Missing AirAsia flight update : no mystery like MH370' - Australian Prime Minister

Prime Minister Tony Abbott

Tony Abbott has said there is "no mystery" to the disappearance of the AirAsia flight.

The Australian Prime Minister believes the plane has crashed as a result of "horrific" weather and dismissed any comparison with the disappearance of flight MH370.

"I think it would be a big mistake to equate what has happened here with MH370," Abbott told Sydney radio station 2GB.

"MH370, as things stand, is one of the great mysteries of our time. It doesn't appear that there's any particular mystery here.

"It's an aircraft that was flying a regular route on a regular schedule, it struck what appears to have been horrific weather, and it's down. But this is not a mystery like the MH370 disappearance and it's 

not an atrocity like the MH17 shooting down."

Search for missing plane's black boxes looks set to begin imminently

The hunt to find missing AirAsia Flight QZ8501's black boxes looks set to begin imminently.

Singapore is providing underwater detection equipment to help find the vanished plane's flight data recorders.

A statement from the country's Civil Aviation Authority read: "Indonesia has accepted Singapore's offer of two teams of specialists and two sets of underwater locator beacon detectors to assist in locating the flight data recorders of the missing Indonesia AirAsia aircraft, QZ8501.

"The four specialists from the Singapore Ministry of Transport's Air Accident Investigation Bureau and their equipment are ready to be deployed, pending the Indonesian authorities' activation."

Objects spotted

Investigators on an Australian plane involved in the search has spotted objects which could be wreckage, according to reports.

Rescuers on a P-3C Orion reconnaissance aircraft have seen something in waters 160kms south west of Pangkalan Bun - around 1,100km from the last known location of missing flight QZ8501.

Authorities are now trying to verify whether the objects relate to the Airbus 320.

Missing plane was flying 'too slow

Missing plane was flying 'too slow' when it encountered bad weather conditions

Missing Flight QZ8501 was likely flying "too slow" when it encountered bad weather conditions, according to an aviation expert.

Geoffrey Thomas believes the pilot of the AirAsia jet made a mistake in his efforts to avoid poor weather en route from Surabaya, Indonesia to Singapore on Saturday.

Mr Thomas told the Telegraph: "Pilots believe that the crew, in trying to avoid the thunderstorm by climbing, somehow have found themselves flying too slow and thus induced an aerodynamic stall similar to the circumstances of the loss of Air France AF447 to crash in 2009."

AF447 crashed into the Atlantic Ocean in 2009 while en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris.

Mr Thomas continued: "The QZ8501 was flying too slow, about 100 knots which is about 160km/h too slow.

"At that altitude that’s exceedingly dangerous.

"I have a radar plot which shows him at 36,000 feet and climbing at a speed of 353 knots, which is approximately 100 knots too slow ... if the radar return is correct, he appears to be going too slow for the altitude he is flying at."

Mr Thomas added: "He got caught in a massive updraft or something like that.

"Something's gone terribly wrong."

China offers to send aircraft and ships to help find Flight QZ8501

China has offered to send aircraft and ships to help in the search for missing Flight QZ8501.

Beijing's Foreign Ministry said in a statement: "The Chinese side has already said to Indonesia that it is willing to urgently send aircraft and ships to participate in search and rescue, and will provide other aid according to Indonesian needs."

Singapore, South Korea and Australia are among the countries taking part in the Indonesia-led search for the aircraft.

Singapore providing underwater detection equipment to help find QZ8501's black boxes

Singapore is providing underwater detection equipment to help find missing Flight QZ8501's black boxes.

A statement from the country's Civil Aviation Authority read: "Indonesia has accepted Singapore's offer of two teams of specialists and two sets of underwater locator beacon detectors to assist in locating the flight data recorders of the missing Indonesia AirAsia aircraft, QZ8501.

"The four specialists from the Singapore Ministry of Transport's Air Accident Investigation Bureau and their equipment are ready to be deployed, pending the Indonesian authorities' activation."

Pilot's father tragically buried his other son last week.

The father of the pilot of missing Flight QZ8501 tragically buried his other son last week.

The dad of Captain Iriyanto told the BBC he had laid his other child to rest just days earlier following his death from diabetes.

He added it was the last time he had seen Iriyanto.