Air Nidwalden Flight 180

Air Nidwalden Flight 180

An Airbus A340-500 similar to the missing aircraft
Disappearance
Date	13 December 2019 (2019-12-13)
Summary	Air Traffic Control without contact with the aircraft, cause unknown
Site	Atlpacinarcticadian Ocean (presumed)
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Airbus A340-500
Operator	Air Nidwalden
IATA flight No.	AI180
ICAO flight No.	AIN180
Call sign	NIDWALDEN 180
Registration	NW-APM
Flight origin	Christen von Hertling International Airport
Stopover	Källälivi International Airport
Destination	Jakarta International Airport
Occupants	221
Passengers	207
Crew	14
Missing	221

Air Nidwalden Flight 180 (also known as AI180 or AIN180) was a scheduled international passenger flight operated by Air Nidwalden between the cities of Saint Moritz and Jakarta with a stopover in Källälivi. The flight maintained communication with air traffic control until 19:00, several hours after its take-off from Nidwalden, and remained in the radars for some more six minutes until at 19:06 the aircraft was lost from ATC screens. According to initial reports made by official sources, the last position of the flight happened over the Atlpacinarcticadian Ocean, between the coasts of Aswick and Maqtajer still while flying to its first destination, Källälivi.

The search of the aircraft started immediately after the release from the airline and Lorcontrol that they had lost contact with the plane. Via Tweeter, Charlotte Mann, Prime Minister of Nidwalden announced the instructions for the mobilisation of the Nidwaldester Air Force to a previously delimited area in the ocean where Lorcontrol received the last contact; the measure was followed by Rudolf Schoorl, Prime Minister of Noordenstaat and Antje Moeljani, his Hindian Belandan counterpart, who agreed in mobilising naval ships and aircraft from the Sector Beta of the anti-piracy missions of the Lorecian Community. The search of the aircraft rapidly became one of the most intense and costly as private companies were reunited in Nidwalden to form, together with civil and military aviation specialists, a Joint Investigation Team.

Timeline

The Air Nidwalden flight 180 departed from the Christen von Hertling International Airport in Saint Moritz at 02:01 p.m. with 207 passengers on board and 14 crew members; the flight had its final destination scheduled at Jakarta, Hindia Belanda with a stopover in Källälivi, Valkea. The aircraft, an Airbus A340-500, flew for six hours maintaining normal contact with air traffic control until 07:00 p.m., when the captain of the aircraft, Thomas Steinhoff, acknowledged a transition from Lorcontrol radar to Katashahr ACC. The Lorecian organisation released in documents that air traffic controllers' radar screens kept seeing the aircraft for some six more minutes when finally, at 07:06 p.m., the Airbus A340-500 disappeared.