http://rt.com/news/malaysia-mh370-search-cockpit-617/
( Another example of why such distrust exists with what has happened with Flight 370... Once again Malaysian authorites come across as incompetent , scheming to focus blame on the pilots for whatever has happened and then when the facts come out - the initial story turns out to be incorrect . Can you blame conspiracy believers ? )
Malaysia releases updated MH370 cockpit transcript, fueling speculation
A new version of the cockpit conversation that took place shortly before flight MH370 disappeared from radar over three weeks ago has stirred up fresh speculation over the fated liner as search efforts continue to turn up nothing.
The just-released transcript released by Malaysian officials shows the final sign-off between the pilots of flight MH370 that disappeared on March 8 with 239 people on board was "Goodnight Malaysian 370" and not "all right Goodnight" as was originally reported.
Malaysian officials had originally said the final sign off between the cockpit and traffic control had been given by co-pilot, Fariq Abdul Hamid, 27. However, officials are holding off an official statement on the identity of the speaker pending forensic examination of the recording.
This seemingly insignificant version of events, coming as it does more than three weeks after the flight went missing, has set off a storm of speculation as the physical hunt for the airliner continues to turn up no evidence of an airplane.
The cockpit transcript, which involves just under one hour of seemingly routine conversation, was shared with families of the passengers and crew.
Air Traffic Control: "Malaysian Three Seven Zero contact Ho Chi Minh 120 decimal 9, good night."
MH370: "Good night, Malaysian Three Seven Zero."
MH370: "Good night, Malaysian Three Seven Zero."
Malaysian authorities maintain there is nothing "abnormal" about the newly released cockpit communications.
Hishammuddin Hussein, Malaysia’s acting minister of transport who has become the official government spokesperson regarding the disappearance of MH370, remains convinced the aircraft disappeared after a deliberate act by someone on board. Questioned on his assumption in an interview with Chinese state broadcaster CCTV, Hussein said: "it seems that way."
"The four areas that the police are looking into: the possible terrorist angle, hijacking, personal problems or the psychological dimension of it. That is being shared by all intelligence agencies around the world."
Asked about the chance of survivors, Hishammuddin, who arrived in Hawaii on Tuesday to petition the US to intensify its efforts to find the missing plane, offered some hope: "miracles do happen," he said.
The latest news on the communications will only add to the mounting anger and frustration of the relatives of the missing passengers, the majority of whom are of Chinese descent, who have openly expressed their dissatisfaction with the Malaysian government and Malaysian Airlines’ handling of the situation.
Last week, Malaysian officials fueled the criticism when they revealed there was “sealed evidence” in regard to the missing flight that cannot be disclosed.
“The sealed evidence included air traffic control radio transcript, radar data and airport security recordings,” the Straits Times reported.
The hunt for MH370 continues
Search technicians from Malaysia, China and Australia are scheduled to brief skeptical relatives of the passengers on Wednesday in Kuala Lumpur.
"The experts will be able to explain the research, the data and the methodology that has informed the search operation," Hussein, the transport minister, said.
At the same time, Inmarsat, the British satellite firm that said the Malaysian Airlines flight ended in the southern Indian Ocean, told reporters it was not invited to take part in this briefing, or a briefing last week in Beijing where relatives expressed their anger at the company's analysis.
Malaysian officials claimed that British experts were requested to attend the briefing but declined the invitation.
Chris McLaughlin, Inmarsat's vice-president for external affairs, said this was an inaccurate description of events.
Chris McLaughlin, Inmarsat's vice-president for external affairs, said this was an inaccurate description of events.
"It is no true that we refused to take part in a briefing last week,” he said in comments to the Guardian. “I assume that that was just a degree of confusion because it is very difficult thing that they [the Malaysian authorities] are doing. We hadn’t been invited."
Meanwhile, the monotonous and painstaking search effort over vast amounts of endless ocean, which is taking a physical toll on search teams, continues to turn up no sign of missing MH370.
Australia's Chief Marshal Angus Houston, the head of the search for the missing aircraft, has described the operation as the most challenging he has ever encountered, warning the operation "could drag on" for some time, according to the Australian Associated Press.
“What we really need now is to find debris, wreckage from the aircraft,” he said. “We've been searching for many, many days and so far have not found anything connected with MH370.”
Australian officials said on Tuesday that they had deployed an airborne traffic controller over the increasingly crowded Indian Ocean to prevent a mid-air collision among the many aircraft searching the area.
On Tuesday, 11 planes and nine ships were focusing on less than half of the search zone, some 120,000 square kilometers (46,000 square miles) about 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles) west of Perth.
Meanwhile, searchers know too well that they are in a race against time to locate the flight recorder from MH370. Signals from the black box are expected to weaken by the end of this week, given that the batteries have enough energy to last 30 days.
An underwater submersible vehicle designed to track the pinging sound emitted by black boxes is expected to reach the search area on Thursday.
http://www.nst.com.my/latest/font-color-red-mh370-tragedy-font-a-week-to-go-before-black-box-signal-vanishes-1.542896
01 April 2014| last updated at 02:21AM
MH370 Tragedy: A week to go before black box signal vanishes
KUALA LUMPUR: Its been 24 days since Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 disappeared and the authorities now have about a week to find the phsyical evidence, especially the 'black box' as signals from the recorder will fade out soon.
The signals emitted from the black box is powered by batteries that will die out after 30 days, and it will be difficult for the search operation to trace it without a signal, especially in a vast area like the Indian Ocean.
The multi-national search operation has identified an area of 254,000 square kilometres in the Indian Ocean, about 1,850km west of Perth, Australia, as where the plane likely went down.
Acting Transport Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein today said ten including one civilian aircraft and 10 ships had travelled to the search area to find debris that may be related to the plane.
If they can locate the debris and confirm they were from the plane, it may help the search team to narrow the search area to find the black box.
However, with arrival of the vessel Ocean Shield, which is fitted with a towed pinger locator and a Bluefin 21 autonomous underwater vehicle on Thursday in the search area, it is hoped the ship can detect the black box.
Hishammuddin said in terms of sightings of potential objects, on Saturday, five objects were retrieved by the Australian navy's warship 0HMAS Success and Haixun, a ship from China.
"However, it was found that none of these objects were related to MH370," he told a media conference on the latest developments on the search mission for MH370 here today.
On March 24, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had announced that (the flight path of) Flight MH370 ended in a remote region of the southern Indian Ocean based on detailed analyses of satellite data.
Najib also will be visiting Perth, Australia this Wednesday to see first hand the search operation for the missing aircraft in the Indian Ocean.
"Our Prime Minister has decided to travel to Perth on Wednesday for a working visit to Pearce Air force base (in Perth), to see the operation first hand and also to thank the personnel involved in the multinational search effort, including the Malaysian personnel," Hishammuddin said.
Meanwhile, Malaysia Airlines (MAS) code share partner China Southern Airlines has agreed to cooperate with MAS in giving aid to families of passengers of the ill-fated flight , said MAS chief executive officer Ahmad Jauhari Yahya.
He said MAS, however, shouldered a heavier burden because the missing aircraft belonged to the airline.
Flight MH370 was also marketed as Flight CZ748 by China Southern Airlines and there were passengers (on board) holding the Chinese airline company's tickets.
Flight MH370, carrying 227 passengers including 152 China nationals and 12 crew, left the KL International Airport at 12.41 am on March 8 and disappeared from radar screens about an hour later while over the South China Sea. It was to have landed in Beijing at 6.30 am on the same day.
A multinational search was mounted for the aircraft, first in the South China Sea and then, after it was learned that the plane had veered off course, along two corridors - the northern corridor stretching from the border of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to northern Thailand and the southern corridor, from Indonesia to the southern Indian Ocean.
Following an unprecedented type of analysis of satellite data, United Kingdom satellite telecommunications company Inmarsat and the UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) concluded that Flight MH370 flew along the southern corridor and that its last position was in the middle of the Indian Ocean, west of Perth, Australia.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak then announced on March 24, seventeen days after the disappearance of Boeing 777-200 aircraft, that Flight MH370 "ended in the southern Indian Ocean". The search continues there. - BERNAMA
01 April 2014| last updated at 10:11AM
MH370 Tragedy: U.S. judge tosses law firm's motion seeking plane evidence
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An Illinois judge on Monday dismissed a U.S. law firm's motion to obtain evidence of possible design and manufacturing defects from Boeing Co and Malaysian Airline System in connection with the disappearance of flight MH370 three weeks earlier.
Cook County Judge Kathy Flanagan also threatened to impose sanctions against Ribbeck Law Chartered, citing previous instances where the Chicago-based law firm had "improperly brought" petitions, such as last year's Asiana Airlines plane crash in San Francisco.
"Despite these orders, the same law firm has proceeded, yet again, with the filing of the instant petition, knowing full well that there is no basis to do so," said Flanagan. "Should this law firm choose to do so, the court will impose sanctions on its own motion."
Ribbeck Law last week submitted, in Illinois Circuit Court, the first-filed legal action arising from the Malaysian plane tragedy saying it sought documents from the two companies concerning employees as well as sales and lease agreements, among other things.
The firm said at the time it expected to represent families of more than half of the passengers onboard the missing flight, which may have crashed in the remote southern Indian Ocean with all 239 on board presumed dead.
Several U.S. aviation lawyers and experts called the Ribbeck filing premature and a publicity stunt, since the details of the plane's disappearance were still largely unknown.
Justin Green, a lawyer with competitor aviation law firm Kreindler & Kreindler, said the filing was "nothing short of outrageous."
"Without plane wreckage, victims' bodies and any substantial evidence of cause or potential motive, there is simply no way to determine liability at this point in the investigation, and any legal counsel should recognize that," he said in a statement on Monday.
Ribbeck lawyer Mervin Mateo said in an interview he had not yet reviewed Flanagan's ruling but that the firm would not be deterred in its attempts to bring lawsuits against Malaysian Airlines and Boeing.
Mateo told said last week the firm had its own experts doing investigations of the Malaysian crash.
He named one expert, Canadian plane crash investigator Max Vermij.
Vermij, who has investigated plane disasters such as the Asiana crash and the EgyptAir crash of 1999, said in a separate interview, "I'm just waiting ... They haven't found anything that is suspicious in terms of the handling of the situation. It's more likely that it's just a straight accident ... We don't really know anything."--Reuters
and from 3/31/14.....
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/31/mh370-search-will-take-some-time-to-come-live-updates
Summary
Here's a summary of the main developments so far today:
- Malaysia has warned that "time is running out" for finding the flight recorders from MH370. Signals from the black box recorders are expected to degrade by the end of this week - 30 days after the plane went missing. A pinger locator for detecting black boxes is being tested off the Australian coast, but it will not reach the search area until Thursday.
- International experts who have been advising Malaysia on the missing plane are to brief relatives of the missing passengers after refusing to do so last week. The briefing, will take place "soon" in Kuala Lumpur, and will broadcast live to families in Beijing. It is expected to include the British company Inmarsat and the UK's Air Accidents Investigation Branch which concluded that the plane crashed into the southern Indian ocean. Last week Malaysian officials said the British experts refused to brief the relatives. AAIB said Malaysia should lead the communication with relatives.
- On Wednesday Malaysia's prime minister Najib Razak will visit the western Australian city of Perth where the search operation is being coordinated. He will thank search teams which currently include military personnel from Malaysia, Australia, the US, New Zealand, China, Japan and Korea.
- The search area has been narrowed to 98,000 miles square (254,000 km square) west of Perth. Ten aircraft scoured the area today and a further 11 ships have been deployed. None of the objects recovered and spotted in the area have so far have been found to be related to MH370.
- Malaysia is to lobby the US for more military help in finding the plane. Malaysia's defence minister and acting transport minister Hishammuddin Hussein will make the request at a meeting of defence ministers in Hawaii on Tuesday.
- Malaysia has told relatives that it has not given up hope of finding survivors however remote the possibility.Hishammuddin said he promised the families that Malaysia would never give up searching for their loved ones until it finds out what happened to MH370.
- Australia's prime minister, Tony Abbott, says his country owes it to the wider world to keep searching for the missing plane for "quite some time to come". He said the Australian-led search was a difficult exercise with limited information, but it was an "act of international citizenship".
Here's the full text of Hishammuddin's opening statement to today's briefing:
Introductory statement
Before I begin today’s briefing, I would like to reiterate what Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbot said this morning.
The international co-operation underway in the search for MH370 is nothing short of tremendous.The militaries of Malaysia, Australia, the United States, New Zealand, China, Japan and Korea are all working to find the missing plane.I should also like to point out that Indonesia has given clearance for 94 sorties - by aircraft from nine different countries - to fly in their airspace, as part of this search.
As Prime Minister Abbot said, it is heartening to see so many different countries working together for a humanitarian cause; to resolve this extraordinary mystery; and to bring closure for the families of those on board.Prime Minister’s trip to Perth
This morning, the Prime Minister spoke with Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbot. Prime Minister Abbot gave a full update on the status of the search operations, headed out of Perth.Our Prime Minister has decided to travel to Perth on Wednesday for a working visit to Pearce Air force base, to see the operations first hand and also to thank the personnel involved in the multinational search effort, including the Malaysian personnel.Operational update
This afternoon, the Australian High Commissioner to Malaysia briefed me on the creation of a new, Joint Agency Co-ordination Centre (JACC), which will be based out of Pearce Air force base in Perth.The JACC will be headed by Air Chief Marshal (ret.) Angus Houston, the former Chief of the Defense Force Australia.
The JACC will co-ordinate operations between all Australian government agencies and international search teams.As per the information that we have received from the Australian authorities, the area of search today is 254,000 square kilometres.Today, nine military aircraft and one civilian aircraft travelled to the search area. These planes were:• two Malaysian C-130.
• one Chinese Ilyushin IL-76.
• one Japanese Coast Guard G5.
• one Australian P3 Orion.
• one New Zealand P3 Orion.
• one New Zealand civilian aircraft.
• one American P8 Poseidon.
• one Japanese P3 Orion.
• one Korean P3 Orion.Today eleven ships were also deployed to the search area:• Eight Chinese ships:
- the Xue Long,
- the Kunlunshan,
- the Haikou,
- the Qiandaohu Jian,
- the Jing Gang Shan,
- the Haixun,
- the Dong Hai Jian,
- and the Nan Hai Jian.
• Three Australian ships:
- the HMAS Success,
- the HMAS Toowoomba
- and MV Barkley Pearl, which is currently transiting in the search area.The Malaysian ship, the KD Lekiu, is expected to arrive in the search area on 3 April.The ADV Ocean Shield - fitted with the towed pinger locator and a Bluefin 21 autonomous underwater vehicle - is due to arrive in the search area on 3 April.In terms of the sightings of potential objects:On Saturday, five objects were retrieved by HMAS Success and the Haixun. However, it was found that none of these objects were related to MH370.On Sunday, an Australian P3 Orion made visual sightings of seven potential objects. A Korean P3 Orion also made visuals of three potential objects.The Chinese ship, the Haixun, was tasked on Monday to retrieve these potential objects.ASEAN Defence Ministers’ meeting
In my capacity as Malaysian Defence Minister, I will leave tonight for the United States Pacific Command in Hawaii.
I will attend the ASEAN Defence Ministers’ meeting, which will be held from 1st to the 3rd of April.The meeting is being convened by US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel.On behalf of the Malaysian Government, I will share with my ASEAN counterparts, and the Government of the United States, the latest developments regarding the search for MH370.I will convey to our ASEAN neighbours and the United States, Malaysia’s utmost appreciation for their invaluable help in the multi-national search effort.I will also use this opportunity to discuss the possibility of deploying more specific military assets, in the event that we need to embark on a more complex phase of the operation. I shall be discussing with the United States, and our other friends and allies, how best we can acquire the assets needed for possible deep sea search and recovery.Meeting with the Indonesian Special Envoy
Today, I held a meeting with the Indonesian Special Envoy and Special Advisor to the Foreign Minister, Madam Wiwiek Setyawati Firman, and her delegation. The delegation included H.E. Mr. Herman Prayitno, the Ambassador of Indonesia to Malaysia.The Special Envoy expressed her heartfelt gratitude to the Government of Malaysia and the multinational team conducting the search operation.The Special Envoy also stated that Indonesia fully understands the complexity and the magnitude of the challenge ahead, and reaffirms its unshakeable support for Malaysia.Next of Kin
Yesterday a group of families, whose loved ones were on board MH370, arrived in Kuala Lumpur from Beijing.
The Government is due to hold a high-level briefing soon for these families, to update them on the latest developments regarding the search for MH370.The briefing will include international experts who were not available during the briefings in Beijing, including experts from China. It will also be broadcasted live to other families in Beijing.The search for MH370 continues to be a large, complex, multinational effort involving many countries and international agencies.Much of the research that has been used to track MH370 has been provided to the Malaysian investigators by our international partners.This research is extremely complicated, involving teams of highly specialised experts, many of whom are based in different countries around the world.The briefing will provide an opportunity for the families to hear directly from some of these experts. The experts will be able to explain the research, the data and the methodology that has informed the search operation.Concluding remarks
We understand that it has been a difficult time for all the families. And we appreciate that many families want to see physical evidence before they will accept that MH370 ended in the southern Indian Ocean.We find ourselves in a difficult position. I repeat: the question that the families principally want answered, is the question we simply do not have the answer to - namely, where their loved ones are, and where is MH370.On Saturday I met with the Malaysian and Chinese families based in Kuala Lumpur. It was the most difficult meeting I’ve ever attended.The families are heartbroken. For many, the strain of the past few weeks has been unbearable. But the one message they delivered to me again and again is not to give up hope.
And I promised the families that Malaysia, working with our international partners, will not give up hope. We will continue with all our efforts to find MH370.This is a promise that Malaysia intends to keep. We will continue searching, and we will keep investigating, and we will never give up until we find out what happened to MH370.
From Malaysia Chronicle....
Tuesday, 01 April 2014 07:09
MH370 pilot NOT under stress, voice stress test shows
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KUALA LUMPUR - Voice stress analysis of the final radio transmission from Malaysia Airlines MH370 gave no indication that the pilot who made it was under duress, according to a report by China-based CCTV.
In a crossover telecast to Beijing yesterday, news anchor James Chau included the information as part of a revelation that the last words spoken — presumably by co-pilot Fariq Ab Hamid — were “Good night, Malaysian 370” rather than the previously circulated “Alright, good night.”
“What we do know is these (Good night, Malaysian 370) are the correct words, we do know that voice analysis shows that the voice that spoke those words at that time was also not under any obvious signs of duress or pressure,” Chau said.
The anchor on the state-owned English language news channel said the information detracted from the likelihood that either or both pilots on board the plane that went missing on March 8 with 239 people on board had acted with criminal intent.
The CCTV report was the latest contradiction to emerge from investigations into the missing Boeing 777-200ER that have been riddled with inconsistencies, but Chau was quick to note that this new development was positive.
He said this showed Malaysia was committed to revisiting previously known “facts” about the case, in light of the plane’s continued disappearance.
But the two new pieces of information also deepened the “unprecedented” mystery that has left both investigators and searchers racing to locate the plane, baffled.
On March 15, Malaysia announced that MH370 was deliberately taken off course on the day it disappeared, and that investigations were now focused on the 12 crew members and 227 passengers on board.
Attention has fallen most on the two pilots — captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah and Fariq — as investigators insist the circumstances of the plane’s diversion required piloting and avionics expertise.
Investigators also said all 227 passengers were cleared by intelligence agencies from all countries whose nationals were on board, save for Russia
While the two pilots have borne the brunt of public suspicion, investigators have not found any evidence to suggest foul play on the part of either man or anyone else on board, for that matter.
Search effort is now concentrated in a section of the Indian Ocean some 2,000km west of Perth in Western Australia where satellite images have spotted pieces of debris possibly from MH370, although recovery could still take years even if it is established that the plane went down at the location.
Time is running out, however, to locate the missing wreckage using the locator beacons on the two so-called “black boxes” — a flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder — before their 30-day battery life expires.
With the US Navy’s towed pinger locator, dubbed the “black box finder”, only expected to arrive at the search site 2,000km west of Perth in Western Australia on April 3, searchers may have as few as five precious days to find the two recorders before they fall silent.
Investigations are now completely resting on the discovery of the two crucial pieces of equipment, as lack of known facts in the plane’s disappearance has prevented investigators from credibly presenting a plausible scenario. -Malaymail
Tuesday, 01 April 2014 07:11
High-level briefing for families of passengers on board MH370
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Families of passengers aboard missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 will be given a comprehensive high-level briefing soon, which will include input from aviation experts, said Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein (pic, centre).
He said the high level briefings would be held for the families of passengers currently in Kuala Lumpur. Yesterday a group of families arrived from Beijing.
"The briefing will include international experts who were not available during the briefings in Beijing, including experts from China. It will also be broadcast live to other families in Beijing," Hishammuddin said.
"The briefing will provide an opportunity for the families to hear directly from some of these experts. The experts will be able to explain the research, the data and the methodology that have informed the search operation."
Hishammuddin met with family members, both local and foreign, on Saturday and he described it as the most difficult meeting he had ever attended.
"The families are heartbroken. For many, the strain over the past few weeks has been unbearable."
"But the constant message which I received from the families was that Malaysia must not give up hope in locating MH370," he told reporters at the Putra World Trade Centre today.
"We do not have the answers to the questions which they frequently ask, which is where are their loved ones," Hishammuddin said.
Hishammuddin said he had made a promise to the family members and relatives that he would not give up hope of locating MH370.
"Malaysia will keep its promise. We will continue searching, and we will keep investigating, and we will never give up until we find out what happened to MH370," he said.
"We understand that it has been a difficult time for all the families involved," Hishammuddin said.
"We also appreciate that many families want to see physical evidence before they accept that MH370 ended in the southern Indian Ocean."
Hishammuddin said authorities were in a difficult position as the questions which families principally wanted answered, where their loved ones are and where is MH370, are the ones for which they did not have the answers.
He said the high-level briefing for the families in Kuala Lumpur would be held soon.
"The briefing will include international experts who were not available during the briefings in Beijing, including experts from China."
"It will also be broadcast live to other families in Beijing," he said.
The briefing will provide an opportunity for the families to hear directly from some of these experts.
Meanwhile, Hishammuddin also clarified the statement which was made by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak on March 24.
"Najib said that based on data provided by satellite company Inmarsat and the UK's Air Accidents Investigations Branch (AAIB), MH370 is presumed to have ended its journey in the Indian Ocean."
Hishammuddin said Najib had never mentioned anything about MH370 crashing or whether or not there were survivors.
"Najib merely mentioned that data showed that MH370 had flown along the southern corridor and its last position was in the middle of the Indian Ocean." -TMI
Tuesday, 01 April 2014 07:13
Minister says M'sia has 'CONTINGENCY PLAN' if MH370 is never be found, but declines to give details
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KUALA LUMPUR -The Malaysian government has a contingency plan should missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 never be located, Acting Transport Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein confirmed today.
But Hishammuddin declined to reveal any details of such plans, saying it would be unfair to the families of the 239 people on board the plane that went missing on March 8.
“We have discussed it, but I think to be fair to the families, that is something we will not share at this moment because our focus is to find the aircraft,” he told reporters at the Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC) here.
He was responding to questions on whether a “backup plan” existed in the event that no debris linked to the missing plane is found.
With the multinational search already in its fourth week, several items were recovered in the Indian Ocean over the weekend but none of it belonged to the missing Boeing 777-200ER.
Hishammuddin also declined today to disclose what moves would be taken if the search exceeds 30 days, when the batteries of the plane’s “black boxes” are expected to wear out.
“What happens after 30 days expires has also been discussed and I don’t think this is an appropriate press conference to reveal that,” said Hishammuddin, who is also the defence minister.
Last week, Hishammuddin said in a daily press conference on the missing MH370 that the search operation might start using deep-sea search and salvage methods after the end of the 30-day period.
Today, he explained that the decision to use the towed pinger locator — a piece of equipment that can detect signals emitted by the black boxes as long as they are still transmitting — was made on the advice of the team involved in finding the crashed Air France flight 447.
According to Hishammuddin, the ADV Ocean Shield ship — fitted with the US’s towed pinger locator and a Bluefin 21 autonomous underwater vehicle — is expected to arrive in the search area on April 3.
This will give searchers approximately five days before the signal from the “black boxes” are set to go silent.
The minister had repeatedly stressed the importance of finding the MH370’s black boxes — its flight data and cockpit voice recorders — to help to unravel the mystery over the plane’s fate.
But with the plane missing since March 8, the black boxes are expected to stop sending out signals in seven days’ time.
This would further complicate a multinational search which has already been hampered by bad weather in recent days.
The search for the plane is now converged on a remote location in the southern Indian Ocean west of Perth, after Malaysia announced on March 24 that satellite data showed the flight “ended somewhere” in the waters there. -Malaymail
and.....
Monday, 31 March 2014 17:10
IT IS POSSIBLE for MH370 to land INTACT ON WATER - experts
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KUALA LUMPUR - With no wreckage or debris to be found of the missing Flight MH370 three weeks on, aviation experts said there is a slim chance the Malaysia Airlines jet could have made an emergency landing on water without leaving much debris.
In a joint televised interview with CNN’s chief national security correspondent Jim Sciutto yesterday, oceanographer Alexander Babanin and CNN’s aviation analyst Miles O’Brien were asked if the passenger plane could have landed intact on water, to which both men agreed.
Sciutto also pointed out that US Airways Flight 1549 had successfully ditched into the Hudson River near New York in 2009, with all on board surviving the crash landing.
“But it's pretty hard to ditch in the water at night,” O’Brien said in the interview on the American news network.
“So I'm not exactly sure if at that time after that much flying, they were in daylight conditions or darkness. So that'd be a key thing,” the aviation analyst added.
Citing satellite data, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said last Monday that Flight MH370 had ended in the southern Indian Ocean, west of Perth, Australia, after the plane disappeared from civilian radar in the early hours of March 8.
When Sciutto asked why the Malaysian military did not raise an alert after detecting the commercial jet without a transponder on its radar, O’Brien said that governments could be reluctant to talk about the matter because it would mean exposing their defence limitations, or a “lack of responsiveness” in their defences.
“And that's probably why we're not getting much on that front right now, which is unfortunate,” said the aviation analyst.
The Boeing 777-200 jetliner deviated sharply from its Beijing-bound flight path and its communications systems, including its transponder which identifies the aircraft to air traffic control, were switched off.
But the plane was detected on Malaysian military radar northwest from Penang in the Straits of Malacca at 2.15am on March 8.
The Royal Malaysian Air Force has said that the commercial jetliner was not intercepted as it was considered non-hostile.
In the September 11 attacks, however, al-Qaeda terrorists had hijacked passenger airliners to crash into the World Trade Centre in New York City.
CNN’s Sciutto also asked in the interview why Putrajaya or UK commercial satellite firm Inmarsat did not release Flight MH370’s definitive altitude or speed assumptions for the plane’s final leg of the journey.
Babanin from Australia’s Swinburne University said that he has been asking the same question, telling CNN: “For example, not only the distance the plane traveled, but also the direction the plane travelled”.
When asked if shutting off the jet’s Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS), which conveys the plane’s health to MAS, would trigger an alarm to the co-pilot, O’Brien said he did not believe that would happen.
“My inclination is that would not be something that would trigger an alarm,” said the aviation analyst.
The plane’s ACARS signalling device sent its last message at 1.07am, and the next message scheduled for half an hour later never arrived. -Malaymail
Monday, 31 March 2014 17:01
'HOUSE' ARREST? MH370 Chinese families accuse M'sian authorities of preventing them from leaving their hotel
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KUALA LUMPUR - After accusing Malaysia of killing their loved ones, some Chinese families of those aboard MH370 are now convinced that the local authorities are restricting them from moving about freely here, even blocking their search for more information on the missing jetliner.
According to a CNN report, two families from China were stopped by Malaysia Airlines (MAS) staff from participating in briefings meant for the Malaysian families at the Everly Hotel in Putrajaya yesterday.
One woman said the authorities would not even allow them to leave the hotel where they were housed to attend the briefing at Everly Hotel.
“I just wanted to come and meet the minister and meet other family members but I was not allowed to leave and they wouldn’t arrange for transportation.
“They wouldn’t even let me take a taxi, I’ve lost my freedom,” said Cheng Liping, according to a translation heard on the CNN video report.
Her husband was one of the 239 onboard the missing Malaysia Airlines plane.
Another woman in the news broadcast appealed to MAS group chief executive officer Ahmad Jauhari Yahya to allow the Chinese next-of-kin their freedom to move about as they please during their stay in Malaysia.
“Please tell your staff not to regulate our families’ movements, they cannot handle another shock, please let them be free,” the unidentified woman said, according to the translation.
Her husband was also on the plane.
CNN reported, however, that the grieving Chinese relatives were later allowed to meet with acting Transport Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein, his wife, Jauhari and a translator at Everly Hotel.
The Malaysian family members were initially housed at a hotel in Putrajaya but was recently transferred to Bangi over the weekend.
Meanwhile, the first batch of the family members from China were placed at a hotel in Cyberjaya and another batch of family members from China arrived over the weekend and are now housed Subang Jaya’s Holiday Villa Hotel.
Yesterday, the group in Subang Jaya staged a protest, claiming of an attempt by the Malaysian authorities to cover-up the truth behind how flight MH370 went missing over three weeks ago.
They said the Malaysian representatives in Beijing have been offering them conflicting explanations, forcing them to come all the way here to get answers from the government.
Some held aloft banners that read in Chinese and English: “You must return relatives of MH370, no strings attached” and “Hand us the murderer”.
“We want our family back, we want the truth,” chanted the relatives in Mandarin, after a spokesman delivered a statement, also in the same Chinese dialect.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak announced last week that the plane with 239 people on board was lost in the Indian Ocean on March 8 after being mysteriously diverted thousands of miles off course.
He said the conclusion was based on satellite data and other calculations. -Malaymail
Monday, 31 March 2014 17:04
WHY IS TONY ABBOT SO KEEN TO ECHO M'SIAN PM: 'All hope is lost...' - Aussie PM
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Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has confirmed that all hope is lost for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 by declaring all 'evidence' points to the plane going down in the southern Indian Ocean.
Speaking to reporters from the RAAF base in Pearce, north of Perth, Mr Abbott this morning defended the Malaysian prime minister's announcement via text message last week that the 239 passengers on board were dead.
'The accumulation of evidence is that the aircraft has been lost and it has been lost somewhere in the south of the Indian Ocean,' Mr Abbott said.
No time limit for the search: Australia's Prime Minister Tony Abbott addresses members of the international forces currently based in Perth searching for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370
Mr Abbott said his main reason for visiting the RAAF base was to thank the personnel who have come to help with the search. He is pictured here shaking hands with China's Air Force Senior Colonel Liu Dianjun, head of China's effort to locate the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370
'That's the absolute, overwhelming way of evidence and I think Prime Minister Naijb Razak was perfectly entitled to come to that conclusion.
'I think once that conclusion had been arrived at it was his duty to make that conclusion public.'
The announcement was heavily criticised last week for being insensitive and speculative due to the limited evidence - most notably that authorities still have no idea where the plane actually crashed.
Earlier this week, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority shifted the search area 1,000km closer to the country's west coast based on new calculations.
Mr Abbott said this was an 'extraordinarily difficult' operation and he would not be putting a time limit on the search effort.
'I think we owe it to the families, we owe it to everyone who travels by air, we owe it to the governments of countries who had citizens on that aircraft, we owe it to the wider world who has been transfixed by this mystery for three weeks now,' he said.
'We owe it to everyone to do whatever we reasonably can and we can keep searching for quite some time to come and we will keep searching for quite some time.
'If anything, the intensity of the search and magnitude of the operation in increasing not decreasing.
'If nothing of substance is found, obviously such a point (where we stop searching) is eventually reached but we are well short of that point. If this mystery is solvable, we will solve it.'
A ground crewman stands in front of a South Korean P3 Orion after it returned from the search yesterday. Australian aircraft have been joined in the seach by aircraft from New Zealand, Japan, China, South Korea, the US and Malaysia
Crew members on board the Chinese ship Jinggangshan scours the target search area early today, in search of potential debris, spotted by aircraft
Balloons were released on Sunday in the Malaysian capital to commemorate the presumed deaths of those onboard the missing plane. The Malaysian prime minister confirmed last week that while the plane had not yet been found, it could be assumed that all those on board had perished
Residents of Malaysia prepare to release balloons as a symbol of remembrance for the victims of the ill-fated flight MH370 at Titiwangsa Lake on March 30 in Kuala Lumpur
The Prime Minister said his office was in hourly contact with the Rescue Coordination Centre and was 'happy' to bear the majority of the costs for the search operation.
'This is a major international incident and Australia has the lead responsibility for operations inside our search and rescue zone,' he said.
'At the moment every country is bearing its own costs and obviously, we here in Australia will bear the costs of running the coordination centre.
'It's a cost we think is only reasonable as the country whose search and rescue zone the aircraft has come down, it's only reasonable we should bear this cost. It's an act of international citizenship on Australia's part.
'We are happy to be as helpful as we can to all of the countries that have a stake in this.'
Mr Abbott said his primary reason for the visit to the RAAF base was to thank all personnel involved for their tireless work in the air over the past three weeks.
He will travel to Japan, Korea and China in the coming days to thank their respective governments for their contributions in the search.
Mr Abbott’s comments come as Australia, Britain, and the United Sates are pushing for a leading role in the investigation, amid concerns that Malaysia is not capable of conducting the investigation by itself.
Australian officials were in Malaysia over the weekend to urge the Malaysian government to promise that any wreckage recovered during the search would be examined in Australia, before being removed to Malaysia.
They are also asking Malaysian authorities to agree that if the missing plane’s flight data recorders are recovered, their contents should be examined and analysed in Australia, by Australian, British and US experts.
Such a request may not be received well by Malaysia, which is smarting from criticism about its handling of the disappearance, in particularly the seeming insensitivity displayed when it texted the relatives of those on board the plane to let them know that there was no chance they would be found alive.
Under civil aviation law, Malaysia, as the country in which the lost plane was registered, is granted responsibility for the investigation.
Today’s search activities will involve a total of 10 aircraft from seven nations.
They include one Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) P3 Orion, a Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) P3 Orion, one Japanese P3 Orion, a Japan Coast Guard Gulfstream jet, a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Air Force Ilyushin IL-76, a Republic of Korea P3 Orion, a United States Navy P8 Poseidon, two Royal Malaysian Air Force C-130 Hercules and one civil jet acting as a communications relay.
A total of 10 ships have also been tasked to today’s search. This includes HMAS Success and HMAS Toowoomba, seven Chinese ships and a merchant vessel.
The ADV Ocean Shield, which was fitted with a black box detector and an autonomous underwater vehicle, is scheduled to depart from Perth today.
An AMSA spokesman said some parts of the search area will experience low cloud and rain throughout the day.
Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 went missing three weeks ago, and the search has been concentrated in Australian waters for just over a week
Australia's Prime Minister Tony Abbott poses with leaders of international military operations. He said today that he would continue the search 'for quite some time' and that Australia was happy to bear the brunt of the cost of the operation 'as an act of international citizenship on Australia's part'
Australia's Prime Minister Tony Abbott meets South Korea's Navy Captain Lee Jin-young alongside China's Air Force Senior Colonel Liu Dian Jun (L) and Japan's Maritime Self Defence Force Commander Hidetsugu Iwamasa (2nd R). Mr Abbott will travel to Japan, Korea and China in the coming days to thank their respective governments for their contributions in the search
US Navy Cap. Mark Matthews is pictured in front of Ocean Shield, an Australian warship fitted with a black box locator, which will join the search for missing MH370 today. The news comes as officials say the black box could have fallen into a trench twice the depth of the Grand Canyon
Mr Abbott's visit to the search zone comes as authorities are still analysing photographs of several bright orange objects spotted by an Australian pilot during the search, which could be a 'promising lead' in the hunt for the vanished aircraft.
Royal Australian Air Force Lieutenant Russell Adams said his crew saw the items during an 11-hour mission, each more than six-feet long.
Despite the potential breakthrough, the pilot stressed he could not confirm whether the objects were parts of the plane which disappeared three weeks ago.
It comes just days after debris pulled from the search area turned out to be fishing gear and items not related to the vanished flight MH370.
Speaking at RAAF Pearce base, the Flight Lieutenant said: 'We were able to detect many objects in the water today.
'It's for the rescue co-ordination centre to analyse these (objects) and send investigators to investigate as they see appropriate.
'However, for my crew, from our perspective this was the best visibility we had of any objects in the water and gave us the most promising leads,' he said.
Ships searching for debris in the hunt for missing flight MH370 have retrieved some objects from the Southern Indian Ocean. The Australian authorities coordinating the operation said none have been confirmed to have come from the missing Boeing 777
Chinese aircraft spotted three new objects floating off the western coast of Australia, as they scoured the new search area today. The items were said to be red, orange and white - similar to the colours of a Malaysia Airlines jet. This picture shows a suspected item of debris highlighted
Several objects have been spotted from search planes. This map shows the planned search area for Monday
He stressed the origins of the objects was still unknown, but their position was given to the rescue co-ordination centre and a GPS buoy was dropped in the area.
The search crews, who today scoured an area closer to the Australian coast, were aided by greater visibility, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.
British and U.S. secret services are searching for possible criminal involvement in the disappearance of Malaysian Airlines flight MH370, reports today suggest.
MI6 and the CIA have been helping Malaysian investigators look for reasons behind the Boeing 777 jet's disappearance after it lost all contact more than three weeks ago on its way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.
Malaysia's Defence Minister Mr Hishammuddin Hussein said the two agencies were working with Chinese spy agencies to try to find out why the plane suddenly changed course and headed to the west with its 239 mainly Chinese passengers and crew.
Mr Hishammuddin declined to put forward his personal thoughts, keeping instead to the official line that investigators were looking into the possibility of terrorism, hijacking, personal or psychological problems among passengers and crew or technical failure.
'These scenarios have been discussed at length with different intelligence agencies,' said the Minister.
MI6 agents have been particularly interested in checking out terrorism links following disclosures in a US court by a British man, Saajid Badad, who claimed that in 2001 he gave a shoe-bomb to some Malaysian men who wanted to blow open a plane's cockpit door and carry out a September 11-style hijacking.
We owe it to the families: Malaysians light candles that form a love heart at a 'Love U MH370' event in Kuala Lumpur
People hang messages of remembrance at the 'Love U MH370' event in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday. Nothing has been found so far to confirm the search area is where the plane actually went down
There has been widespread grief since the plane went missing three weeks ago, particularly among the families of the 239 passengers on board the plane
Cards silhouetted on a wall spell out the name of the missing flight, along with images of love hearts and angels, to commemorate those who were on the missing flight
Representative from Muslim, Buddhist and Christian religions light candles during a candle light vigil in Malaysia on Sunday to remember the victims of the missing plane
-Dailymail
Monday, 31 March 2014 08:04
Chinese actor Chen Kun, who has 72 MILLION followers on Weibo, to boycott M'sian products, tourism
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A number of big-name Chinese entertainment stars have taken to social media to voice their anger and frustration towards the Malaysian government over its alleged mishandling of the lost Malaysia Airlines flight 370 and its 239 passengers and crew.
According to an article in Sina via Jayne Stars, one of them was Chen Kun (陳坤), who has over 72 million followers on Weibo.
He expressed his utter disappointment at the Malaysian government and Malaysia Airlines on his Weibo, proclaiming that he will boycott Malaysian products and tourism indefinitely.
Not all netizens agreed with Chen Kun. One user wrote, “As an artist, how can [you] be so irrational? Your self-righteous mind goes on to say that there are [153] Chinese on the plane, but what about the people from other countries? The Chinese were not the only ones who lost their families. Many Malaysians also lost their families too. Please respect us Malaysians, thank you.”
Another Chinese netizen wrote, “To boycott the airline because of this incident is like stop eating after choking on food.”
A Malaysian citizen said, “Please thoroughly observe the situation and understand it deeply. Do not just speak about what you see on the surface, which can lead to tens of thousands of Chinese citizens to slander the innocent.”
Chen Kun recently attended a public event in Shanghai and was asked about the comment he made on boycotting the Malaysian government on March 25.
Chen Kun stressed that his comment was not meant to be inflammatory, pointing out that he was only expressing his anger and disgruntlement.
“I am a public figure, but every time I see the pain that these sufferers had to endure, I also begin to feel it myself. My remarks were only directed to the Malaysian government and Malaysia Airlines. In the last 17 days, we have all seen the government’s prevarication on the incident.”
He continued, “I am not trying to appeal or push anything. I am only expressing my own attitude. I am not trying to counter any third party outside the Malaysian government and Malaysia Airlines. During such an important phase, I hope everyone to please not blow up [exaggerate] our anger.” -www.lollipop.sg
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