Month: March 2014

The Malaysian Insider/Reuters
March 20, 2014

The disappearance of a Malaysian plane has prompted calls for in-flight streaming of black box data over remote areas, but industry executives say implementing changes may be complex and costly.

Mark Rosenker, former chairman of the US National Transportation Safety Board, said this incident and the 2009 loss of an Air France flight in the Atlantic should spur reforms in what he described an outdated accident investigation process.

Rosenker, a retired US Air Force general, said finding a way to transmit limited information from flight data and cockpit voice recorders to a virtual “cloud” database would help authorities launch accident investigations sooner and locate a plane if it got into trouble while out of reach of ground-based radars.

“This is the second accident in five years where we’ve had to wait to get the black boxes back,” Rosenker said. “We need to bring the concept of operations for accident investigations and the technology of what is available up to the 21st century.”

Twenty-six nations have been searching for the missing Boeing Co 777 airliner over an area roughly the size of Australia for 12 days, but the massive hunt has found no trace of any wreckage thus far. Continue reading “Loss of plane spurs calls to upload black box data to the ‘cloud’”

The Malaysian Insider
March 20, 2014

Malaysia Airlines opted out of a simple computer upgrade that costs RM33 per flight which would have provided critical information to help find the missing flight MH370 because it went for a cheaper option when purchasing the aircraft, the Sydney Morning Herald reported today.

A satellite industry official was quoted as saying that the upgrade, called Swift, would have provided the direction, speed and altitude of flight MH370 even after other communications from the plane went off the radar.

Had the Swift system been upgraded to include the full package of applications, it could have sent information on engine performance, fuel consumption, speed, altitude and direction, regardless of whether the transponder and Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) were working, he said.

The expert, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told the Australian daily that the Swift system was similar to how a smartphone sends data to a satellite, while ACARS was akin to an app for a mobile phone.

“When ACARS is turned off, Swift continues on,” he told the Sydney Morning Herald.

“If you configure Swift to track engine data, that data will be streamed off the plane. It continues to be powered up while the aircraft is powered up.”

The report showed that had Malaysia Airlines obtained the upgrade, it would have continued to send flight data by satellite even after the plane’s transponder and ACARS communications went dead. Continue reading “Crucial MH370 info missing because MAS wanted to save RM33, says expert”

Jeswan Kaur| March 20, 2014
Free Malaysia Today

Grieving families, especially from China, are furious with the Malaysian government for its refusal to be forthcoming with information.

COMMENT

Even in the face of a heartbreaking crisis, the Malaysian government could not let go of its insatiable hunger for politicking.

The nation is left speechless and at a loss wondering why and how the national carrier Malaysia Airlines’ Boeing 777 plane, said to be one of the safest in the world, has disappeared.

It is day 13 since the MH370 Kuala Lumpur-Beijing flight has gone missing. International experts complementing Malaysia’s search and rescue efforts are baffled as to what became of the plane which was ferrying 239 people including the cabin crew.

Still, the Malaysian government refuses to get its act right. On Tuesday night, Defense Minister and Acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein briefed politicians from the ruling BN coalition on the missing aircraft.

For reasons best known to him, Hishammuddin, who is also Umno’s vice-president, ignored politicians from the opposition camp. BN’s nemesis, Pakatan Rakyat was visibly upset at being left out. Continue reading “MH370: Pressure starts piling on govt”

By News.com.au
New York Post
March 19, 2014

Was lost Flight MH370 the victim of a midair heist of gold bullion? Has it landed but remains hidden? Or was it a terrorist hijacking?

Speculation grows as Australia leads the Indian Ocean search for clues.

Top 10 theories – What may have happened to Flight MH370

1. Fire

A fire may have broken out on the aircraft shortly after last contact was made with air traffic control. The pilot may have made a sharp left turn and attempted to return to a Malaysian airport. Continue reading “10 theories about missing Flight MH370”

The Malay Mail Online
March 20, 2014

WASHINGTON DC, March 20 — US President Barack Obama said yesterday the search for the missing Malaysian airliner was a “top priority” for the United States and offered every possible resource — including the FBI.

In his first on camera comments on the mystery of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, Obama offered thoughts and prayers to the relatives of the missing passengers.

“I want them to be assured that we consider this a top priority,” Obama told Dallas television station KDFW in an interview at the White House.

“We have put every resource that we have available at the disposal of the search process,” he said. Continue reading “Obama says plane search a ‘top priority’”

The Malaysian Insider
March 20, 2014

With search for the missing Malaysia Airlines entering its 13th day without any significant development, the FBI has stepped in to help analyse data from a flight simulator seized from the home of flight MH370’s Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah last weekend.

Malaysia has now made available to the FBI electronic data generated by both pilots of flight MH370, including data from a hard drive attached to the captain’s flight simulator, and from electronic media used by the co-pilot, Fariq Abdul Hamid, an American law enforcement official said to Reuters.

The official, however, said he could not confirm that some data had been wiped from the simulator and stressed that there was no guarantee the FBI analysis would turn up any fresh clues.

USA Today, meanwhile, reported an American federal law enforcement official as saying that the material, including a flight simulator recovered from one of the pilot’s homes, is likely to be shipped to the FBI’s lab in Quantico, Virginia.

The report quoted United States Attorney General Eric Holder as saying that the US and Malaysian governments have been “in ongoing conversations about how we can help”.

“We’re working with authorities, but we don’t have any theories (on the cause of the plane’s disappearance),” USA Today quoted Holder as saying.

Acting Transport Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein had said at the daily press briefing yesterday that local and international expertise have been recruited to examine the pilot’s flight simulator.

“Some data had been deleted from the simulator and forensic work to retrieve this data is ongoing,” Hishammuddin had said.

He had said that the investigations into the flight simulator were part of the overall probe into all passengers and crew on board the Malaysia Airlines flight which has been missing since March 8.

“We are sharing all information relevant to the case with all relevant international investigative agencies,” he had said.

United States investigators had become increasingly frustrated in recent days that Malaysian authorities had not asked them for more help. Continue reading “FBI analyses pilot’s flight simulator data as search for MH370 enters 13th day”

The Acting Transport Minister, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein should not have dishonoured Parliament by causing a parliamentary crack on the MH370 crisis when he should have presented a united national front in the world’s largest-ever 26-nation multi-national air-sea search-and-rescue (SAR) operation for the missing Malaysian Airlines aircraft with 239 passengers and crew on board.

Over a hundred ships, helicopters and aircrafts as well as radar systems from 26 nations are involved in a SAR mission scouring two vast tracts of territories totaling 2.24 million sq nautical miles (about 7.68 million square kilometres) stretching from the southern Indian Ocean to Kazakhstan in the north to find the missing MH370 Boeing 777-200 aircraft.

The world’s largest-ever multi-national air-sea SAR, entering the 12th day after over 250 hours without any clue on the whereabouts of the aircraft or what happened on March 8, is in a race against time as there are only 18 days left for the search teams to locate the aircraft’s black box, the most important piece of aviation technology, as it will only transmit a signal for 30 days.

When Malaysia expects unprecedented international unity in the world’s largest-ever multi-national SAR operation, Malaysians and in particular the Malaysian Parliament must demonstrate unprecedented national unity in support of the SAR mission for the missing aircraft and not to present any parliamentary crack, division or disunity to the world on this issue. Continue reading “Hishammuddin should not have dishonoured Parliament by causing a parliamentary crack on the MH370 crisis when he should have presented a united national front in world’s largest-ever multi-national air-sea SAR”

The Malay Mail Online
March 19, 2014

KUALA LUMPUR, March 19 — The person flying Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 on a northern trajectory would need pinpoint precision to have any chance of foiling an extensive network of radars operated by heavily-militarised countries in the region, according to US defence personnel.

Speaking to the New York Times, they noted the area that is home to India, China and Pakistan — all of whom have nuclear weapon capabilities and not all of whom are on good terms — who watch their airspace meticulously.

The northern corridor is one of two that investigators have calculated the plane — now missing for more than 10 days could — could have taken. It ranges from the borders of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to the northern edge of Thailand.

“I wouldn’t be looking through China and that northern route,” Sean O’Connor, a former intelligence analyst for the US Air Force told the NYT.

“It is not out of the realm of possibility that you could pull this off, but everything would have to go your way,” said O’Connor. Continue reading “Implausible MH370 defeated all radar shields, defence sources say”

by Stephanie Pappas
LiveScience
Mar 18, 2014

Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 has been missing since Saturday, March 8, and every new piece of information seems to shroud the flight’s disappearance in more mystery.

Malaysian investigators now say deliberate action was taken to turn off communications systems and steer the aircraft far off course. “Pings” sent from the plane to a commercial satellite hours after MH370 disappeared suggest either a northern or southern route of flight, creating a search area that stretches from Kazakhstan into western China or from Indonesia into the southern Indian Ocean.

The mystery has spawned dozens of theories from experts and armchair analysts alike, all with varying degrees of credibility. Going on the information made public so far, there are only a few theories that fit — though none satisfactorily. Here are the remaining likely possibilities for flight MH370. Continue reading “Malaysia Flight MH370: 5 Likeliest Possibilities”

The Malaysian Insider
March 19, 2014

After 12 days and more than 200 hours, the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 jetliner has become a race against time for investigators trying to locate the aircraft’s black box.

ABC News reported that there are only 18 days left for the search teams to locate the most important piece of aviation technology, as it will only transmit a signal for 30 days.

The report said the black box has lost a third of its battery life since the plane disappeared on March 8 with 239 people, including 12 crew members, on board.

It will be a daunting task for the search teams to locate the black box before the battery runs out as they scour a search area of 2.24 million square nautical miles, said the American news company.

ABC News said if a plane crashes into the water, an underwater locator beacon sends out an ultrasonic pulse that cannot be heard by human ears but can be detected by sonar and acoustic-locating equipment. Continue reading “Search teams have 18 days left to find black box before battery runs out, says report”

The Malaysian Insider
March 19, 2014

The international search for flight MH370 entered its 12th day with Thailand now saying its military took 10 days to report radar blips that could have been the lost Malaysia Airlines jet “because we did not pay attention to it”.

India also reported that the Boeing 777-200ER (9M-MRO) carrying 239 people could have escaped detection by flying into a part of the Indian Ocean that gets irregular radar checks.

Both reports do not bring any fresh clues to finding the lost flight dubbed as an “unprecedented aviation mystery” after it vanished into thin air early March 8 while en route to Beijing. Continue reading “Thailand finds radar blips that could be MH370, India says Indian Ocean has black holes”

The Malaysian Insider/Reuters
March 19, 2014

The global aviation industry is reverberating with shock as well as a range of theories over the fate of the missing Malaysia Airlines MH370 jet, but most in the business think the unsolved mystery is more of a tragic red herring than a wake-up call for drastic changes.

Despite the lack of new information, flight MH370 was at the top of the agenda on the street, at the pubs and in private meetings this week at the International Society of Transport Air Trading in San Diego, the annual gathering of 1,600 airplane makers, buyers and lessors.

“The people that I deal with are looking at this with great concern – it appears considerable efforts may have gone into cloaking the aircraft,” said Robert Agnew, chief executive of aviation consultant Morten Beyer & Agnew, referring to reports that the plane’s primary means of communicating with air traffic control were intentionally disabled.

“We are speculating on what was actually done in the cockpit. If this is a planned terrorist activity, could others know the process and copy it?” he said.

Investigators are convinced that someone with deep knowledge of the Boeing Co 777-200ER aircraft and commercial navigation diverted the jet early last Saturday, carrying 12 crew and 227 passengers, perhaps thousands of miles off course.

But no physical evidence of the aircraft has been found and authorities have failed to pinpoint any passengers with a known political or criminal motive to crash or hijack the plane. Continue reading “Malaysia jetliner mystery obsesses aero industry, just what to do unclear”

The Malaysian Insider/Reuters
March 18, 2014

One is a technical wizard whose affable manner made him a favourite of trainee pilots; the other an enthusiastic young aviator planning to marry his sweetheart.

The captain and co-pilot of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 are now at the centre of a baffling paradox: as circumstantial evidence mounts that at least one of them may have been involved in the plane’s disappearance on March 8, accounts of their lives portray them as sociable, well-balanced and happy.

Described as devoted to their families and communities, neither fits the profile of a loner or extremist who might have a motive for suicide, hijacking or terrorism.

International media scrutiny and investigations by the Malaysian police have failed to turn up red flags on either the captain, 53-year-old grandfather Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah, or the co-pilot, 27-year old Fariq Abdul Hamid. Continue reading “Scrutiny of MH370 pilots reveals picture of normality”

The Malaysian Insider
March 18, 2014

After more than 10 days and numerous theories as to the whereabouts of Malaysia Airlines (MAS) flight MH370, the Business Insider has reported of an alternative theory proposed by a former pilot, which has emerged as a very plausible cause for the disappearance of the aircraft.

A few days ago, American Chris Goodfellow had written his simple case on his Google+ page on what he believed happened to the missing aircraft.

Goodfellow had based his theory on the key information of the turn back move shortly after the aircraft had left Malaysian airspace off the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia.

His theory suggests that all relevant officials, investigators and the international media are overthinking the incident behind the disappearance of flight MH370.

Based on Goodfellow’s theory, the following is what could have transpired on board the aircraft, and more specifically in the cockpit: Continue reading “Pilot may have tried to save plane, heading to Langkawi airport due to emergency”

by Aimee Turner
Air Traffic Management
March 17, 2014

The former head of security for the United States’ Federal Aviation Administration insists that rather than portraying the crew of the missing Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 as saboteurs, the pilots struggled heroically to save their aircraft until overcome by smoke from a catastrophic cargo fire.

Billie Vincent who served as the FAA’s civil aviation security chief played a key policy and crisis management role in the handling of all hijackings of US aircraft in the 1980s. He was also in charge of the agency’s armed Federal Air Marshals and served as an expert witness in the trial of the Pan Am 103 terrorist bombing.

After leaving the FAA he led an international consulting firm which was contracted in the 1990s to design and implement the security system of Malaysia’s Kuala Lumpur International Airport where Flight 370, carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew, started its journey at 12.41 am on March 8 before disappearing from civilian radar en route to Beijing at 1.21 am.

Officials in Malaysia claim that, based on ‘pings’ sent from the aircraft to an Inmarsat satellite, the aircraft was deliberately diverted and may have flown as far north as Central Asia or south over the Indian Ocean. They suspect that someone on board the aircraft first disabled one of its communications systems – the Aircraft and Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) around 40 minutes after takeoff before switching off the aircraft’s transponder in a systematic effort to render the aircraft invisible to air traffic surveillance.

Speaking exclusively to Air Traffic Management, Vincent dismisses the likelihood of a bomb being detonated on board which would have ruptured the pressure hull of the aircraft citing the fact that the aircraft was tracked by a series of satellite ‘pings’. That would indicate that Flight MH370 flew for up to seven more hours which would not have been possible if it had been compromised. Continue reading “EXCLUSIVE: Did MH370 crew succumb to fire catastrophe?”

By Lance Ulanoff
18.3.2014

It’s been more than a week since Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, flying out of Malaysia and bound for Beijing, China, disappeared. The search for the plane, now part of a criminal investigation, spans thousands and thousands of miles. With the missing Boeing 777 are 239 souls, their fate unknown and the possibilities heart-wrenching.

The desperation for resolution is so keen that the idea that technology could somehow, even now, reconnect the lost with their loved ones is seized upon -– only to be debunked by clearer heads.

Technology is so often the solution that it’s hard to imagine it could fail us so completely. So we soldier on with new theories. Continue reading “Were the Phones on Flight MH370 Ever Connected?”

By Adam Taylor
Washington Post
March 17 2014

With so few clues in the case of Malaysia Airlines MH370, the theories surrounding the missing plane are taking on a life of their own. One widespread idea is that the plane may have flown to Central Asia somewhere, flying low to avoid the radar of multiple states (or simply exposing their radar systems’ weakness). This theory, explained very well by Jeff Wise over at Slate, uses satellite data that appears to indicate that the plane was heading north at 8:10 a.m. Malaysia time March 8, and could probably have ended up in Western China or somewhere nearby.

There’s one very obvious reason this idea is enticing: It allows the possibility that the 239 passengers and crew on board the plane could be alive. Few other theories, such as a terrorist attack, a pilot suicide or some kind of mechanical failure with the plane offer much hope there. It also seems to assume that that the plane was hijacked by crew or passengers.

It doesn’t explain, however, the one thing that most high-profile hijackings, from the 1970s to the 2001 attacks on New York and Washington, have in common: Everyone knew what happened to the plane. Continue reading “What MH370 hijacking theories can’t explain”

The Malay Mail Online
March 18, 2014

KUALA LUMPUR, March 18 — The “air turnback” made by Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 was executed using the plane’s navigational computer inside the cockpit, the New York Times reported.

Citing unnamed US law enforcement officials, the newspaper said the plane was not piloted manually as initially believed, adding to the mounting evidence that the person or persons behind the “deliberate action” to divert the plane from its Beijing-bound route was intimately familiar with the Boeing 777-200ER.

Malaysia on Saturday said it was now refocusing its investigations on the 12 crew and 227 passengers of the missing plane.

According to the US officials, the crucial piece of information was contained in the final transmission of the plane’s Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) at 1.07am on March 8.

Previous information by Malaysian authorities that the ACARS was shut off prior to the plane’s last broadcast of “All right, good night” by co-pilot Fariq Ab Hamid at 1.17am, had led to suspicion falling on the two aviators at the helm.

Yesterday, MAS cleared up confusion over when the ACARS aboard MH370 was switched off, saying it could have taken place any time between 1.07am and 1.37am, when it was due to make its next transmission but never did.

But the revelation from the US investigators that the plane’s path was altered via the Flight Management System prior to the final ACARS transmission indicates that the plan to divert the plane may have been set in motion even before then. Continue reading “MH370 was programmed to turn around, investigators claim”

By Finlo Rohrer & Tom de Castella
BBC News Magazine
14 March 2014

Mystery still surrounds the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH 370 but the speculation going on reveals something about lay people’s assumptions of air crashes.

What is likely to be the main cause of a passenger plane crashing?

Mechanical failure? Or human error?

There are many people whose first assumption – after terrorism or hijacking is discounted – when a plane is lost is that some physical part has failed catastrophically. But mechanical failures alone account for only a small proportion of airliner crashes.

For fatal accidents, one calculation puts the primary cause as “pilot error” in 50% of all cases.

One of the most common scenarios for a plane crash (more than a fifth of all fatal accidents between 2006-11, according to the International Civil Aviation Organization) is known as “controlled flight into terrain” (CFIT), referring to aircraft that were piloted into the ground, water, mountains or other terrain. Continue reading “Mechanical v human: Why do planes crash?”

The Malaysian Insider
March 18, 2014

Malaysia vehemently denies mishandling crucial information on the fate of missing Malaysia Airlines flight 370, but questions persist as to whether early missteps and secrecy contributed to the disappearance of a huge passenger plane on a clear night.

Foreign media reports, especially those in China’s state media, have accused the Malaysian authorities of incompetence, misleading the public and exacerbating the suffering of the relatives of those missing.

Two-thirds of the passengers on the Boeing-777 that effectively vanished 11 days ago were Chinese nationals.

The Malaysian government has pleaded for patience and understanding, arguing it has no choice but to hold back information that has not been painstakingly verified.

Critics say the lack of progress in the search for the plane is symptomatic of an inefficient ruling elite unused to tough questioning.

“The Malaysian leadership is not used to being held to account on anything,” Michael Barr, an Asian politics expert at Flinders University in Australia, told AFP.

“They are more used to controlling the press and silencing critics,” he said. Continue reading “Malaysia under scrutiny as plane mystery drags on”