China doubts remain.......

http://www.malaysia-chronicle.com china-casts-doubt-on-malaysia-claims-mh370-plunged-into-the-ocean

Wednesday, 26 March 2014 07:56

China casts DOUBT on Malaysia’s claims MH370 plunged into the ocean

Rate this item

(3 votes)

IT was always declared an inexact science albeit using the latest technology.

But the analysis of a wavelength that travelled between Earth and an orbiting satellite 35,800km away that concluded Flight MH-370 crashed into the Indian Ocean is now being challenged by Chinese authorities.

East London-based satellite firm Inmarsat made the unlikely breakthrough that redirected searchers for the lost Malaysian Airline to the Southern hemisphere and yesterday prompted Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak to confirm the plane had crashed.

But it is now being challenged to explain their findings by Chinese authorities that today demanded the records turned over by Malaysian authorities to ascertain for themselves the fate of their 153 Chinese nationals among the 239 on-board MH370.

Chinese President Xi Jinping ordered a special envoy Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Yesui to Kuala Lumpur to secure first-hand analysis while deputy Foreign Minister Xie Hangshend ordered Malaysia’s ambassador to China to establish what it was that led to Mr Najib making the declaration the plane had crashed in the Indian Ocean.

The airline’s boss Mohammed Nor Mohammed Yusof said today it was a “rational deduction”.

Inmarsat — short for International Maritime Satellite Organisation — and Malaysian authorities are also being asked to explain why there was an apparent delay in the information being passed to searchers some four days after the plane disappeared on March 8.

Breakthrough technology ... The offices of satellite operator Inmarsat in central London. Picture: Leon Neal/AFP Source:AFP

Inmarsat was set up in 1979 as a non-profit initiative by the International Maritime Organisation to help with ship-to-shore communications and to make calls for help no matter how remote their location. It quickly became a market leader in satellite technology.

In 1993 it moved to the so-called “Silicon Roundabout” tech park in East London and

In 1999 became Britain’s first intergovernmental organisation to transform into a private company and has since floated on the London Stock Exchange. It has since grown to have a presence in 60 countries, including Australia, offering global sitcom solutions. Specifically, it provides high-speed mobile data to government, military and companies for land sea and air operations and counts the US Government as a customer.

But it was in this tech park location in east London that on giant screens in the company’s operation room analysts track 11 satellites in geostationary orbit one of which they used to predict MH370’s location along its last known corridor.

While the aircraft’s data transmission system was turned off a second system that cannot be switched off while the aircraft has power continued to send out a “ping” to satellites once every hour.

China’s anger ... A relative of passengers on flight MH370 protests outside the Malaysian embassy in Beijing. Picture: Mark Ralston/AFP Source: AFP

It was these pings — also known as “handshakes” — that showed the plane continued to travel for six hours after radio contact was lost and variations in the wavelength did not provide a location but a prediction it flew along either a north or south curved corridor. From the final turn it was deduced the plane probably crashed at the end of the southern arc, hence the location in the Indian Ocean. The technique is based on the “Doppler Effect” which describes how a wavelength changes frequency relative to the movement of an observer, in this case the satellite. The Doppler effect is why the sound of a police car appears to change as it approaches then passes an observer.

Firm senior external affairs vice president Chris McLaughlin said the prediction was refined by comparison with pings from normal flights and assumptions made about the aircraft’s speed. Inmarsat’s data was then sent to members of UK’s space industry for peer review. Its data was shared with Swiss aviation IT company Sita but for reasons that are not clear were not passed to Malaysian investigators until March 12. It was another six days before Australian authorities announced the search was being narrowed to a patch in the southern Indian Ocean.

Inmarsat will later this year deploy three new satellites that will offer the world’s first global, high-quality mobile broadband service. -News.com.au

http://www.malaysia-chronicle.com/index.crash-evidence-came-from-final-ping-at-819am-hisham-but-if-ping-still-being-studied-how-can-msian-govt-take-it-as-crash-confirmation?

Wednesday, 26 March 2014 00:17

Crash evidence came from final ‘ping’ at 8.19am - Hisham: BUT if ping still being studied, how can M'sian govt take it as CRASH CONFIRMATION?

Rate this item

(3 votes)

Satellite data that confirmed Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, missing for more than two weeks, had crashed in the Indian Ocean included a final electronic signal at 8.19am (Malaysian time) on March 8, that is still being investigated, Malaysian acting Transport Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said today.

"There is evidence of a partial handshake between the aircraft and ground station at 0019 UTC (GMT)," Hishammuddin told a news conference.

"At this time, this transmission is not understood and is subject to further ongoing work."

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said on Sunday that groundbreaking satellite-data analysis by the British company Inmarsat had revealed that MAS flight MH370, which vanished while flying to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur on March 8, had crashed thousands of kilometres away in the southern Indian Ocean.

Preliminary analysis of the satellite "pings" had only been able to place the plane's final position in one of two vast arcs stretching from the Caspian Sea to the southern Indian Ocean. - TMI

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/26/mh370-search-set-to-be-hampered-by-more-storms-live-updates

2.42pm GMT

Summary

Here's a summary of today's events:

Malaysia has released new French satellite images showing 122 objects in a 154 square mile area west of Perth. The objects range in length from 1m (3ft) to 23m (75ft). They were photographed on Sunday.

The potential debris in the photographs is the "most credible" lead so far, according to Malaysia's acting transport minister Hishamuddin Hussein. He pointed out that it was in an area close to separate sightings of potential debris by China and Australia.

The Australian-led search operation in the southern Indian Ocean ended for the day with no confirmation of the potential debris field. Australia reported spotting three objects not necessarily connected with MH370. The search for the wreckage resumed today after it was suspended on Tuesday due to bad weather. More storms and poor visibility are forecast for Thursday.

Hishammuddin met China's new special envoy to Malaysia, Zhang Yesui, a day after directing some barbed comments at Beijing over its handling of the search. On Tuesday he accused China of hampering the search by releasing images of 'debris' in the South China Sea which turned out to be a false lead. Yesui urged Malaysia to release all the data and analysis it had on the flight's final movements.

The search area has been divided into east and west sectors.Each sector is currently being combed by one ship and six aircraft. A US ping locator has arrived in Perth to help in the search for the plane's black box.

Inmarsat, the British satellite company which concluded that the plane crashed into the southern Indian Ocean, has declined to comment on a report that British experts refused to take part in a briefing to relatives of the missing passengers in Beijing. At the meeting Malaysian officials suggested that Inmarsat and the UK's Air Accidents Investigation Branch were invited to attend the briefing but declined. Relatives were sceptical that the British analysis showed beyond doubt that the plane crashed into the Indian Ocean. Inmarsat, Rolls Royce, Boeing and the AAIB have been appointed to an international working party to try to determine the final position of the missing plane.

A senior official at Inmarsat has suggested that Malaysia delayed releasing its analysis as it struggled to cope with the amount of data involved in the search. Chris McLaughlin, senior vice-president for external affairs, said: "I think the Malaysian authorities have spent many days looking at the possibility of where the flight ended. I think that they have struggled with an awful lot of information, a lot of challenges"

Australia's prime minister Tony Abbott has cautioned against the hope of an imminent breakthrough in the search for debris. In a statement to parliament he said: "The crash zone is about as close to nowhere as its possible to be, but it’s closer to Australia than to anywhere else."

Malaysia Airlines is facing its first lawsuit over the disappearance of MH370. A petition for discovery has been filed against Boeing Co, manufacturer of the aircraft, and Malaysian Airlines, operator of the plane, Chicago-based Ribbeck Law said in a statement.

2.18pm GMT

A senior figure at Inmarsat said Malaysia was struggling to cope with the amount of information involved in the search operation and suggested that Malaysia sat on the company's analysis about the plane's final movements.

Speaking to the official Chinese news agency Xinhua, Chris McLaughlin, senior vice-president for external affairs at the British company, said:

I think the Malaysian authorities have spent many days looking at the possibility of where the flight ended. I think that they have struggled with an awful lot of information, a lot of challenges.

I don't think that they have the navy, and the airforce and the size that the Chinese have, and other other countries have. I think they have made an honest attempt to try to run a very complex investigation.

But people will draw their own conclusions.

1.35pm GMT

China's special envoy to Malaysia, Zhang Yesui, has urged Malaysia to release all the data it has on why it has assumed MH370 crashed into the Indian Ocean, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

His remarks come after Yesui met Malaysia's prime minister Najib Razak and its acting transport minister Hishammuddin Hussein.

and from earlier..............

20m ago

The British company Inmarsat said it is unable to comment on reports that British experts have refused to take part in a briefing with Malaysian officials to relatives of the passengers in Beijing.

In a statement it said: "Inmarsat is working with Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) on this live investigation and is therefore unable to discuss the circumstances surrounding Air Malaysia."

1h 37m ago

The British satellite firm Inmarsat and the Air Accidents Investigation Board have yet to respond to reports that they refused to attend a briefing with relatives of missing passengers in Beijing.

The claim was made by Malaysian officials at the briefing, according to the Straits Times. It reports more scepticism from the relatives about the British analysis.

Family reps at #MH370 briefing asking how much Msia govt is paying for UK satellite analysis and saying "you've been cheated!"

5:21 AM - 26 Mar 2014

26 March 2014| last updated at 06:30PM

MH370 Lost in Indian Ocean: Australia says 3 more objects seen in search

SYDNEY: Australian authorities said on Wednesday that three more objects had been spotted by aircraft searching for a Malaysian jet missing in the southern Indian Ocean.

A civilian aircraft, one of 12 scouring the region some 2,500 km (1,550 miles) southwest of Perth, had seen two objects thought to be rope, while a New Zealand Air Force P-3 Orion spotted a blue object, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority said on its Twitter feed.

None was seen again on subsequent passes and none was distinctive of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, ASMA added.

Earlier, Malaysia said new satellite images had revealed more than 100 objects in the search zone that could be debris.--Reuters

26 March 2014| last updated at 06:27PM

MH370 Lost in Indian Ocean: Satellite images show 122 potential objects in

KUALA LUMPUR: Fresh satellite images taken during the search for a missing passenger jet show 122 “potential objects” in one area of the Indian Ocean, Malaysia said Wednesday.

The images from Airbus Defence and Space in France show the objects in a 400-square-kilometre (160-square-mile) area of the ocean, said Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein.

Hishammuddin told a daily press conference it was not possible to say whether the objects came from the Boeing 777 which crashed on March 8 with 239 people aboard.

“Nevertheless, this is another new lead that will help direct the search operation,” he said.

Earlier satellite data from Australia, China and France had also shown floating objects possibly related to MH370, but nothing has so far been retrieved despite a huge multinational search.

Hishammuddin said the Airbus images were taken on Sunday, received Tuesday, and immediately forwarded to the Australian agency coordinating the search.

He said the Malaysian Remote Sensing Agency had identified the 122 “potential objects” after analysing the satellite images.

Some were a metre in length while others were as long as 23 metres.

“Some of the objects appeared to be bright, possibly indicating solid materials,” the minister said.

They were located about 2,557 kilometres (1,600 miles) from Perth.

The search effort has focused on waters far to the southwest of Australia.--AFP

26 March 2014| last updated at 06:21PM

MH370 Lost in Indian Ocean: Acting Minister of Transport full speech

PRESS BRIEFING BY HISHAMMUDDIN HUSSEIN, MINISTER OF DEFENCE AND ACTING MINISTER OF TRANSPORT

Introductory statement

The search for MH370 continues. Our efforts are now focused in the southern Indian Ocean, where a multi-national team, led by Australia, is combing the waters trying to find debris from the flight.

Our determination to find MH370 remains steadfast. As we have said all along, we will never give up trying to find the plane – in order to bring closure for the families, and to establish exactly what happened to MH370.

New satellite images

Australia, China and France have already released satellite images, showing objects that may be related to MH370.

Yesterday, on 25 March, the Malaysian Remote Sensing Agency (MRSA) received new satellite images from Airbus Defence and Space, which is based in France. The images were taken on 23 March.

MRSA analysed the images and - in one area of the ocean measuring some 400 square kilometres - were able to identify 122 potential objects.

Some objects were a metre in length; others were as much as 23 metres in length. Some of the objects appeared to be bright, possibly indicating solid materials.

The objects were located approximately 2,557 kilometres from Perth.

We will issue handouts relating to this new information, after this press conference.

MRSA’s findings were immediately forwarded to the Australian Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Perth yesterday.

It must be emphasized that we cannot tell whether the potential objects are from MH370. Nevertheless, this is another new lead that will help direct the search operation.

We have now had four separate satellite leads, from Australia, China and France, showing possible debris. It is now imperative that we link the debris to MH370. This will enable us to further reduce the search area, and locate more debris from the plane.

2. Operational update

Australia is leading the search effort in the southern Indian Ocean, based out of Perth. Malaysia continues to play a co-ordinating role. All countries involved are displaying unprecedented levels of co-operation; that has not changed.

Australia has divided the search area into two sectors, East and West.

Today the weather has improved, and twelve planes will travel to the search area – six in the East sector and six in the West.

In the East sector, searches will be conducted by:

· one Australian P3 Orion, and three Australian civilian aircraft.

· one Chinese Ilyushin IL-76.

· one New Zealand P3 Orion.

In the West sector, searches will be conducted by:

· one US P8 Poseidon.

· one Korean P3 Orion.

· one Japanese P3 Orion.

· two Australian P3 Orions, and one civilian aircraft.

Two ships will also join the search operations.

Yesterday ‘HMAS Success’ was redeployed to the south of the search area due to bad weather. Today the ship has returned and will support the search operation in the West sector.

Meanwhile, the Chinese ship ‘Xue Long’ has today been deployed to the East sector.

A Japanese Coast Guard gulfstream aircraft left Subang this morning for Perth, to join the search operation.

As I mentioned yesterday, the search operations in the northern corridor, and in the northern part of the southern corridor, have been called off. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has sent diplomatic notes to all relevant countries to formally inform them of this change.

Before I continue, I would like to convey our appreciation to the Australian authorities, and in particular to Prime Minister Tony Abbot, for making such an extraordinary contribution to the search operation.

Chinese Special Envoy

Today, the Prime Minister met with His Excellency Zhang Yesui, the Chinese Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs and Special Envoy of the Government of China. I also met with His Excellency this afternoon.

During our conversation His Excellency conveyed China’s commitment to continue and intensify the search operation in any way possible, and to deploy any assets that may be required.

Malaysia has provided his His Excellency and his delegation with a full update on the latest information from Inmarsat.

His Excellency and his delegation also received a comprehensive briefing from the international technical team.

4. International Working Group

As I mentioned yesterday, based on the new information provided by Inmarsat, we have established an international working group. The agencies involved in this working group include: Inmarsat, AAIB, the Chinese CAAC and AAID, NTSB, FAA, Boeing and Rolls Royce, as well as the relevant Malaysian authorities.

The role of the working group is to help try and refine the Inmarsat data and, if possible, more accurately determine the final position of MH370.

5. Further information

I should like to note that the CEO of Malindo Airlines, Chandran Rama Murthy, has joined me on stage today, and will be able to answer any questions that you might have.

As I announced yesterday, MAS is now taking a lead in communicating with the families and is conducting their own press conferences. MAS will hold another press conference tomorrow.

Concluding remarks

New satellite images continue to provide clues in the search for MH370. And with improved weather conditions, aircraft are now able to investigate objects of interest.

I would like to thank once again our international partners for their continued support and assistance. The search for MH370, and the investigation into what happened on board the flight, is now a truly international effort.