Month: March 2014

By Thomas Hale and Daniel Thomas
Financial Times
24th March 2014

Deep in the heart of Inmarsat’s London headquarters, just off Silicon Roundabout, screens illuminate the operations of 10 satellites, each 22,000 miles above the earth in geostationary orbit.

These screens provided the clues that helped unravel the mystery of where flight MH370 came down. They are inundated with daily updates – represented by pink and green lights – that were used by the company’s scientists and engineers to deduce a probable location for the crash.

Inmarsat moved into its present location in 1993, long before the area became synonymous with 21st century technological innovation.

Although technology is at its core, the origins of Inmarsat – short for International Maritime Satellite Organisation – differ greatly from the entrepreneurial tech start-ups that have come to dominate the neighbourhood’s offices and bars. Continue reading “Satellite hunters track jet’s flight”

The Malaysian Insider
March 26, 2014

The recovery of MH370 and its black box is going to be an extremely difficult task as geologists believe the debris from the Malaysian Airlines aircraft could be lying above a giant undersea chain of volcanoes whose complex terrain has barely been charted, reported The Sydney Morning Herald (SMH).

To make matters worse, the only Australian vessel capable of charting depths of 3,000 metres, the RV Southern Surveyor, had been decommissioned in December, the daily said.

Robin Beaman, a marine geologist from James Cook University, told SMH that so little of the southern Indian Ocean sea floor, including the search zone, had been mapped in detail that any attempt to retrieve the wreckage would require extensive 3D mapping, possibly by ships with multibeam echo sounders.

“It’s bad timing really. Australia has no capability of mapping these depths,” he was quoted by SMH as saying. Continue reading “Undersea volcanoes could complicate MH370 wreckage retrieval, geologist warns”

By KEITH BRADSHER, EDWARD WONG and THOMAS FULLER
New York Times
MARCH 25, 2014

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — The Malaysian authorities released new details on Tuesday to buttress their conclusion that Flight 370 must have ended in a crash in a remote part of the Indian Ocean.

But with no physical evidence of the plane’s fate yet found, and the search suspended for a day because of treacherous weather, distraught relatives and friends of passengers mounted an angry protest in Beijing, breaking through police lines and marching to the Malaysian Embassy demanding more answers.

Hishammuddin Hussein, Malaysia’s defense minister and acting transportation minister, said at a news conference near Kuala Lumpur that the plane appeared to have sent one more partial signal eight minutes after the last of the previously disclosed electronic “handshakes” between the plane and a satellite, which engineers have analyzed to infer the plane’s probable path after it disappeared from radar screens early on March 8. Mr. Hishammuddin called the newly reported signal a “partial handshake.” Continue reading “Malaysia Says Missing Plane Sent One Last Partial Signal”

By Sebastian Anthony
ExtremeTech
March 25, 2014

Yesterday morning, the Malaysian prime minister confirmed that Malaysia Airlines flight 370 crashed in the south Indian Ocean, killing all 239 people on board. Curiously, though, despite the PM’s confidence, this conclusion is based entirely on second-hand information provided by UK satellite company Inmarsat. There is still no sign of debris from MH370, and investigators still have absolutely no idea what happened after the final “All right, good night” message from the cockpit. If you’ve been following the news, you probably have two questions: How did Inmarsat narrow down MH370′s location from two very broad swaths across central Asia and the Indian Ocean, and furthermore, if we know where the plane crashed into the ocean, why haven’t we found it yet? Continue reading “How satellites tracked down flight MH370 – but why we still can’t find the plane”

The Malaysian Insider
March 25, 2014

In the aftermath of the devastating news that the flight of Malaysia Airlines MH370 ended in the southern Indian Ocean, questions emerged whether the mystery can be solved with the discovery of the wreckage.

But the man who led the 2009 Air France crash probe cautioned that even yesterday’s announcement might not be conclusive.

“The seas and oceans are real dustbins in which we find loads of things. We found wooden crates and fragments on beaches that had nothing to do with the crash. Today we must first of all identify the debris,” Alain Bouillard told Britain’s Daily Telegraph.

Recalling the difficult task of retrieving debris of the Air France aircraft which crashed into the vast Atlantic Ocean killing 228 people, the daily listed several questions which it said could surface in the course of the investigation into MH370. Continue reading “Answers to the mystery of MH370 will surface together with debris, paper says”

– Robert Chaen
The Malaysian Insider
March 25, 2014

3 questions that were left unanswered in Prime Minister Najib Razak’s March 24th Press Conference:

1. How can a new radar analysis be conclusive beyond any reasonable doubt without any evidence of a piece of physical wreckage found?

Radar and satellite analysis has so far delivered no physical evidence.

2. What is the visual “proof” of this new analysis?

3. Why is this “new analysis” only available after 17 days after MH370 went missing? Continue reading “MH370: Show me the evidence”

The Malay Mail Online
March 25, 2014

SYDNEY, March 25 ― While Malaysia’s conclusion that Flight 370 went down in the Indian Ocean may give closure to anguished family members, the search for wreckage in one of the planet’s most forbidding parts means the wait for answers to how and why may be a long time coming ― if ever.

Searchers came up empty again yesterday, the 17th day since the Malaysian Airline System Bhd. flight disappeared, as Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak of Malaysia said analysis of satellite data showed the flight “ended” in the ocean.

Even if objects spotted from aircraft and satellites can be located, the flight recorders that would unwind the mystery may be irretrievably lost in the abyss of the sea bed. The search for wreckage was suspended today because of foul weather.

For the 11-man crew on a US Navy P3 Orion stationed near Kuala Lumpur, the hunt for Flight 370 has meant fruitless days in the air monitoring radars and cameras, fixated on water so glaring it’s impossible to make out where it meets the sky. Continue reading “Flight MH370 ended in ocean seen hiding answers in vast waters”

The Malaysian Insider
March 25, 2014

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak announced last night that Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 was lost at a remote location in the middle of the Indian Ocean, possibly ending weeks of speculations as to the plane’s final stop.

That did not, however, answer several key questions which have been lurking ever since the Boeing 777 disappeared on March 8, sparking what aviation experts call the most mysterious plane tragedy in history.

Britain’s Daily Mirror looks at five questions still begging for answers.

1. No confirmed debris, so did plane really crash?

Investigators know where a plane crashed, even before finding debris. A single piece of wreckage is enough to determine whether the plane exploded or crashed. The key answer lies in the black box, which may take years to discover. Continue reading “After the traumatic news, time to answer questions on MH370 mystery”

The Malaysian Insider
March 25, 2014

The announcement last night that MH370 crashed into the Indian Ocean does little to solve the mystery of its disappearance, as aviation experts say it may take months or years to find the black box and wreckage, USA Today reported today.

It could also take years before an accident report was released with a probable cause, the report quoted experts as saying.

Analysis of satellite data was at a preliminary stage and the plane’s wreckage and the recorders must be recovered before facts were established, former National Transportation Safety Board accident investigator Al Yurman was quoted as saying. Continue reading “Finding MH370 black box, wreckage could take years, says USA Today”

The Malay Mail Online
March 25, 2014

KUALA LUMPUR, March 25 — Search for debris from Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 was suspended for today owing to difficult weather conditions in the area scoured, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) said today.

The Australian agency that is co-ordinating search for the Boeing 777-200ER with 239 on board said it was withdrawing ships and aircraft with the arrival of waves of up to 4m and gale force winds in the area.

“AMSA has undertaken a risk assessment and determined that the current weather conditions would make any air and sea search activities hazardous and pose a risk to crew. Therefore, AMSA has suspended all sea and air search operations for today due to these weather conditions,” it said in a statement today.

The delay comes just as Malaysia announced yesterday new data from British commercial satellite firm Inmarsat confirmed that the missing plane was in the southern “corridor” where Australia and Indonesia are searching. Continue reading “Australia pauses MH370 hunt due to stormy weather”

The Malay Mail Online
March 25, 2014

KUALA LUMPUR, March 25 ― Malaysia formally announced last night that flight MH370, missing for over 17 days now, crashed into the Indian Ocean but despite confirmation from local and foreign experts, doubt still lingers over how the plane went down, and whether it did at all.

For many, the lack of solid proof ― such as plane wreckage ― still means that the Boeing 777 aircraft ferrying 239 people could have landed somewhere safely and is merely awaiting rescue from search teams.

In Beijing, distraught families lashed out at Malaysia for concluding that the plane had crashed without offering concrete proof..

“Where is the proof?” one woman screamed after attending a Malaysia Airlines (MAS) briefing there, according to CNN.

“You haven’t confirmed the suspected objects to tell us no one survived.” Continue reading “Without plane wreckage, doubts linger over MH370’s Indian Ocean crash”

The Malaysian Insider/Reuters
March 25, 2014

Confirmation that a missing Malaysian airliner crashed in the Indian Ocean opens the way for what could be one of the most costly and challenging air crash investigations in history.

Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said Flight MH370 had ended far from any runway, signalling a shift of focus from a search for survivors to a mission to recover bodies and hunt for debris and black boxes.

Based on fresh analysis of satellite data by UK-based Inmarsat, Malaysia’s decision to declare the aircraft lost in international waters marks a new phase in a search which has narrowed to an area southwest of Perth, Australia.

A civil investigation is likely to be carried out by Malaysia with the support of others, two people familiar with the matter said, ending two weeks of apparent legal limbo.

The launch of an official air crash investigation would give Malaysia power to coordinate and sift evidence, but it may still face critics, especially China. Continue reading “MH370 crash inquiry could be among most challenging ever”

Jon Swaine and Alan Yuhas
theguardian
24 March 2014

Without any confirmed sighting, the mystery of what happened to MH370 is very much unresolved. So what happens next?

The announcement by Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak that MH370 is assumed to have crashed into the southern Indian ocean, with no survivors, had a degree of finality to it. But without any confirmed sighting, let alone recovery of any part of the plane, the mystery of what happened to MH370 is very much unresolved.

What has been found so far?

On Monday, Chinese and Australian search planes spotted several more objects in the sea, about 2,500km (1,550 miles) south-west of Australia, which could be debris from the missing Malaysian jet. An Australian P3 Orion aircraft located two objects: one was described as grey or green and circular; the other orange and rectangular. An Australian navy supply ship, the HMAS Success, could reach the objects within several hours or by Tuesday morning, Malaysia’s defense minister Hishammuddin Hussein said.

A Chinese spotter plane crew, meanwhile, saw two large objects and several smaller ones spread across several square kilometers, state media reported. At least one of the items – a white, square-shaped object – was captured on a camera aboard the plane. A Chinese icebreaker, the Snow Dragon, was headed towards the area and would arrive on Tuesday morning local time. Continue reading “Missing flight MH370: now the plane is ‘lost’, what next?”

The Malaysian Insider
March 25, 2014

The United States is sending an undersea Navy drone capable of exploring waters nearly 15,000 feet deep to potentially help search for any sunken wreckage of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, the Pentagon said yesterday.

The US disclosure that it was pre-positioning the sonar-equipped Bluefin “autonomous underwater vehicle” in Australia came hours after Malaysia announced that the jetliner which disappeared over two weeks ago had crashed in the southern Indian Ocean.

All 239 people on board were presumed dead, airline officials said.

“We have more than 200 families out there that are grieving right now. They just got some stark news today from the Malaysian government,” said Pentagon spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby, adding the “the whole world grieves with them”. Continue reading “US sending undersea drone in hunt for MH370”

The Malaysian Insider
March 24, 2014

French investigators today said it was too soon to consider launching undersea searches for the remains of the Malaysia Airlines jet that officials said went down in the Indian Ocean.

France’s BEA accident investigation service, which had sent three investigators to Kuala Lumpur, said the “extremely vast areas (involved) do not make it possible at this stage to consider undersea searches”.

“An undersea phase to localise the aeroplane from flight MH370 could be launched only if the operations under way today enable a more limited search area to be defined than the current search areas,” the BEA said in a statement.

It said its investigators, who had returned from Kuala Lumpur at the weekend, had discussed possible techniques for undersea searches with Malaysian authorities. Continue reading “Too soon to launch undersea search for MH370, say French investigators”

By Sophie Curtis
Telegraph
24 Mar 2014

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak announced today that, based on satellite data analysis from UK company Inmarsat, Malayian Airlines flight MH370 ended in the southern Indian Ocean, and no one on board survived.

In a press statement this afternoon, Mr Razak said: “Inmarsat, the UK company that provided the satellite data which indicated the northern and southern corridors, has been performing further calculations on the data. Using a type of analysis never before used in an investigation of this sort, they have been able to shed more light on MH370’s flight path.

“Based on their new analysis, Inmarsat and the UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) have concluded that MH370 flew along the southern corridor, and that its last position was in the middle of the Indian Ocean, west of Perth. This is a remote location, far from any possible landing sites. It is therefore with deep sadness and regret that I must inform you that, according to this new data, flight MH370 ended in the southern Indian Ocean.”

Inmarsat’s role in the search for Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 began immediately after the aircraft disappeared. Continue reading “How British satellite company Inmarsat tracked down MH370”

Washington Post
March 24 2014

Malaysian Prime Minister Najiv Razak on Monday said that, according to new data, flight MH370 ended up in the Indian Ocean. Here is a transcript of his full statement:

This evening I was briefed by representatives from the UK Air Accident investigation branch, or AAIB. They inform me that Inmarsat, the UK company that provided the satellite data which indicated northern and southern corridors, has been performing further calculations on the data, using a type of analysis never before used in an investigation of this sort.

They have been able to shed more light on MH370’s flight path. Based on their new analysis. Inmarsat and the AAIB have concluded that MH370 flew along the southern corridor and that its last position was in the middle of the Indian Ocean, west of Perth.

This is a remote location, far from any possible landing sites. It is therefore with deep sadness and regret that I must inform you that, according to this new data, Flight MH370 ended in the southern Indian Ocean. Continue reading “Transcript: Malaysian prime minister’s March 24 statement on MH370”