Jens Flottau
Aviation Week
Jun 3, 2014
Emirates Airline President Tim Clark is demanding more transparency in the investigation of the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370. “We are the largest operator of the Boeing 777 in the world. I need to know how anybody could interdict our systems,” Clark told Aviation Week in an interview on the sidelines of the International Air Transport Association’s (IATA) annual general assembly in Doha, Qatar. “Something is not right here and we need to get to the bottom of it.”
Clark criticized how the investigation into the disappearance of the Malaysian Boeing 777 has been handled. “There have been many questions unanswered or dealt with in a manner that is unacceptable to the forensic nature of the inquiry.” He believes that “this aircraft was disabled in three primary systems. To be able to disable those requires a knowledge of the system which even our pilots in Emirates don’t know how to do. Somebody got on board and knew exactly what they were up to.”
Clark also does not believe that the aircraft was not seen when it flew over land in Malaysia after its initial unplanned left turn. “The notion that the track of an aircraft going across the Malaysian peninsula was not picked up on primary radar, sorry, I don’t subscribe to that view.”
The Emirates President is also skeptical about the industry initiatives on flight tracking. “We have never lost an aeroplane in 50 years, we have always known where they are. Whoever was clever enough to interdict the system, will be able to interdict this one as well.” To Clark, tracking is not the main issue: “the first thing you need to do is do not allow anybody on board to disable ACARS – job done.”