Bruce johnson is off tonight. Officials now say macing jetliner flying to singapore likely crashed off the indonesian coast. This is the second time in less than a year that a malaysia based airline has lost a plane in flight over southeast asia. Reporter the head of indonesias search and rescue agency said based on coordinates, flight 8501 crashed into the ocean and could now be on the sea floor. Officials are searching for the plane which carried 162 people. All we can hope for is that the investigators do their jobs as efficiently and quickly as possible. Reporter the plane took off from surabaya airport approximately 5 30 a. M. Around 6 10, the pilot asked to turn left and climb to a higher altitude to avoid clouds. An official said that request was denied due to traffic. Sometime between 6 17 a. M. And 6 24 a. M. , the pilot lost contact with Indonesian Air traffic control. There was no distress signal. Violent thunderstorms were reported at the time the plane disappeared. A terri