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irst of all, to those who perished on this AirAsia flight, may their souls rest in peace. To the grieving families, please do accept our sincerest condolences. Our tears and thoughts are with all of you.

The accident is getting extensive international media attention. CNN'€™s Richard Quest launched a severe criticism directed at the Indonesian authorities who, according to him, are just sitting on their butts. Quest professes to be an aviation expert, but he apparently did not do research before launching this tirade.

The Indonesian Navy, military and search and rescue immediately sent out aircraft to carry out search and rescue. The weather at that time was extremely bad with poor visibility hampering their continuous efforts until nightfall.

When neighboring countries offered help, the next day cooperation and coordination was carried out with Malaysia, Singapore and Australia. The airspace above the Java Sea is extremely busy with many domestic and international airlines flying via Singapore or Kuala Lumpur, to Jakarta, Bandung, Yogyakarta, Surakarta, Semarang, Surabaya, Makassar, Bali and Lombok.

Coordination is therefore of utmost importance to avoid further air disasters above the Java Sea. Quest'€™s tirade was baseless and the only one sitting on his butt was he himself. Australia and Malaysia'€™s expertise in the search and rescue of missing aircraft is of utmost importance and will certainly play a major role in this salvage mission.

I flew back from North Sulawesi to Jakarta on a Garuda Boeing 737 aircraft two weeks ago and once my flight reached the airspace above the Java Sea, it started to shake and jolt, encountering extreme turbulence, and all its passengers remained strapped to their seats until we safely landed at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport.

A retired Australian pilot who flew extensively throughout the Indonesian archipelago in the past commented when he was interviewed by the BBC that flying above the Java Sea was not his favorite pastime.

This was supported by retired Indonesian pilot Abdul Rozak, who in 2002 carried out an emergency landing on the Bengawan Solo River near Yogyakarta when his flight encountered severe turbulence above Java, saving the lives of all his passengers.

Abdul Rozak received so many compliments via the Indonesian newspapers, especially from many expats who said that they would board an aircraft any time with him in the cockpit. The whole year, this part of Indonesia is always unpredictable with continuous storms hitting aircraft.

Lynna van der Zee-Oehmke
Bogor, West Java