KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 30 — The pilot of missing Indonesia AirAsia Flight QZ8501 could have lost control in a thunderstorm and caused the plane to dive into the water from 32,000 feet in under 45 seconds, US news network CNN said yesterday.

CNN correspondent Tom Foreman said in a video that it was unlikely for the A320 jet carrying 162 on board to be brought down by lightning or for a storm to break the plane apart mid-flight, pointing out that such planes were designed to withstand lightning and tremendous pressures.

“That's why there's so much focus on whether or not the plane simply stalled,” said Foreman.

“Did it run into such severe changes in atmosphere pressure that at one moment, it was surging forward, next moment, it was being yanked back and it suffered a separation from the air flow?” he questioned.

The US journalist likened the scenario to aquaplaning, in which a car travelling at speed on a wet road loses control when it hits a body of water and skids.

“If an experienced pilot is not at the helm to do a very good job, even an experienced pilot may have trouble, that pilot may have a hard time getting that control back, and in that circumstance, a plane like this could go from 32,000 feet to in the water in maybe 45 seconds or less,” said Foreman.

Aviation experts have said Flight QZ8501, which vanished Sunday during inclement weather on its way from Surabaya in Indonesia to Singapore, could have suffered an aerodynamic stall similar to what happened to Air France Flight 447 that crashed in 2009 after trying to avoid a thunderstorm.

US newspaper the Wall Street Journal reported aviation and weather experts as saying that Flight QZ8501 was flying a route known for thunderstorms during December and January.

“Those storms are quite violent at this time of year,” former pilot Desmond Ross was quoted saying.

“Anywhere you fly around that area you are going to strike these kinds of storms and monsoonal weather,” he added.

Aviation expert Peter Marosszeky told the Wall Street Journal that it could still be dangerous to ascend a plane to clear a storm, pointing out that it would be hard to recover if the pilot made a mistake and and got sucked into the storm.

Indonesian media reported that the pilot of Flight QZ8501, whose passengers included a Malaysian among mostly Indonesians, requested at 6.12am local time Sunday to fly higher to 38,000 feet from 32,000 feet to avoid a cloud. But Jakarta air traffic control had reportedly denied the request due to heavy air traffic.