cant think of any -- im sure somebody will correct me, but any european carrier that doesnt h...

Theres about 6,000 of them that have been delivered. it has an exceptionally good record it is the workhorse of the low cost carrier fleet across the world. and i think in terms of the 320 itself just a couple of dozen fatal accidents. also brian, note all the major u.s. carriers, united delta and american they also have 320s, 321s, 319s in their fleet. it has an excellent safety record. >> this plane and this airline, airasia, isnt it part of a story of modernization and globalization in this p...