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Wednesday, 9 May 2012

Indonesia Airplane Missing: Russian-Made Plane Loses Contact

JAKARTA, Indonesia — A new Russian-made civilian plane carrying 50 people went missing in Indonesia while flying over mountains Wednesday during a demonstration flight for potential buyers and journalists, officials said.

Search and rescue teams were heading to the area just south of the capital, said Bambang Ervan, a spokesman for the Ministry of Transportation. Bad weather, however, forced at least two helicopters to turn back.

The Sukhoi Superjet-100 took off from Jakarta's Halim Perdanakusuma Airport at 2:21 p.m. (0721 GMT).

It dropped off the radar 21 minutes later near the Salak mountain range, after the crew asked air traffic control for permission to descend from 10,000 feet to 6,000 feet (3,000 meters to 1,800 meters).

No explanation was given for the sudden change of course. Though drizzling at the time, it was not stormy.            More Read

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