- NEW: The USS Sampson is heading to the Java Sea to help the search
- NEW: The search has resumed, with plans to cover an expanded area
- Indonesian official: "Our early conjecture is that the plane is in the bottom of the sea"
- Reports of objects found don't necessarily indicate a sign of the plane, official says
(CNN) -- Ships, planes and helicopters have scoured waters off Indonesia's coast in search of AirAsia Flight QZ8501, but so far they haven't spotted any sign of the missing commercial jet.
Now the search area teams are combing is expanding, with at least four zones added to the operation.
The hunt for the missing jet resumed on Tuesday, CNN Indonesia reported, with more than 1,100 search and rescue personnel from Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea, Japan and New Zealand joining Indonesia's teams.
They've been scanning the water's surface for signs of the plane, which went missing on Sunday with 162 people aboard. But a top Indonesian official said it's likely they'll have to look underwater.
"Our early conjecture is that the plane is in the bottom of the sea," said Bambang Sulistyo, the head of Indonesia's search-and-rescue agency. That belief is based on the plane's flight track and last known coordinates, he said.
Indonesia has reached out to the United Kingdom, France and the United States for help with sonar devices that may be needed for an underwater search, Sulistyo said Monday.
An Indonesian military airman looks out of the window of an airplane during the search for missing AirAsia Flight QZ8501 over the waters of Karimata Strait in Indonesia on Monday, December 29. The passenger jet, carrying 162 people, lost contact with Indonesian air traffic control early Sunday, marking the second major missing plane crisis in Southeast Asia in less than a year. 
Family members of passengers wait for news at the crisis center at Djuanda International Airport in Surabaya, Indonesia, on December 29. 
Indonesian army personnel read a map during a search operation over the waters of the Java Sea on December 29. 
Members of Indonesia's Marine Police pray before a search operation for the missing jet on December 29. 
Family members of passengers gather at Juanda International Airport in East Java, Indonesia, on Sunday, December 28. 
Relatives comfort each other at the airport on December 28. The search operation for the missing flight was been halted for the night. 
Military personnel perform a search operation to the point where the jetliner lost contact. 
A relative weeps as she waits for the latest news on the missing jetliner. 
Sunu Widyatmoko, CEO of Indonesia AirAsia, gives a press conference in Surabaya, Indonesia, announcing that the flight lost contact with air traffic control. 
Members of the Indonesian Regional Disaster Management Agency walk at a beach as they search for the missing plane. 
Jiang Hui, whose relatives were on board Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which went missing on March 8, watches the news about the missing AirAsia flight at his house in Beijing. 
An official from Indonesia's national search and rescue agency points to the position where AirAsia Flight QZ8501 went missing. Before communication was lost, a pilot asked to deviate from its planned route -- from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore -- because of bad weather, officials said. 
The aircraft went missing as it flew over the Java Sea between the islands of Belitung and Borneo, according to Indonesian authorities, who are leading the search and rescue operations. 
An airport official checks a map of Indonesia at the crisis center for the missing flight, set up by local authorities at Juanda International Airport. 
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AirAsia flight goes missing 
Plane was on common route 
AirAsia pilot requested to change route Rescuers say weather was probably a factor in the plane's disappearance, and it's made finding traces of the aircraft more difficult.
Large waves and clouds hampered the search for the plane Sunday and Monday.
"It is not easy, of course ... the operation in the sea, especially in the bad weather like this," Indonesia Vice President Jusuf Kalla said.
But Kalla said his country will not give up or set a time limit for the operation.
So far, several possible signs of the missing plane, including an oil slick within the search zone and the sound of a faint "ping," have been discounted.
There were also reports of objects found in the search zone, but given that the area has a great deal of traffic along the water, authorities have said objects found won't automatically indicate a sign of the plane.
Kalla told CNN there were "some reports from Australia" about possible objects found, but it was unclear whether they were from the plane.
Report: Higher altitude request denied
AirAsia says air traffic controllers lost contact with the aircraft at 7:24 a.m. Sunday, Singapore time (6:24 a.m. in Indonesia).
The plane, flying from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore, went missing as it flew over the Java Sea between the islands of Belitung and Borneo -- a heavily traveled shipping channel with shallow waters -- Indonesian authorities said.
Before the plane, an Airbus A320-200, lost contact with air traffic controllers, one of the pilots asked to change course and fly at a higher altitude because of bad weather, officials said. Heavy thunderstorms were reported in the area at the time.
Air traffic control approved the pilot's request to turn left but denied permission for the plane to climb to 38,000 feet from 32,000 feet, Djoko Murjatmodjo, an aviation official at the Indonesian Transport Ministry, told the national newspaper Kompas.
The increased altitude request was denied because there was another plane flying at that height, he said.
Djoko suggested that Flight 8501 ascended despite air traffic control denying it permission.
AirAsia CEO Tony Fernandes said storm clouds caused the pilot to ask for a flight plan change. But he added, "We don't want to speculate whether weather was a factor. We really don't know."
Once the aircraft is found, there will be a proper investigation, Fernandes said.
Anxious wait for relatives
MH370 and AirAsia very different incidents 
Social media reacts to missing flight 
What is a black box anyway? Several dozen anguished family members of the passengers met with airport and airline officials in a closed-door briefing Monday at the airport.
As they waited for news, some relatives took cell phone pictures of a flight manifest posted on a wall. The black-and-white papers showed every passenger's name and seat number.
Others simply sat and dabbed tears from their eyes.
Oei Endang Sulsilowati and her daughter were looking for information about her brother, his wife and their two children.
"We don't know what to do," Sulsilowati said. "We are just waiting for news."
"Our concern right now is for the relatives and the next of kin," Fernandes said during a news conference in Surabaya.
Some police said authorities were seeking additional materials to help identify passengers, such as photos with close-ups of teeth, DNA, or fingerprints. But police officials later told CNN they were not immediately seeking these materials.
East Java Police have set up a disaster victims identification area at the Surabaya airport.
Of the people on board the passenger jet, 155 are Indonesian, three are South Korean, one is British, one is French, one is Malaysian and one is Singaporean, the airline said.
Eighteen children, including one infant, are among the passengers, the carrier said. Seven of the people on board are crew members.
Families of AirAsia flight passengers given support through the 'nightmare'
International search team
Since the flight disappeared in Indonesian airspace, Indonesia is heading up search efforts.
The missing plane is made by Airbus, a French company. And France has dispatched two investigators to Indonesia. They are due to arrive in Jakarta on Monday, France's Foreign Ministry said.
2014: A grim year for aviation Schoolchildren among missing passengers Malaysia's transportation minister said his country has deployed three vessels and three aircraft to assist in the search. And the Royal Australian Air Force said Monday that it was deploying a patrol plane to help.
The USS Sampson is on its way to the Java Sea to assist in the search for the missing AirAsia plane, a senior U.S. military official told CNN Chief National Security Correspondent Jim Sciutto. The Sampson, a guided-missile destroyer based in San Diego, deployed in October to take part in "maritime security exercises and training" in the Pacific.
China will dispatch aircraft and ships to participate in search and rescue efforts, the Chinese Ministry of National Defense said Tuesday.
The MH370 mystery
AirAsia, a successful budget airline group headquartered in Malaysia, had a clean safety record until the disappearance of Flight 8501. The missing plane is operated by the company's Indonesian affiliate.
The loss of contact with the plane comes nearly 10 months after the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which dropped off radar over Southeast Asia on March 8 with 239 people on board.
AirAsia and MH370 cases are very different
Searchers have yet to find any remains of Flight 370, which officials believe went down in the southern Indian Ocean after mysteriously flying thousands of kilometers away from its planned route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.
But some aviation experts don't think the search for Flight 8501 will be as challenging as the hunt for MH370.
"We are not talking about the deep Indian Ocean here," CNN aviation correspondent Richard Quest said. "We are talking about congested airspace around Southeast Asia. There will be much better radar coverage. There's certainly better air traffic control coverage."
CNN's Susanna Capelouto, Andrew Stevens, Paula Hancocks and Lucia Isman contributed to this report. Azieza Uhnavy also contributed to this report.
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