The Malaysian Insider
March 16, 2014
Indian military authorities have dismissed the possibility that the Malaysia Airlines (MAS) flight MH370, which mysteriously disappeared eight days ago en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur, could have flown over India on its way to Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan in Central Asia, the Times of India reported.
“If the jetliner had tried to cross the Indian mainland, our primary radars (which bounce radio signals off targets) would have picked it up despite its transponders being switched off (secondary radars beam signals that request information from a plane’s transponders),” said a top Indian Air Force (IAF) officer.
If an “unidentified” plane had been picked up flouting prescribed procedures or with switched-off transponders or not “squawking” IFF (identification, friend or foe) codes, a series of “air defence measures” would have kicked in – including the scrambling of fighters – to “detect, identify, intercept and destroy” the intruder, the newspaper reported.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak yesterday said the missing plane’s last communication with a satellite suggested it could have been “deliberately diverted” after its transponders were switched off.
Najib also the plane would have diverted into “two possible corridors or arcs”, namely a northern one stretching from northern Thailand to Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, and a southern one from Indonesia to southern Indian Ocean.
Senior Indian military officers admitted there were “a few gaps” in India’s civil and military radar networks, but stressed it would be “virtually impossible” for a jetliner to fly undetected across the Indian mainland.
“The five Airports Authority of India radars at Delhi, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Chennai and Mumbai are integrated with IAF’s air defence network. The possibility is far-fetched,” said an officer.
“Why also forget the robust air defence networks of countries like Pakistan, fully-geared towards India, or the US-led forces in Afghanistan or Iran for that matter, all of which would have been on this so-called flight arc,” he added.
Former IAF vice-chief, Air Marshal P K Barbora, in turn, added, “Both India and Pakistan are very wary of any blip that comes up on their radars… it’s very unlikely that a plane could have flown across the vast stretch of land without being detected by one or some other country.
“An aircraft flying low to avoid radars would not be able to go such a long distance.”
Indian officials are of the opinion that MH370, hijacked or otherwise, probably went down in the Bay of Bengal or southern Indian Ocean after being diverted.
And that is precisely where India is concentrating its search as part of the ongoing multi-nation hunt for the missing jetliner, the newspaper reported.
“The Navy, IAF and Coast Guard are scanning an area spanning over 250,000 sq km in the Andaman Sea and Bay of Bengal with six warships and extensive aerial surveillance by aircraft like P-8I long-range maritime patrol planes, medium-range Dornier-228s and a C-130J Super Hercules with electro-optic and infra-red sensors. But so far, no sighting or detection has been reported,” said an officer. – March 16, 2014.
Check out this past austalian high court case.
The facts of the case is not quite applicable to the present mh370 case (depending on how one reads it).
Anyway, the judgment makes reference to several important pieces of international legal documents.
For those who are interested read on: Povey vs Qantas Airways
http://www.ipsofactoj.com/DecidedCases/international/2006/Part01/int2006(01)-014.htm
The boeing 777 only has fuel that last 7 hours. Hours. And if it were to land in India, the authorities there would notify the authorities here of 1 highly suspicious, strange, peculiar airline that came out of no way and decide to land in India. Send Malaysian immigration officers to Australia for strict training. Do you know how to check a passport ?
The plane’s fuel only last 7 hours. Surely the India authorites would notify Malaysia of 1very strange, suspicious MAS aircraft landing on it’s soil when there is no schedule of such flights.
In the search for a missing, Malaysia has again become a laughing stock after issuing all sorts of conflicting statements, announcement, then cancellation and then confirmation, reconfirmation to be followed only by non ending corrections, the bomoh embarrassment and now the two corridor postulation in opposite direction. What is next? Are we a confused nation with nothing but good imagination
D search 4 d elusive MH370 is excruciatingly painful, just like d search 4 d elusive RM1 chicken, YET 2 b located, akan datang
Chinese leaders and media called Malaysian leaders’ belated release of vital info ‘deceptive’.
Malaysians too should have a similar zero tolerance for deception and incompetence.
We should demand Najib resign over such incompetence and so much national shame caused by the serial bungling of the investigations.
How will we ever stand tall again in the international community?
I am certainly not as stupid as our ‘beloved’ PM but I will have to suffer the ignominy that an ignoramus fool has brought to this country.
India says the plane wouldn’t escape their military radar but it did fly over Malaysian air space escaping 3 radars without any action taken. (Malaysian air force personnel sleeping on the job???).
About plane fuel lasting for 7 hours. What if the skilled “pilot” flew the plane with only one engine on? For all we know the plane could have landed safely at a predisignated landing strip. NO?
I have a cousin in law on board MH370. He & his wife have 3 yound kids. For such gross negligence on the part of MAS & the Malaysian government, what legal action can the family members take against them???
are we all surprised? we have fighter jet without engine, submarine that cant submerge, now radars that are useless – malaysia boleh
The problem now is who is more responsible between the military and the Raja Bomoh ? Seemed we have a lot more questions to answer than to solve.lol