AirAsia Jet Missing Near Indonesia; 162 Aboard

Bad weather and darkness have slowed the search for another missing jetliner, this time in the waters near Indonesia.

AirAsia Flight 8501 disappeared Sunday with 162 people on board, possibly in the middle of heavy storm clouds, strong winds and lightning.

The aircraft took off Sunday morning from Surabaya, Indonesia's second largest city, en route to Singapore.  It disappeared from radar screens about halfway through the flight.

At 6:13 a.m. local time Sunday, the pilot "asked to avoid clouds by turning left and going higher to 34,000 feet."  Three minutes later, the plane was no longer on radar, according to Djoko Murjatmodjo, an Indonesian transportation official.

Murjatmodjo said there was no distress signal from the cockpit.

"We hope we can find the location of the plane as soon as possible, and we hope that God will give us guidance to find it," he added.

Indonesia and Singapore are conducting a joint search and rescue operation.

Stunned family members gathered at Surabaya's airport waiting for word about the Airbus A320.  The plane's parent company is based in Malaysia.

The AirAsia flight represents the third potential aviation disaster involving Malaysia in 2014.  Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappeared in March with 239 people aboard, and another Malaysia Air jet was shot down over Ukraine in July.  All 298 people aboard died.

AirAsia has never lost a plane and has a good safety record.

The company's owner, Malaysian businessman Tony Fernandes tweeted, "This is my worst nightmare."