9M-MRO

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MH370 – Nothing Found in Bay of Bengal

Posted by George Brown on 05/05/2014
Posted in: Aviation, Crime, Media, Opinion, Safety, Technology, Transportation, Views. Tagged: , , , , , , , . 1 Comment

As Malaysia, China and Australia prepare for talks in Canberra on the next phase of the MH370 search the GeoResonance tip off that it may have found it in the Bay of Bengal has lead to nothing.

Then again, this is also true of the much more soundly based Australia led search of likely impact zones in the Indian Ocean around 1600 kms west to north west of Perth.

Malaysia’s acting Transport Minister and Minister of Defence Hishammuddin Hussein, who will be at the Canberra talks which officially begin tomorrow, has tweeted that vessels from the Bangladeshi Navy have found nothing.

It needs to be said at the outset that the GeoResonance press campaign, which also promoted its capabilities to find missing sunken H-bombs in unquestioning media outlets, raised some interesting implications.

One would be that the Inmarsat satellite traces of the Malaysia Airlines 777, which vanished from normal ATC radars on 8 March, with 239 people on board, were variously fictitious or hopelessly misinterpreted, since they showed that MH370 was airborne for seven hours 38 minutes and eventually flew south into the vastness of the Indian Ocean.

To have come down where GeoResonance claimed to have found mineral traces that might have come from MH370, it either crashed much sooner than that interval, or circled around for hours in what is a fairly busy area for air traffic.

Which in turn might have meant that the unique identifiers for each engine which were transmitting standby signals from the jet to the Inmarsat satellite parked over the east Indian Ocean, in case data from them was to be sent to the maker Rolls-Royce, all had to be faked, or spoofed, or whatever.

Source: http://www.crikey.com

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MH370 – Malaysia Releases Report

Posted by George Brown on 03/05/2014
Posted in: Aviation, Crime, Law, Politics, Transportation. Tagged: , , , , , . Leave a comment

Malaysia has made public a preliminary report on flight MH370 and other data that marks its most extensive release of information on the missing airliner to date.

The five-page report, which was submitted earlier to the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), was essentially a recap of information that has already been released, and did not immediately appear to contain any major revelations.

Malaysian authorities have also released:

  • The audio recordings of conversations between the cockpit of MH370 and Kuala Lumpur air traffic control.
  • The preliminary report into MH370, dated 9 April.
  • An additional document, which gives further information regarding the actions taken between the hours of 01:38 and 06:14 on Saturday 8 March.
  • A map showing MH370’s flight path.
  • The cargo manifest for MH370.
  • The seating plan for MH370.

It took four hours from the last official contact with the aircraft for authorities to initiate search and rescue operations.

It appears there was a lot of confusion in the initial hours after the plane went missing.  At one point authorities believed MH370 may have been in Cambodian airspace.

9M-MRO

9M-MRO – the B777-200 aircraft involved in the crash

The report was accompanied by audio recordings of exchanges between the cockpit of the Malaysia Airlines jet and air traffic controllers, and documents pertaining to the cargo manifest.

“[Prime Minister Najib Razak] set, as a guiding principle, the rule that as long as the release of a particular piece of information does not hamper the investigation or the search operation, in the interests of openness and transparency, the information should be made public,” an accompanying government statement said.

Malaysia continues to investigate what happened to the plane, saying this week it also had appointed a former head of the country’s civil aviation to head a probe that will include members of the US National Transportation Safety Board and other foreign aviation agencies.

Thursday’s release did not contain any information from a separate Malaysian police investigation into whether a criminal act such as terrorism was to blame.

Malaysia’s government, which was heavily criticised for a seemingly chaotic initial response and comments to the media on MH370, has been tight-lipped about the progress of its investigations into the tragedy.

Some relatives of passengers have angrily accused the government and airline of incompetence and withholding information, which Malaysia denies.

The initial flight path MH370, according to radar and satellite data.

The initial flight path MH370, according to radar and satellite data. Photo: Reuters

The Malaysia Airlines flight vanished on March 8 on the way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people aboard.

It is believed to have crashed in the Indian Ocean, but a massive hunt for the wreckage has been fruitless so far.

A map shows the possible paths and crash zones of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.

A map shows the possible paths and crash zones of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370. Photo: Reuters

Relatives should return home: Malaysia Airlines

Malaysia Airlines is telling relatives of passengers on Flight 370 they should move out of hotels and return home to wait for news on the search for the plane.

Since the plane disappeared on March 8, the airline has been putting the relatives up in hotels, where they have been briefed on the search, which has been focused on the Indian Ocean off Perth.

But the airline said in a statement on Thursday the families should now receive the information from “the comfort of their own homes”.

A map provided by Malaysian authorities with the MH370 preliminary report shows the possible flight path of the aircraft, according to radar and satellite data.A map provided by Malaysian authorities with the MH370 preliminary report shows the possible flight path of the aircraft, according to radar and satellite data. Photo: Reuters

The airline said it would close its family assistance centres around the world by May 7, but will establish support centres in Kuala Lumpur and Beijing.

It said it would keep in close touch with the relatives through means including phone calls and meetings.

It said it would soon make advanced compensation payments to relatives.

Introduce real-time tracking: Malaysia

Malaysia’s Transport Ministry is recommending that the International Civil Aviation Organisation, the UN body that oversees global aviation, examines the safety benefits of introducing a standard for real-time tracking of commercial air transport aircraft.

In a report dated April 9 but released on Thursday, the ministry pointed to the disappearance of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370 and Air France flight AF447 in 2009 as evidence that such real-time tracking would help to better track aircraft.

“There have now been two occasions during the last five years when large commercial air transport aircraft have gone missing and their last position was not accurately known. This uncertainty resulted in significant difficulty in locating the aircraft in a timely manner,” the ministry said.

The Malaysian Airlines Boeing 777-200ER (9M-MRO) disappeared while on a scheduled flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on 8 March. The search for the aircraft, which had 239 passengers and crew on board, initially took place in the South China Sea and the Straits of Malacca. It moved to the Indian Ocean only about three weeks after the disappearance as a result of new satellite data.

AFP, Reuters, AP

 

MH370 – Landed in a Remote Location?

Posted by George Brown on 23/04/2014
Posted in: Aviation, Crime, Media, News, Safety, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , , . 5 Comments

Again, I don’t normally support conspiracy theory, and this story borders on it, but as no piece of physical evidence has been found in the ongoing Flight MH370 saga, it now appears that Malaysian authorities are re-visiting the theory that the aircraft has landed in an unknown location and has been secreted away – see my blog “Landed in Diego Garcia“  and  “Seen over the Maldives” on this very issue.

The search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 may be forced to re-investigate the possibility that the passenger jet with 239 on board landed, according to new reports.

The New Strait Times has quoted sources close to the probe that the investigation teams are considering revisiting the possibility that the plane did not crash into the ocean and had landed safely at an unknown location.

“The thought of it landing somewhere else is not impossible, as we have not found a single debris that could be linked to MH370. However, the possibility of a specific country hiding the plane when more than 20 nations are searching for it, seems absurd,” the sources told the NST.

The latest development comes as the multinational team searching for MH370 and its 239 passengers and crew widens the hunt using more capable underwater vehicles.

Yesterday, the Bluefin-21 completed its ninth mission scouring the seabed with three more dives expected to wind up the survey of the most likely location of MH370.

However, no contacts of interest have been found so far.

MH370 relatives reject Malaysian conclusions on plane

Relatives of flight MH370 passengers have denounced the Malaysian government’s suggestion that it would soon look into issuing death certificates for those on board despite no proof yet of what happened to the plane.

The statement, issued in response to a weekend briefing that Malaysian officials gave to families in Kuala Lumpur, also called for a review of satellite data that Malaysia says indicates the plane likely crashed somewhere in the Indian Ocean.

“We, the families of MH370, believe that until they have conclusive proof that the plane crashed with no survivors, they have no right to attempt to settle this case with the issuance of death certificates and final payoffs,” said the statement by the “United Families of MH370. In Sunday’s briefing, a Malaysian official said the government would look into a timetable for issuing death certificates for passengers on the Malaysia Airlines flight, which are required for families to seek insurance payments, settle debts and address a range of other issues. Deputy Foreign Minister Hamzah Zainudin also asked relatives in the meeting to submit a proposal for government financial assistance for families as the MH370 search wears on.

But relatives, who have repeatedly accused the government and national airline of botching a response to the plane’s disappearance and withholding information, said Malaysian authorities were playing an agonising “cat and mouse game” over the fate of their loved ones.

“WE ARE IN UTTER OUTRAGE, DESPAIR AND SHOCK!” the statement said, using bold caps.

Malaysian officials could not immediately be reached to comment. The government and airline deny they are hiding anything.

The Boeing 777 went missing March 8 en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people aboard.

Malaysia says satellite data indicates the plane crashed in the remote Indian Ocean but no proof has been found despite an intensive multi-nation sea search. Demanding hard evidence, some vocal relatives have repeatedly said they were unconvinced by Malaysia’s conclusions on the data analysis, performed by British satellite communications firm Inmarsat. They have failed to share why they would accept a single source (Inmarsat) for analysis utilising a never before attempted method, as their sole grounds for determining that the plane is under the water and all lives lost,” the families said.  The statement said they requested an independent peer review, but the suggestion was rejected on grounds Inmarsat’s data was under privacy protections.

In the Sunday meeting, “not a single one of our questions was answered,” it added.

A public opinion poll published last week found that more than half of Malaysians believe their scandal-prone government — which has controlled (as opposed to governed) the country for 57 years — is hiding the full truth on MH370.

Is this a credible release of information, in respect of the landing of MH370 in an unknown location, or is this yet another anonymous leak of erroneous or dubious sources from persons “close” to the investigation, or is the media again trying to make news where there is none? I fail to understand what benefit is to be gained by diverting the aircraft, landing it and then secreting it away.  It’s too big a secret to keep under wraps for too long. Too many people would know about it!

MH370 – Landed in Diego Garcia?

Posted by George Brown on 10/04/2014
Posted in: Aviation, Crime, Military, News, Opinion, Views. Tagged: , , , , , . 4 Comments

I don’t normally involve myself in conspricacy theories, nor do I actually support this one either, but for the reasons below I am posting it here:

  • A low flying jet was seen in what appeared to be MAS livery, flying over the Maldives. This was reported by a number of unrelated people on the ground, who had nothing to gain by doing so.
  • Diego Garcia is in the general direction of the Maldives.
  • Deigo Garcia has a runway long enough to accommodate a B777.
  • Diego Garcia is in the British Indian Ocean Territory, and is a joint RAF/USAF/USN facility.
  • Diego Garcia has been “erased” in some versions of Google Maps, at least that is the case on the PC’s in my workplace.
  • My work colleagues, who have very little aviation experience, brought up this exact scenario very early after the loss of MH370.
Diego Garcia

Diego Garcia Courtesy: Google Maps

Missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 may have flown into tiny island called Diego Garcia. Diego Garcia is a remotely located atoll in the Indian Ocean. The lonely island in the middle of the Indian Ocean is home to a RAF/USAF/USN base and is now speculated to have answers to the MH370 mystery, according to News.com.au.

This conspiracy theory is the latest addition to several other theories concerning different locations. Propagators of this theory believe that the little island maybe the actual location where MH370 landed after being hijacked. The island is said to be “one of the world’s most remote locations,” which allegedly has a “secret prison.” The island reportedly has no indigenous inhabitants as they were forcibly removed and were asked to relocate on other locations such as Chagos Archipelago, Seychelles and Mauritius in the year 1971.  Diego Garcia is located 4700 km northwest of the Australia and has 1700 military personnel and 1500 civilian contractors residing there. The lonely island reportedly has a runway that can accommodate a plane as big as Boeing 777. Therefore, Diego Garcia is now considered to be the potential location where missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 can be found, according to the conspiracy theory.

The theory became the subject of speculation when it was figured that MH370’s pilot Captain Zaharie Shah’s flight simulator had Diego Garcia’s runway location stored in it. Earlier, FBI reported that there was “nothing sinister” about the homemade flight simulator and files stored in it. But reports claiming that the plane was “deliberately” taken off the radar detection have drawn attention towards the pilot of MH370 yet again.

Furthermore, an American freelance journalist Jim Stone is advocating the theory that claims MH370 may have landed in Diego Garcia island. In his blog, Jim Stone has reportedly presented “a bewildering array of theories about major news events.” Log onto his blog and see what you make of it.

The blogger claims that Philip Wood an American passenger travelling in the now missing flight MH370 did manage to send a message. The text contained information including GPS coordinates that presented a location that is just few kilometers away from the Indian Ocean island Diego Garcia. The text revealed that Philip Wood has been held hostage by some unknown military personnel, according to News.com.au.

MH370 passenger Philip Wood is said to be an IBM engineer. Examiner further explains Jim Stone’s Diego Garcia conspiracy theory. The theory states that the intention behind taking the plane is concerning 20 top employees of Freescale Semiconductor Inc. on the flight. These people reportedly worked on the development of semiconductor and were soon going to get it patented. But if rest of the people who worked on the project are gone, the patent can be owned by one person named Jacob Rothschild. Another reason behind the plane’s disappearance could be that “some government wanted to get their hands on the knowledge held by the 20 top employees to have this microchip built for some reason,” as per the report.

However, Metabunk report suggests that it is not difficult to “fake a mobile phone’s GPS coordinates,” and denies the truth behind the Diego Garcia conspiracy theory. News.com.au notes that the information of missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 suggests that the plane ended in the southern Indian Ocean.

As I said earlier, I dont support this theory, as I remain unsure as to what benefit this action would serve anybody…..

MH370 – FDR/CVR Pulse Detected?

Posted by George Brown on 06/04/2014
Posted in: Aviation, Crime, Emergency Services, Media, News, Opinion, Safety, Software, Technology, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , . 3 Comments

PLANES and ships are being diverted to the area where a Chinese vessel detected signals  at 37.5kHz, consistent with a black box transmissions in the hunt for missing flight MH370, while an Australian ship is checking out another “acoustic event”.

“Today Royal Australian Air Force assets will deploy to assist in further examining the acoustic signals in the vicinity of where the Chinese ship has detected the sounds,” said Angus Houston, head of the Joint Agency Coordination Centre leading the search.

“HMS Echo and Australian Defence Vessel Ocean Shield are also being directed to join Haixun 01 as expeditiously as possible to assist with either discounting or confirming the detecting.”

Haixun 01 Source: AMSA

Haixun 01 Source: AMSA

Houston said the Australian vessel Ocean Shield would be delayed while it investigated a separate acoustic signal in its current search location that had only been detected in the last hour.  “We do not have any detail on the encounter at this stage,” he said. “We just know that there has been an acoustic detection by Ocean Shield which has highly sophisticated equipment and the word I have got is that it is something that needs to be investigated.  “I’m not prepared to speculate on what it might be and what it might not be.” The Haixun 01 signal, which lasted for 90 seconds, was picked up during searches on Saturday. The Chinese ship had already detected a more fleeting signal on Friday, Houston said.  He described the development an “important and encouraging lead but one which I urge you to continue to treat carefully”.  “We are working in a very big ocean and within a very large search area, and so far since the aircraft went missing we have had very few leads which allow us to narrow the search area,” he said.

Houston said the mission was treating both acoustic signals “very seriously” but he said the Haixun 01 detection was the most promising lead.

HMS Echo Photo: www.pstew.co.uk

HMS Echo Photo: http://www.pstew.co.uk

The retired Australian defence chief also said that corrected satellite data had shifted the focus for the hunt for the missing plane to the southern area of the search, the area that Haixun 01 is operating in.

“The whole of the existing search area remains the most likely area that the aircraft entered the water, but based on the new advice the southern area now has a higher priority,” he said.

Houston urged caution, saying he did not want to put the families of those onboard the missing flight under further stress.

Source: The Australian

Updated: MH370 – Timeline of Events

Posted by George Brown on 30/03/2014
Posted in: Aviation, News, Opinion, Safety, Views. Tagged: , , , , . 4 Comments

Here is a timeline of major developments in the hunt for flight MH370, up to when the Australian Maritime Safety Authority took over the search:

SATURDAY MARCH 8

  • The Boeing 777 takes off from Kuala Lumpur at 12:41 am, bound for Beijing. It vanishes from Malaysian civilian radar at 1:30 am, just before passing to Vietnamese air traffic control. It blips on military radars until 2:15 am, but that sighting is only later identified as flight MH370.
  • Vietnam launches a search operation that expands in the following days into a multinational hunt in the South China Sea.
  • Vietnamese planes spot two large oil slicks near the plane’s last known location, but they turn out to be a false alarm.
  • It emerges that two passengers were travelling on stolen EU passports, fuelling speculation of a terrorist attack. The two Iranian men are later revealed as suspected illegal immigrants.

SUNDAY MARCH 9

  • Malaysia’s air force chief says the plane may have turned back towards Kuala Lumpur for no apparent reason, citing radar data.
  • A Vietnamese plane spots possible debris off southwest Vietnam – another false alarm.

MONDAY MARCH 10

  • Malaysia sends ships to investigate a sighting of a possible life raft, but only flotsam is found.

TUESDAY MARCH 11

  • The search area now includes land on the Malaysian peninsula, the waters off its west coast, and an area to the north of Indonesia’s Sumatra island – all far from the flight’s scheduled route.

WEDNESDAY MARCH 12

  • Malaysia expands the search zone again to include the Malacca Strait off its west coast and the Andaman Sea north of Indonesia.
  • Malaysia’s air force chief says an unidentified object was detected on military radar north of the Malacca Strait early Saturday, but says it is still being investigated.

THURSDAY MARCH 13

  • Chinese satellite images of suspected debris in the South China Sea are found to be yet another false lead.

FRIDAY MARCH 14

  • The hunt spreads to the Indian Ocean after the White House cites “new information” that the jet may have flown on after losing contact.

SATURDAY MARCH 15

  • At a dramatic news conference, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak announces that the plane appears to have been flown deliberately for hours, veering sharply off-route at roughly the same time that its communications system and transponder were manually switched off.
  • Satellite data now places the jet anywhere in one of two huge corridors of land and sea, a northern one stretching into Central Asia and a southern one swooping deep into the Indian Ocean. The search in the South China Sea is called off.

SUNDAY MARCH 16

  • As the number of countries involved in the search jumps to 26, experts examine a flight simulator installed in the home of Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah.

MONDAY MARCH 17

  •  After conflicting statements, officials confirm that the relaxed sounding last words from the cockpit – “All right, good night” – came two minutes before the plane’s transponder was shut down.
  • Malaysia Airlines says the voice is believed to be that of co-pilot Fariq Abdul Hamid. Police probe a potential political motive on the part of Captain Zaharie, a supporter and distant relative of Malaysian opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

TUESDAY MARCH 18

  • Australian and US surveillance planes begin combing 600,000 square kilometres (230,000 square miles) of the remote Indian Ocean in the southern search corridor.
  • Desperate relatives of the Chinese passengers threaten to go on hunger strike.

WEDNESDAY MARCH 19

  • Malaysia says background checks on almost all passengers and crew have produced no “information of significance”.
  • Angry Chinese relatives try to gatecrash Malaysia’s daily media briefing on the investigation, unfurling a banner reading: “Give us back our families.”
  • With the 26-country search apparently bogged down in coordination problems, Thailand’s air force reveals its military radar had picked up what appeared to be flight MH370 just minutes after it was diverted.

THURSDAY MARCH 20

  • Australia says satellites have spotted two objects, one estimated at 24 metres (79 feet) long, in a remote area of the southern Indian Ocean.
  • Four surveillance aircraft are dispatched to the area, as is a Norwegian merchant ship. But in poor weather, they spot nothing.

FRIDAY MARCH 21

  • Planes spend a second fruitless day searching the remote stretch of the Indian Ocean.
  • Malaysia asks the United States to provide undersea surveillance technology.

SATURDAY MARCH 22

  • China releases a new satellite photo of an object floating 120 kilometres (75 miles) from those pictured in the Australian images.

SUNDAY MARCH 23

  • Along with French satellite data indicating floating objects in the area, sightings of a wooden pallet and other debris raise hopes of a breakthrough.

MONDAY MARCH 24

  • China and Australia both announce fresh, separate sightings of objects in the sea, adding to the mounting evidence of debris in the Indian Ocean.
  • The US Navy orders a specialised black box locator sent to the area.
  • Late in the evening, Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak announces “with deep sadness and regret” that MH370 crashed into the Indian Ocean, citing new analysis of satellite data. In a message to families, the airline states “we have to assume” the plane was lost at sea.

TUESDAY MARCH 25

  • Relatives of those on board MH370 hit out at authorities for the way the tragedy has been handled.
  • It also emerged Malaysia Airlines was offering relatives of the victims $5,000 per passenger in compensation. The company said additional cash would be handed out at a later date.

WEDNESDAY MARCH 26

  • Images taken by a French satellite are released, showing 122 objects floating in a possible “debris field” 2,557km west of Perth.
  • Transport minister Hishammuddin Hussein describes the discovery as “the most credible lead that we have”.
  • But despite this, the search and rescue effort deployed to the remote area of the Indian Ocean fails to find any wreckage for another day.

THURSDAY MARCH 27

  • The search operation was temporarily suspended due to bad weather as the Australian Maritime Safety Authority revealed the news on Twitter
  • As 300 floating objects were spotted by a satellite, a veteran Boeing 777 pilot claimed the plane needed “human input” to change course so dramatically
  • But the pilot’s son dismissed any suggestions his dad was involved in the appearance

FRIDAY MARCH 28

  • The search moved on some 685 miles to northeast after a “new credible lead” in the Indian Ocean
  • F1 teams organised a minute’s silence ahead of Malaysian Grand Prix for victims, which is being supported by Williams ace Felipe Massa
  • British Airways were left red-faced after featuring an advert saying “escape to the Indian Ocean”

SATURDAY MARCH 29

  • Grieving families of MH370 launched a scathing attack against ‘despicable’ Malaysian authorities
  • Families were moved out of the hotel where they were staying in Malaysia so that room could be made for Ferrari’s F1 team
  • The search resumed after more debris was spotted as planes spot ‘multiple coloured objects’ in Indian Ocean

Source: The Star On-line

MH370 – Debris found in the Southern Indian Ocean

Posted by George Brown on 27/03/2014
Posted in: Aviation, Emergency Services, Media, Opinion, Safety, Technology, Uncategorized, Views. Tagged: , , , , , , . 1 Comment

New satellite images have identified 122 objects in a 400-square-kilometre area of the Indian Ocean 2,500km SW of Perth, WA, which Malaysian authorities believe are from the missing Malaysian airliner, Flight MH370.

These objects seen in images from a French satellite range in size from one metre to 23 metres in length and some appeared to be bright, possibly indicating solid materials, Malaysia’s acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday night.

Officials said the images corroborate other credible leads, raising hopes ships in the area will be able to recover wreckage that can be identified as being from the plane that was carrying 239 people.

“This will enable us to further reduce the search area and locate more debris from the plane,” Mr Hishammuddin said.

Mr Hishammuddin released the images, which showed white dots between cloud formations.

Satellite images dated 23 March. Photo: MRSA

Satellite images dated 23 March. Photo: MRSA

“They are not very far from objects sighted by the Chinese government,” he said. “This is clearly the most credible lead we have had so far.”  Mr Hishammuddin said satellite and radar data now “corroborates some form of objects and debris”.  “If it is confirmed to be MH370, at least we can move on with deep sea surveillance search and rescue and hopefully [find] the black box,” he said, referring to the plane’s recorder.

Mr Hishammuddin said the discovery is about 2500 kilometres south-west of Perth, in the same area where experts from Australia and China identified other objects from satellite images.  Mr Hishammuddin said Australian authorities will factor in possible drift and other factors while planes and ships head to the area.

The images have been sent to the Australian Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Perth, which is organising the search by countries including China, Japan and India.

“It must be emphasised that we cannot tell whether the potential objects are from MH370. Nevertheless, this is another new lead that will help direct the search operation,” Mr Hishammuddin said.

Of course, until the debris has been located and recovered, confirmation that this is MH370 cannot be confirmed.  As more satellite imagery comes to hand from the search area, it is more and more likely that this will be MH370. as the debris is has been sighted in the area identified by aviation search and rescue experts.  The mystery of how MH370 came to end up so far of course will still need to be answered.  Was it a catastrophic depressursation or on-board fire disabling passengers and crew with the aircraft flying on autopilot, or was it delibrate intervention the pilot(s) or passenger(s).

MH370 – Captain Fit to Fly?

Posted by George Brown on 26/03/2014
Posted in: Aviation, Emergency Services, Media, Safety, Technology. Tagged: , , , , . 1 Comment

The captain of flight MH370 was facing serious family problems, including separation from his wife and problems with another woman he was seeing, according to a long-time associate who believes he may have taken the Boeing 777 for a “last joyride” before crashing into the Indian Ocean.

The fellow pilot has revealed to The New Zealand Herald that Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah’s world was crumbling and he was in no state of mind to fly the day the Malaysia Airlines jet disappeared.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the man told the newspaper he believed Captain Zaharie, who had been left “terribly upset” when his wife told him she was leaving, may have decided to take the airliner with 239 people on board to a part of the world he had never flown.

“He’s one of the finest pilots around and I’m no medical expert, but with all that was happening in his life Zaharie was probably in no state of mind to be flying,” the friend said.

The background of the captain and his co-pilot, Fariq Abdul Hamid, continue to be investigated by authorities struggling to determine what caused the plane to turn dramatically off its flight path and head to the southern Indian Ocean where it is believed to have crashed.

Britain’s Daily Telegraph reported yesterday that senior investigators believed the plane had been crashed deliberately in a suicide mission.

 “This has been a deliberate act by someone on-board who had to have the detailed knowledge to do what was done,” the newspaper’s source said.

The unnamed friend of Captain Zaharie told The New Zealand Herald he spoke with the pilot several times when they met through work.

He claimed Captain Zaharie spent hours using his home-made flight simulator – which was last week seized to be analysed by the FBI – for a variety of situations he wouldn’t experience at the controls of a commercial airline, such as flying at the highest and lowest possible altitudes.

“It is very possible that neither the passengers nor the other crew on-board knew what was happening until it was too late,” the man said.

Source: The New Zealand Herald.

 

Is this a plausible explanation, or is this another attempt to make news when there is none?

MH370 – Malaysian Woman sees Aircraft in the Sea?

Posted by George Brown on 23/03/2014
Posted in: Aviation, Crime, Media, News, Opinion. Tagged: , , , , , , . 4 Comments

As aircraft and ships continued to search for  debris which might be that of the missing flight MH370 on Friday a Malaysian  woman on a flight across the Indian Ocean claimed to have seen an aircraft in  the water near the Andaman Islands on the day the jet disappeared.

The Kuala Lumpur wife was so convinced  about  what she saw at 2.30pm on March 8, several hours  after MH370 vanished, that she  filed an official  report with police that very day – a full five days before  the search for the plane was expanded to the area around the Andaman  Islands.

News of her apparent sighting came as a blank  was drawn after two days of searching in the Indian Ocean for two objects deemed  by experts as possibly being from the missing plane.

Shocked: Raja Dalelah Raja Latife said she was alarmed when she saw what looked like a plane in the water as she flew to Kuala Lumpur

 Shocked: Raja Dalelah Raja Latife said she was alarmed  when she saw what looked like a plane in the water as she flew to Kuala  Lumpur
Location: The Andaman Islands are far north of the debris that's been sighted by a U.S satellite

 Location: The Andaman Islands are far north of the  debris that’s been sighted by a U.S satellite
9M-MRO

9M-MRO – the B777-200 aircraft involved in the crash

The same reaction has come from a pilot who  questioned how anyone flying at about seven miles above sea level could see  anything like a boat or ship from so high up.

But Mrs Dalelah insisted to the paper: ‘I  know what I saw. I am convinced that I saw the aircraft. I will not lie. I had  just returned from my pilgrimage.’

A large part of what she thought was an  aircraft was submerged, she said. When she tried to tell an air stewardess what  she had seen, she was told to get some sleep.

When her plane landed at Kuala Lumpur at  about 4pm on that Saturday she told her children what she had seen. ‘That is  when they told me that MH370 had gone missing,’ she told the paper.

‘My son-in-law, a policeman, was convinced  that I had seen an aircraft and asked me to lodge a police report the same  day.

‘Many of my friends on the flight doubted me  at first, but they are beginning to believe me now that we know the plane  (MH370) turned back and entered the Indian Ocean.’

Many will warn against dismissing Mrs  Dalelah’s claims too quickly. The islands do lie across a route MH370 could  have taken after radar contact was lost and it would easily have been able to  reach them before Mrs Dalelah’s sighting at 2.30pm.

After its transponder was turned off at  1.21am on March 8 the plane, with enough fuel to last 2,500 miles, turned west,  following an established route towards India.

An ephemeral satellite ping registered at  8.11am suggested the plane was heading in one of two directions – south to where  the potential debris was spotted, or north into China and central  Asia.

The Andaman Islands lie 890 miles to the  north-west of Kuala Lumpur, well within range.

Officials still haven’t ruled out MH370 being  found in a northerly location, with aircraft and ships renewing their search in  the Andaman Sea between India and Thailand on Friday.

Source: Daily Mail (on-line)

MH370 – Search off Australia Reveals Nothing

Posted by George Brown on 21/03/2014
Posted in: Aviation, Emergency Services, Fire, Media, Military, News, Opinion, Safety. Tagged: , , , , , , , . 2 Comments

Low cloud and rain has hindered Australian efforts to find debris seen yesterday 2,500km south-west of Perth, that may be linked to the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. A pilot returning from the search zone described the weather conditions as “extremely bad”.

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) is intensifying their efforts to identify two objects seen on an commercial satellite images in a remote area of the southern Indian Ocean, 2,500 kilometres south-west of Perth.

The large objects, which were spotted by satellite five days ago, are the most promising find in days as searchers scour a vast area for flight MH370, which is lost with 239 people on board, including six Australians.

An RAAF Orion plane was unable to locate the debris overnight because of limited visibility from cloud and rain.   “The weather conditions were such that we were unable to see for very much of the flight today but the other aircraft that are searching, they may have better conditions,” Flight Lieutenant Chris Birrer told reporters.

A reporter aboard a US Navy aircraft told America’s ABC network that their sweeps of the area yesterday only turned up a freighter and several pods of dolphins.

“This is a plane that gets very close to the water, most of the time we were skimming at about 300 feet (about 90 metres) above the water – you could see a basketball if it were in the water,” he said.

“Plus they had high-tech radar, sweeping 16 miles (about 25km) on each side of the plane. If there was something there, this plane surely would have spotted it.”

Hoegh St. Petersburg

Hoegh St. Petersburg – courtesy Hoegh Autoliners

Australian search planes will continue the hunt for the debris today, along with aircraft from the US and New Zealand. Also, a Norwegian ship the Hoegh St Petersburg (a RO-RO car carrier) has arrived in the 23,000-square-km search zone last night after diverting its route from Port Louis in Mauritius to Melbourne, after responding to an Australian request for assistance.  The ship will travel back and forth over a set route in an attempt to identify the objects seen by the sattelite.  The ship however does not have capacity to lift any found objects out of the sea.

Another merchant ship is travelling to the area, one of six involved in the search since a shipping broadcast was issued last Monday night.

The search is continuing.