--- description: Official hopes it brings "some form of closure" to families title: Search Crews Locate Missing AirAsia Flight's Fuselage image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt98ed52a2dbd67f12/698779d00b72e390b06dd1d5/air-asia-fuselage.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Aviation](/tag/aviation/) ## Aviation Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Search Crews Locate Missing AirAsia Flight's Fuselage  by [Dan Kedmey](/author/dan-kedmey/)  ## Dan Kedmey Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 14, 2015 5:16 PM CUT  AirAsia aircraft tail is recovered from the Java Sea on Jan. 12, 2015, in Pangkalan Bun, Indonesia AirAsia aircraft tail is recovered from the Java Sea on Jan. 12, 2015, in Pangkalan Bun, IndonesiaDenny Pohan—Demotix/Corbis  by [Dan Kedmey](/author/dan-kedmey/)  ## Dan Kedmey Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 14, 2015 5:16 PM CUT Search crews located the fuselage of missing Air Asia Flight 8501 on Wednesday, officials said, marking a breakthrough in a the search for the plane’s scattered wreckage and the missing passengers’ remains. “The \[rescue team\] has located the fuselage of the AirAsia plane in the Java Sea,” Singapore’s Defense Minister Ng Eng Hen [wrote](https://www.facebook.com/ngenghen.defenceminister "undefined") on Facebook, saying the fuselage had been found by a remotely operated vehicle in the Java Sea, 2 km away from the tail. The flight en route from Indonesia to Singapore vanished over the Java Sea on Dec. 28 with 162 people on board. The Facebook post included images of the submerged wreckage, which showed a section of the wing and AirAsia’s slogan “Now Everyone Can Fly” legibly printed on the side of the plane. “I hope that with the fuselage located, some form of closure can come to the families of the victims to ease their grief,” Ng wrote. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3667336/airasia-flight-8501-fuselage-found/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3667336/airasia-flight-8501-fuselage-found/"},"headline":"Search Crews Locate Missing AirAsia Flight's Fuselage","datePublished":"2015-01-14T17:16:33.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T03:34:19.360Z","description":"Official hopes it brings \"some form of closure\" to families","url":"https://time.com/3667336/airasia-flight-8501-fuselage-found/","keywords":["Aviation","indonesia","Singapore","Search","rescue"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt98ed52a2dbd67f12/698779d00b72e390b06dd1d5/air-asia-fuselage.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Dan Kedmey","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/dan-kedmey/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt98ed52a2dbd67f12/698779d00b72e390b06dd1d5/air-asia-fuselage.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"AirAsia aircraft tail storage is recovered","caption":"AirAsia aircraft tail storage is recovered","creditText":"Denny Pohan—Demotix/Corbis","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/aviation/","name":"Aviation"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3667336/airasia-flight-8501-fuselage-found/","name":"Search Crews Locate Missing AirAsia Flight's Fuselage"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"AirAsia Flight QZ8501 Goes Missing Near Indonesia","description":"The flight went missing early Sunday carrying 162 people, after the pilot requested a change of course due to bad weather.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/6Cc9dX6x/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-12-28T14:11:27.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/6Cc9dX6x.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3667336/airasia-flight-8501-fuselage-found/","duration":"PT1M30S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3667336/airasia-flight-8501-fuselage-found/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```