Category: MH 370

– Guy Gratton
The Malaysian Insider
7 March 2015

The disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 a year ago has led to one of the largest search exercises in history. The 140-tonne aircraft and all its 239 passengers and crew remain missing, and the search continues across 17,000km² of ocean up to 5km deep. For comparison, we knew within 20km where the 50,000 tonne Titanic sank in 1912, in water 4km deep – and even then it took 73 years to find it.

A steel ship is much easier to find than an aluminium aircraft because it has a far larger effect on the earth’s magnetic field and so is easier to detect. More obviously, locating something as big as a cruise liner based on a fairly good knowledge of the location is much easier than finding a much smaller aircraft in a large area of the Indian Ocean.

Why don’t we know where MH370 went, wasn’t it being tracked? Near to major cities and population centres, state air traffic control uses primary radar – which locates objects using reflected radio waves. But radar’s range is only a few hundred miles, and while airliners carry their own radar this is calibrated for detecting storms and mountains, not other aircraft. Continue reading “Why we must keep searching for MH370”

by Melati A. Jalil
The Malaysian Insider
7 March 2015

United in sorrow, the next of kin of crew members on board Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 gathered tonight for strength and solidarity as they recounted the disbelief and terror they felt one year ago upon hearing that the plane carrying their loved ones had vanished.

“Oh My God, oh my God, oh my God, what’s going on, what’s going on,” was the first thing Melanie Antonio said when she first heard the news of the Beijing-bound jetliner’s disappearance on March 8, 2014.

Antonio, the wife of chief steward Andrew Nari recalled the shock and the speechlessness she felt that morning.

“They said the flight had lost contact and I said, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, what’s going on, what’s going on… seriously that’s what I said because I was shocked,” she told The Malaysian Insider tonight at the One Year Remembrance of MH370 Cabin Crew Families event in Petaling Jaya.

There were 12 crew members, including the pilot and co-pilot, on board the plane that lost contact with civilian radar over the waters off Vietnam as it headed towards Beijing from Kuala Lumpur. The plane then did an air turn back before flying southwards to the Indian Ocean, where it is believed to have ended, and where a massive undersea search is ongoing.

Kelvin Shim, whose wife Christine Tan was the lead stewardess, said he told himself that what he was experiencing could not be true. Continue reading “MH370 next of kin recall their disbelief at news of missing plane”

Arfa Yunus
The Rakyat Post
Mar 7, 2015

KUALA LUMPUR, March 8, 2015:

“I think he is still alive, they all are, but I have a feeling that they are never coming back”.

Those were the words of MH370 chief steward Andrew Nari’s daughter, Maira Elizabeth Nari, who up until now still believes that the passengers and crew of the ill-fated flight are still alive.

Speaking to The Rakyat Post, Maira expressed her anger and said that the mystery involving the Boeing 777-200ER did not make sense and believed that “something fishy is going on”.

“How can a big plane just disappear? Maybe it is being kept somewhere. I am at this point where I don’t even know what to say or think anymore.” Continue reading “It doesn’t make sense, says Maira Elizabeth Nari”

BY MAYURI MEI LIN
The Malay Mail Online
March 7, 2015

KUALA LUMPUR, March 7 — The government’s decision to release an interim report on the first-year anniversary of the missing Flight MH370 tomorrow has drawn flak from at least one family member of the ill-fated plane’s passengers.

Grace Subathirai Nathan, whose mother Anne Catherine Daisy was among the 239 passengers and crew who vanished on March 8 last year, said she was notified earlier today that the report would be released just before the families are to hold a remembrance function for their loved ones.

“We are in so much pain at this time that we still have no news of our loved ones,” the 26-year-old lawyer told Malay Mail Online in a text message through WhatsApp.

“What is the value of releasing this report on the 8th minutes before the official start time of our NOK event?” she asked, using the acronym meaning next-of-kin.

“Can’t they release it on the 9th?” she added. Continue reading “Pained by loss, MH370 kin questions Putrajaya’s timing of report release”

The Malaysian Insider
5 March 2015

Just three days to the first anniversary of the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines (MAS) flight MH370, families of the missing passengers and crew have vowed not to give up hope until there is physical evidence of the aircraft.

In a statement today, Voice370 – a group made up of wives, husbands, children, parents and other close relatives of the missing passengers and crew – also called on Putrajaya to commit to the search for the missing plane and their loved ones until they are found.

“Despite the complete lack of wreckage found or physical evidence of a catastrophic event, the Malaysian government has officially declared that the airplane crashed, leaving no survivors, and it has ended the rescue phase of the search effort.

“We do not accept this finding and we will not give up hope until we have definitive proof of what happened to MH370,” it said. Continue reading “MH370 families vow not to give up hope until there is proof”

Jamie Smyth in Sydney and Tom Mitchell in Beijing
Financial Times
March 2, 2015

Australia, China and Malaysia will hold talks next month to consider whether to carry on funding the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, which went missing almost a year ago.

Canberra said on Monday it remained “cautiously optimistic” about finding the missing aircraft and rejected media reports that discussions had already begun on whether to call off the search — the most expensive and complex in airline history.

“Discussions are not under way to call off the search,” said a spokesman for Warren Truss, Australia’s deputy prime minister.

“Discussions are ongoing about the search. We remain cautiously optimistic about finding the plane.”

But he said that ministers at April’s tripartite meeting in Australia may discuss how to proceed if the aircraft is not found. Operations in the current search area are due to be completed by May. Continue reading “Leaders to debate MH370 search funding”

by Pathma Subramaniam and Mayuri Mei Lin
Malay Mail Online
January 31, 2015 06:47 am

SUBANG JAYA, Jan 30 — The families of the crew and passengers of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 demanded tonight the federal government rescind its public declaration that all 239 people on board the missing plane have died in an accident.

Frustrated that the families were not first consulted before the announcement was made by the Department of Civil Aviation’s yesterday, they demanded any declaration be withheld until the search is officially concluded.

“It would be a better idea for them to withdraw the declaration given that the search has not been concluded,” said Grace Subathirai, the daughter of Anne Daisy, one of the passengers.

Some 10 representatives of families of the crew and passengers on the ill-fated flight present at a late-night news conference here said the DCA’s announcement yesterday was a shock.

“It hasn’t been a year, the search isn’t complete… I and every other person, who had friend or family member or loved on board… will hold on to hope because it is not humanly possible to accept that the people you love the most in this world are gone without a shred of proof,” said Grace.

“We don’t want their condolences. We want evidence… we expected the government to care just a little bit more,” she said, holding back tears. Continue reading “Withdraw lost in accident pronouncement, MH370 kin tell Putrajaya”

Rose Troup Buchanan
Independent
29 January 2015

Authorities declared the flight’s disappearance an ‘accident’ today, but promised that the search would remain a ‘top priority’

Malaysian officials have confirmed that although the search for missing flight MH370 will continue, the disappearance of the aircraft has been labelled an “accident”, effectively drawing a line in the sand over speculation.

But for those fascinated by the mysterious disappearance of the plane, this means that there are many things we will – probably – never know.

1. Where is the plane now?

Obviously, this is the million-pound question. And one which Malaysian authorities have seemingly admitted they may never find. Although they had stressed that searching for the missing aircraft will remain a “top priority” – approaching a year after the plane’s disappearance, hope is fading.

The most recent searches have focused on a swath of ocean off the western coast of Australia. Despite the use of sophisticated sonar equipment, and aid from governments including China, nothing conclusive has turned up.

The search area has expanded massively to include the territory of a dozen countries The search area has expanded massively to include the territory of a dozen countries

2. Why were the plane’s communications systems disabled? Continue reading “MH370: Nine things we will never know about the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines plane”

“Where is the Transport Minister and Prime Minister?” encapsulates the heart-rending cries of despair and outrage of the bereaved families of 239 passengers/crew of MH 370 at the continued bungling, insensitivity and lack of respect shown to them by the Malaysian authorities.

There is no answer to the outrage of a family member who said: “They have no guts to announce it right to our face”, for it was the truth.

Clearly, the Malaysian authorities have not learnt very much from their series of blunders and failures in the mishandling of the MH 370 disaster since the disaster of the disappearance of the MAS jetliner on March 8 last year, in particular to treat the bereaved families with respect, whether with regard to the latest updates on the missing plane or government’s intention or plans.

Why didn’t the authorities first inform and consult the bereaved families before making any official announcement yesterday that MH 370 was “an accident” and all 239 passengers and crew on board presumed to have lost their lives? Continue reading ““Where is the Transport Minister and Prime Minister?” encapsulates the heart-rending cries of despair and outrage of bereaved families of 239 passengers/crew of MH 370 at the continued bungling, insensitivity and lack of respect shown to them by Malaysian authorities”

by Ida Lim
Malay Mail Online
January 29, 2015

PUTRAJAYA, Jan 29 — Families of passengers and crew aboard flight MH370 were left reeling after the Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) abruptly cancelled a hastily called media briefing on the still-missing plane.

Jacquita Gonzales, the wife of inflight supervisor Patrick Gomes, said family members found out from reporters today that the DCA was planning on giving a media update, despite having tried on their own to get updates since two days ago.

“It’s not right, we are going through a rollercoaster. One minute this, one minute that, our emotions are whacked right now. We don’t know what to say, what to feel.

“I think for the cabin crew’s family, again a rollercoaster, what do you want to announce, please put us at peace. Tell us, don’t beat around the bush, we are bright, you know,” she told reporters. Continue reading “MH370 kin say on ‘rollercoaster’ of emotions after DCA cancels presser”

by Mazliza Mustafa
The Malaysian Insider
29 January 2015

Malaysia’s declaration of flight MH370 as lost in an accident and the death of its passengers and crew is a “cover-up and an attempt by the government to close the case quickly”, family members and relatives of those on board say.

“They have no guts to announce it right to our face,” said a passenger’s family member, Mohd Sahril Shaari of the televised announcement made by the Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) this evening.

“Not only that, where was the transport minister? Where (was) the prime minister? They don’t feel that this is a priority?

“Apparently not, as the person who made the announcement was only the Department of Civil Aviation director-general,” said Sahril who was present at the scheduled press briefing earlier in the afternoon which was cancelled at the last minute. Continue reading “Hurt and angry, MH370 families reject ‘death’ announcement”

by Hamzah Nazari
The Rakyat Post
Jan 29, 2015

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 29, 2015:

The wife of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370 crew member Patrick Francis Gomes is asking if the announcement by the Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) is a step towards ending the search for the missing aircraft.

Jacquita Gonzales found fault with the announcement for many reasons, among them that DCA director-general Datuk Azharuddin Abdul Rahman referred to various airline conventions in his speech.

She wanted a promise to be made that the search will continue.

Azharuddin today announced that the Malaysian government had classified the MH370 incident as an accident with no survivors, although the search will continue.

“You (Azharuddin) said the search would go on, but for how long?” Jacquita asked.

From her understanding of what Azharuddin said, Jacquita said it seemed like the search would only continue as long as it was practical, possibly only until May this year.

“After that, who is going to conduct the search? If they follow the convention, they can terminate the search whenever they want.

“Give us an assurance that it will continue until the plane is found.” Continue reading “‘Is declaration one step closer to ending search?’”

COMMENTARY BY THE MALAYSIAN INSIDER
31 December 2014

2014 has been a wretched and horrendous year for Malaysia, with very little spots of sunny cheer for Malaysians. All 52 weeks have seen us angry and sad – not quite the happy Malaysia Truly Asia that we portray in tourism advertisements.

Grief has been Malaysia’s main point of unity – from the mysterious disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 on March 8 to flight MH17 that was shot out of the sky on July 17 to the tragic crash of AirAsia Bhd Indonesian affiliate’s flight QZ8501 on December 28, in the last days of the year.

Three commercial plane crashes linked to Malaysia in just a year – what are the chances of that?

And while that dominated the headlines, there has been other events that added to Malaysia’s grief. Statistics showed that 189 people died of dengue so far this year, up from 95 in 2013. Continue reading “A wretched, horrendous year, with little cheer”

By Laura Smith-Spark and Ashley Fantz, CNN
December 30, 2014

(CNN) — The discovery of debris from AirAsia Flight QZ8501 means investigators have taken a big step toward answering the questions haunting the families of those aboard the doomed plane. What are the key questions, and what might come next?

What caused the plane to crash?

It’s the million-dollar question. And as yet, nobody knows. Ahead lies a possibly months-long investigation into what happened after the Airbus A320-200 lost contact with air traffic control early Sunday.

Shortly beforehand, the pilot requested permission to turn and climb to a higher altitude because of bad weather, according to Indonesian officials.

Some experts have said the aircraft might have experienced an aerodynamic stall because of a lack of speed or from flying at too sharp an angle to get enough lift.

Analysts have also said that the pilots might not have been getting information from onboard systems about the plane’s position or that rain or hail from thunderstorms in the area could have damaged the engines.

The key to understanding what happened is likely to be contained in the aircraft’s cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder, commonly known as black boxes.

“Until we get the black boxes, we won’t know what’s going on with the engines,” Bill Savage, a former pilot with 30 years of experience, told CNN. Continue reading “10 questions about the AirAsia Flight QZ8501 tragedy”

Reuters
Dec 30, 2014

By Wilda Asmarini and Adriana Nina Kusuma

JAKARTA, Dec 30 (Reuters) – Indonesian rescuers searching for a missing AirAsia plane carrying 162 people pulled bodies and wreckage from the sea off the coast of Borneo on Tuesday as relatives of those on board broke down in tears on hearing the news.

Indonesia AirAsia’s Flight QZ8501, an Airbus A320-200, lost contact with air traffic control early on Sunday during bad weather on a flight from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore.

The navy said 40 bodies had been recovered as dusk fell.

The plane has yet to be found and there was no word on the possibility of any survivors. Continue reading “UPDATE 6-Bodies, debris from missing AirAsia plane pulled from sea off Indonesia”

By Jeff Wise
Slate
Dec. 29, 2014

With AirAsia 8501, a storm could have been the cause. With Malaysia Airlines 370, we still don’t know.

March 8, 2014. Malaysia Airlines 370 takes off from Kuala Lumpur, heads north, and disappears 40 minutes into its flight. Dec. 28, 2014. AirAsia 8501 takes off from Surabaya, Indonesia, heads north, and disappears about 40 minutes into its flight.*

Are the events coincidental? Is there something about Southeast Asian passenger flights that makes them particularly vulnerable to Twilight Zone–style vanishing? Or have we entered a new era of air travel, in which anyone could disappear midair for no apparent reason?

There are certainly a number of parallels between the flights. AirAsia Indonesia is a daughter company of AirAsia, which—like Malaysia Airlines—is headquartered near Kuala Lumpur. Both flights were scheduled to arrive in the morning. Neither issued a distress call or sent out an emergency locator beacon signal. And then there’s the question of proximity, both temporal (the incidents took place less than 10 months apart) and spatial (QZ8501 was last seen on radar less than 50 miles from the final MH370 “ping ring”). Continue reading “Why Do Planes Keep Disappearing?”

By Jethro Mullen, CNN
August 28, 2014

(CNN) — It’s another small sliver of information in the expanse of mystery surrounding Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.

A failed satellite phone call suggests the missing passenger jet may have turned south slightly earlier than previously thought during its enigmatic journey, Australian authorities said Thursday.

After Flight 370 dropped off radar on March 8, Malaysia Airlines ground staff tried to make contact with the plane using a satellite phone, Australian Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss said at a news conference in the Australian capital, Canberra.

The attempt was unsuccessful, he said, but subsequent analysis of the failed call has given experts a better idea of the aircraft’s position and where it was traveling. Continue reading “Australia: MH370 may have turned south earlier than previously thought”

This forum on the fifth anniversary of the mysterious death, in fact murder, of Teoh Beng Hock at the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) premises in Shah Alam on July 16, 2009 is held under the shadow of another great tragedy and injustice, the MH 17 disaster on 17th July where 298 innocent lives from some 10 nations were snuffed out in an instant when the Malaysian Airlines Boeing 777 jetliner was blown out of Ukraine airspace by a surface-to-air missile.

On that fateful Thursday night, the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak promised that “no stone would be left unturned” to investigate the MH 17 tragedy and that the perpetrators of the crime against humanity must be swiftly brought to justice.

I had given full support to Najib’s statement calling on all Malaysians to stand united as one with the Prime Minister in seeking “swift justice” against the perpetrators of the heinous crime against humanity in causing the MH 17 tragedy.

As I said at the candlelight vigil and prayer for MH 17 a short while ago outside this hall, Malaysians have prided themselves of being blessed in a land without natural disasters like earthquakes, typhoons or volcanic eruptions, but we have recently been reminded that Malaysians are vulnerable to many man-made disasters – two of which hit Malaysia in the form of unprecedented air disasters MH 370 and MH 17 in less than five months, claiming 537 innocent lives. Continue reading “How the three MACC officers implicated in TBH’s death could be cleared of indiscipline by the MACC special investigation team without having to suffer any penalty whatsoever?”

KOMENTAR THE MALAYSIAN INSIDER
20 July 2014

Penggubal undang-undang di Malaysia dari kedua belah pihak akan berpeluang pada Rabu ini membincangkan dan mengutuk serangan peluru berpandu yang meletupkan kapal terbang MAS MH17 bersama 298 penumpangnya Khamis lalu.

Amat berbesar hati apabila ahli politik sudi mengenepikan perbalahan mereka dan bersatu menentang sesuatu yang boleh dikatakan pembunuhan beramai-ramai manusia tidak berdosa di zon perang Ukraine. Tetapi bagaimana pula dengan pesawat MH370?

Sementara Malaysia menumpukan kepada tragedi kedua menimpa negara dan syarikat penerbangan negara Malaysia Airlines dalam jarak tempoh empat bulan, adakah kita lupa tragedi pertama itu masih menjadi misteri hingga sekarang?

Kita akan jadi sebuah negara yang lalai kiranya kita buang jauh MH370 dari ingatan hanya kerana pesawat Boeing 777-200ER dengan nombor pendaftaran 9M-MRO bersama 239 penumpangnya itu tidak dapat dijejaki. Continue reading “Parlimen akan bincang MH17, juga perlu lihat kes MH370”

COMMENTARY BY THE MALAYSIAN INSIDER
20 July 2014

Malaysian lawmakers from both sides of the political divide will have a chance this coming Wednesday to discuss and condemn the missile attack that blew flight MH17 with 298 people on board out of the sky last Thursday.

It is heartening that the politicians are leaving aside their quarrel to unite against what is essentially a massacre of innocent people over the Ukrainian war zone. But what about flight MH370?

While Malaysia focuses on the second tragedy for the country and flag carrier Malaysia Airlines in four months, are we forgetting about the first one that still remains a mystery until today.

We would be remiss as a country if we file away MH370 to some distant memory just because there is no trace of the Boeing 777-200ER and the 239 people on board. Continue reading “Parliament to discuss MH17, also needs to look into MH370”