Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 is missing

[sn26567]

And if...


A cartoon by DuBus

[sn26567]

State investment fund Khazanah wants to buy out all the shares of Malaysia Airlines that it does not already own and to carry out a "complete overhaul" of the troubled national airline after the two recent accidents.

viewtopic.php?f=31&t=54177

[regi]

http://www.hln.be/hln/nl/30080/Verdwene ... kken.dhtml

very shortly, translation from the Dutch article:
when the investigators analyse all possebilites they can come only to 1 conclusion:
the pilot would have sent the co pilot out of the cockpit. Locked the cockpit, went up to >30,000 ft, and depressurized the cabin.
Most passengers would have been asleep and would not have been able to get some minutes oxigen from the masks. The crew would have survived longer, but also unable to do something about the situation.
Thereafter, 4 hours later, the pilot would have landed the airplane softly on the waves. That would be the explanation that no debris would have been found.

Okay, let's blame the pilot. Now Australia has a full excuse to go ahead for another year to look for the intact airplane on the ocean's floor.
Exactly what I have been claiming since months: dragging their feet.
Blaming the pilot is the easiest thing.
Oh yes, he is now regarded as a mental ill person as well...
Still without 1 bit of proof.

So we have to put this topic asleep untill ... a report appears that says that they cannot find the airplane but nevertheless that it is intact on the ocean's floor.

Untill than, I remain with my conspiracy craziness : the airplane has been shot down above Hainan island by Chinese air defense. All debris has been cleaned up in 1 day - possible in the largest communist regime of the world. The air defense system has been misled by "other powers" to force China to invest huge amounts of cash in new air defense systems.

[regi]

come on guys, keep this subject alive. How fgs is it possible that only I post here still things about one of the most impressive air happenings of the decade? ( still can't talk about a crash, just about an airplane that vanished )
OK, small in between article to keep up the reading:
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-28900565

[Wohowbagger]

come on guys, keep this subject alive. How fgs is it possible that only I post here still things about one of the most impressive air happenings of the decade? ( still can't talk about a crash, just about an airplane that vanished )
OK, small in between article to keep up the reading:
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-28900565

well regi, I guess in a month this topic will become more active, if the next search party begins.

meanwhile, there was a story about the hacking of the investigation by Chinese spies (something like that at least) and another one about the withdrawal of cash from 4 of the passengers' bank accounts.

that keeps us going for the moment I guess...

[Wohowbagger]

and the story, although not immediatly about MH370, about the delayal of the mandatory use of ADS-B in Europe.

"Europe Delays ADS-B out Equipment Mandate"
http://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/ ... nt-mandate

[sn26567]

MH370: Indian Ocean search for missing plane refined

Australia says the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 will focus on the southern part of the search area in the Indian Ocean. Officials said further refinement of satellite data found the plane may have turned south earlier than thought.

The announcement came as Australia and Malaysia signed an agreement on the search's next phase, which will see the two countries sharing costs.

Based on analysis of satellite data, it is believed to have ended its journey in seas far west of the Australian city of Perth.

The latest detail on the plane's possible flight path came from an analysis of a failed attempted satellite phone call from Malaysia Airlines to the plane, said Australia's Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss.

"The search area remains the same, but some of the information that we now have suggests to us that areas a little further to the south... are of particular interest and priority," he told reporters in Canberra.

A Dutch contractor, Fugro Survey, will kick off the next phase in the search in September. Three vessels towing underwater vehicles will scan for the plane.

The search will focus on an area of about 60,000 sq km and is estimated to cost about $49m.

More details from BBC: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-28962994

[regi]

some drips of news: they will change a bit the search area.
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/09/05/world ... ?hpt=hp_t3

What I still do not understand is why there is no active search for debris.
Even if the airplane landed on water, it must have partially broken up during sinking, leaving at least some life jackets, luggage, garbage, floatable airplane parts in the ocean ?

The explanation that there is a huge dead zone out of which no garbage floats away in the southern part of the Indian ocean, well, I would say: take a boat and go have a look FGS !

Each time I am reminded about the disappearance of MH370 , I am surprised how easy the press handles this event.

[Passenger]

Update 24 Sept 2014 from the ATSB - Australian Transport Safety Bureau:

http://www.atsb.gov.au/mh370.aspx

[sn26567]

Search resumes for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370

After a four-month hiatus, the hunt for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 is about to resume in a desolate stretch of the Indian Ocean, with searchers lowering new equipment deep beneath the waves in a bid to finally solve one of the world's most perplexing aviation mysteries.

The GO Phoenix, the first of three ships that will spend up to a year hunting for the wreckage far off Australia's west coast, is expected to arrive in the search zone Sunday, though weather could delay its progress. Crews will use sonar, video cameras and jet fuel sensors to scour the water for any trace of the Boeing 777.

The search has been on hold for months so crews could map the seabed in the search zone, about 1,100 miles west of Australia. The 23,000-square mile search area lies along what is known as the "seventh arc" — a stretch of ocean where investigators believe the aircraft ran out of fuel and crashed, based largely on an analysis of transmissions between the plane and a satellite.

That area was largely unknown to scientists before the mapping process began in May. Two ships have been surveying the seabed using on-board multibeam sonar devices, similar to a fish-finder. The equipment sends out a series of signals that determine the shape and hardness of the terrain below, allowing officials to create three-dimensional maps of the seabed.

Those maps are considered crucial to the search effort because the seafloor is riddled with deep crevasses, mountains and volcanoes, which could prove disastrous to the pricey, delicate search equipment that will be towed just 330 feet above the seabed. Two of the search ships will be using underwater search vessels worth around $1.5 million each.

With the mapping nearly complete, the GO Phoenix, provided by Malaysia's government, will begin hunting in an area considered the likeliest crash site, based on an analysis of satellite data gleaned from the plane's jet engine transmitter and a series of unanswered phone calls officials on the ground made to the plane.

The other two vessels, the Equator and Discovery, provided by Dutch contractor Fugro, are expected to join the hunt later this month.

Full article from Associated Press in USA Today: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/worl ... /16708361/

[sn26567]

As the recently knighted Emirates president and CEO Sir Tim Clark told in July: “Something is not right here and we need to get to the bottom of it.”

Tim Clark says the idea that MH370 could disappear without a trace is “suspicious”. Now, seven months after the Malaysian Airlines Boeing 777 vanished en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, Sir Tim has cast doubt on the official version of events.

In an extraordinary interview with German magazine Der Spiegel, he challenges the Australian Transport Safety Bureau’s conclusion this week that MH370 flew south over the Indian Ocean on autopilot for five hours until it ran out of fuel and fell out of the sky, forcing 239 passengers into a watery grave.



Instead, Sir Tim believes it is far more likely that “MH370 was under control, probably until the very end”, questions the veracity of the “so-called electronic satellite ‘handshake’” used by analysts to pinpoint the probable crash site and insists the mysterious cargo in the hold (removed from the manifest by Malaysian authorities) is a crucial clue to the puzzle.

That an aircraft the size of MH370 can simply disappear without a trace, “not even a seat cushion” was downright “suspicious”, he said.

http://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-up ... 7086741053

[Homo Aeroportus]

"... we need to get to the bottom of it.”

Yes. About 5000 meters deep.
:silent:

H.A.

[regi]

Hm, to my great disappointment I did not receive an invitation to travel to Emirates headquarter - business class is good enough - to shed my light on the controversy.

Seriously: if a big hot shot as TC is allowed to have his doubts about the official anouncements together with the problem of manual disfunctioning of the tracking system, I think that it is 5 minutes after 12...

[sn26567]

MH370 search costly due to protocol breaches, says aviation expert

The search for flight MH370 is racking up a huge bill because aviation authorities did not follow protocols, says an expert, adding that the official version of the Malaysia Airlines passenger jet did not add up. Des Ross said, “If proper protocols had been followed, we would not be looking for the aircraft today.”

Ross said the four-hour period after the aircraft disappeared was crucial as it was when confusion and misinformation arose, particularly after MAS said it had told air traffic control there had been contact with MH370 in Cambodian airspace.

“The flight had never entered Cambodian airspace,” Ross said, adding that air traffic controllers should not have accepted the information, especially if they had not cleared the plane to deviate from its flight path.

Ross also hit out at the length of time the Vietnamese controller took to contact his Malaysian counterpart when MH370 did not transfer to his radio frequency. A gap of 17 minutes was too long as the transfer should have occurred “within two to three minutes”, he said.

Ross zeroed in on the lack of communication between military and civil officers, saying that the Malaysian Air Force should have contacted the civil air traffic controller to discuss the unidentified radar target. Such an act, standardised under international protocols, would have solved the issue then and there, he said.

In addition, both military and civil personnel should have tried establishing radio contact with the aircraft, failing which, the Malaysian Air Force should have sent out an interceptor aircraft to ascertain the plane’s identity as well as its course of heading.

And many other mistakes, which you can read in full in:

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/mala ... ion-expert

[sn26567]

Joint Agency Coordination Centre - MH370 Operational Search Update - 5 November 2014

This operational report has been developed to provide regular updates on the progress of the search effort for MH370. Our work will continue to be thorough and methodical, so sometimes weekly progress may seem slow. Please be assured that work is continuing and is aimed at finding MH370 as quickly as possible.

Key developments this week

• The current bathymetric survey work was completed on 26 October and all data has now been analysed with a total area mapped of over 160,000 square kilometres.
• GO Phoenix commenced underwater search operations on 4 November.
• Over 3,000 square kilometres of the ocean floor have been searched to date.

Full illustrated report: http://www.atsb.gov.au/mh370.aspx#.VFmnnElf4wQ.twitter

[sn26567]

Search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 Hampered by Disagreements
Five Teams Have Different Opinions Over Where to Search

Disagreements among investigators over where to look for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 are complicating an already difficult effort to recover the missing jetliner.

A search of the southern Indian Ocean seabed for the plane-which disappeared on March 8 after veering sharply off course en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur-resumed almost two months ago. So far it has faced technical glitches and foul weather.

But now there is an even bigger concern: ongoing differences of opinion between five teams of experts that include Boeing Co. and the Australian military have led to search vessels being deployed in two different priority search areas. These zones overlap in some places but in others are hundreds of miles apart, highlighting how efforts to solve one of modern aviation’s biggest mysteries remain little more than educated guesswork.

Full article from The Wall Street Journal: http://online.wsj.com/articles/search-f ... 1416887764

[airazurxtror]

http://www.lalibre.be/light/societe/mal ... fe4c76da4b

The latest publicity campaign by Malaysia Airlines :

"Want to go somewhere but don't know where ? Our Year-End Specials might just help !"

Indeed !

[convair]

Not very clever indeed from their commercial team!

[sn26567]

ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organisation), a UN body, is to propose a new standard that requires commercial aircraft to report their position every 15 minutes as part of a global tracking initiative in the aftermath of the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.

[jasonSeattle]

Interesting new paper for geeks: "MH370: Time to Investigate the Investigators" by Brock McEwen, M.Sc. (Mathematics) - Independent Investigator based in Winnipeg Manitoba, Canada. This researcher describes his 23 page illustrated technical paper as "an unflinching, scientific critique of key search decisions, April – November, 2014" Dated 16 January 2015. Posted in the cloud at
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-r3yu ... view?pli=1
There is an independent blog review of this paper at http://blogs.crikey.com.au/planetalking ... stigators/