A jetliner carrying two University of Oregon students went missing last Monday after encountering stormy weather during a domestic flight within the island nation of Indonesia.
After nearly a week of searching for traces of the plane, crews in Indonesia have still turned up no sign of the ill-fated flight. The Adam Air flight was on a two-hour trip from the main island of Java to Manado, a city in nearby Sulawesi.
University students Stephanie Jackson, 21, and Lindsey Jackson, 18, sisters from Bend, were visiting their father, 54-year-old Scott Jackson, a wood-products company executive who lives part time in Indonesia, Brazil and Oregon.
Felice Jackson DuBois, mother of the two girls and ex-wife of Scott Jackson, is still awaiting word on the fate of the Boeing 737-400 that carried 96 passengers and six crew members, a flight an Indonesian official said was believed to have crashed into the sea.
“Search efforts have expanded, they’re more sophisticated … but they haven’t discovered anything as far as they’ve told me,” DuBois, of Bend, told the Associated Press. “It’s still a zero at this point.”
A team from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board joined the investigation Friday at the request of the Indonesian government, said NTSB representative Ted Lopatkiewicz.
“We’re basically positioning ourselves to help the Indonesians once they find the plane,” Lopatkiewicz said, adding that even after several days, the plane was still technically missing.
“There’s always a chance that it diverted somewhere,” he said. “There’s always that hope.”
The NTSB sent two investigators to the area, Lopatkiewicz said. Representatives from Boeing, General Electric Engines and the Federal Aviation Administration have also joined the search, he said.
The Jackson sisters and their father were believed to be the only American citizens aboard the flight operated by the Indonesia-based airline.
“Like everyone else, the University community is awaiting news of their situation,” University spokesman Phil Weiler said. “Our hearts go out the girls’ family and friends in this time of uncertainty.”
Stephanie D. Jackson enrolled at the University in 2003, Weiler said, working toward a double major in human physiology and anthropology. Lindsey E. Jackson, a freshman in the University’s Clark Honors College, first enrolled last fall.
The circumstances surrounding the missing flight have proved elusive and perplexing.
Adam Air flight KI-574 left the city of Surabaya at 1:00 p.m. local Indonesian time, which is 15 hours ahead of Eugene time. The flight was scheduled to arrive in Manado at 4:14 p.m., but it disappeared from radio contact about halfway through the flight without any mayday calls or distress signals, authorities told the Associated Press.
The week that followed was one of turmoil and confusion for those involved.
A series of contradictory reports came out of Indonesia as Indonesian officials struggled to separate fact from rumor after the jetliner initially went missing on New Year’s Day.
A report early Tuesday erroneously stated that the plane carrying 102 people had crashed in a remote mountain range in the island of Sulawesi, killing at least 90. Fewer than 12 hours later, the report was denied by Indonesian air traffic coordinators who said the information was based on rumors from local villagers.
Initial reports from the Associated Press on Jan. 1 also said the plane had sent out two distress signals before losing contact with the ground, according to Indonesian officials. That fact was also denied Thursday, though air officials confirmed that the plane had reported encountering high winds before disappearing.
The latest reports available Sunday said the pilot twice altered the path of the intended flight because of the stormy conditions, but made no emergency transmissions before losing contact.
Lopatkiewicz said the confusion didn’t contribute to the NTSB’s decision to join the investigation itself.
“It isn’t up to us to determine whether or not a crash has occurred,” he said. “We’ve heard those stories, too.”
It is standard procedure for the organization to join a crash investigation if it involves an American-made aircraft such as the Boeing 737-400, Lopatkiewicz said.
The search has been widely expanded to include thousands of soldiers, police and volunteers in Indonesia looking in both the jungles of Sulawesi and the waters of the Java Sea and the Makassar Strait. In the mean time, several friends have posted well wishes on Lindsey Jackson’s Facebook page asking her to come back safely.
“Any time I hear that they’re going on an airplane, yes, I’m scared,” DuBois told The Oregonian. “But you can’t live your life guided by your fears. You just want to hold out hope.”
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The Associated Press contributed to this report