The Malay Mail Online
March 20, 2014

SYDNEY, March 20 — Australia expects to make a quick deliberation on whether possible debris seen at sea is indeed from flight MH370, a report said today, but a first spotter flight failed to locate anything in bad weather.

Authorities should know something definite on the possible discovery of debris from the missing Malaysia Airlines plane within “two or three days”, the Australian Associated Press quoted Defence Minister David Johnston as saying in Jakarta.

But a Royal Australian Air Force Orion sent today to investigate possible wreckage from the Boeing 777 failed to spot debris, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) said.

The P-3 surveillance aircraft was sent to the Indian Ocean search zone some 2,500 kilometres (1,550 miles) southwest of Perth after Australia revealed the presence of two objects at sea possibly related to flight MH370.

“RAAF P3 crew unable to locate debris. Cloud & rain limited visibility,” AMSA said on its Twitter feed. “Further aircraft to continue search for #MH370.” Read the rest of this entry »

The Malaysian Insider
March 20, 2014

After many hours involving aircraft from Australia, New Zealand and the United States, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (Amsa) has said it has ended its search efforts for the day for possible debris from Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.

Surveillance had scoured a remote and stormy section of the Indian Ocean for most of Thursday, looking for a pair of floating objects that Australia and Malaysia guardedly called a “credible” lead in the 12-day-old hunt for a missing passenger jet.

Australia said the objects – one was estimated at 24 metres across – were captured in satellite imagery, raising hopes of a breakthrough in the Malaysian plane’s mysterious disappearance as relatives of the 239 people aboard braced for another emotional roller-coaster.

Four search aircraft were dispatched from Australia – which has taken charge of the search in the southern Indian Ocean – to the area about 2,500 kilometres southwest of Perth where the grainy images were snapped.

The planes – two from Australia, one from New Zealand and one US aircraft – covered an area of 23,000 sq km without any sighting before the search was suspended for the day, said Amsa.

Amsa has released a statement saying that it has ended its search efforts for the day. They will resume tomorrow morning. Read the rest of this entry »

By Andy Pasztor, Jon Ostrower and James Hookway
The Wall Street Journal
March 20, 2014

Investigators Are Still Working to Recover From the Delay

Four days went by before officials acted on satellite data showing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 flew for several hours away from the area being covered by a massive international search, people familiar with the matter said—a delay from which investigators are still working to recover.

The satellite’s operator, Britain’s Inmarsat PLC, on March 11 turned over to a partner company its data analysis and other documents indicating that the plane wasn’t anywhere near the areas on either side of Malaysia where more countries and ships had been searching for three days since the plane disappeared. The documents included a map showing two divergent north and south corridors for the plane’s route stretching some 3,000 miles from the plane’s last previously known location, the people said.

The information was relayed to Malaysian officials by Wednesday, March 12, the people said. Inmarsat also shared the same information with British security and air-safety officials on Wednesday, according to two of the people, who were briefed on the investigation.

Two additional people familiar with the Malaysian side of the probe said the information could have arrived in Kuala Lumpur as late as the morning of March 13.

Malaysia’s government, concerned about corroborating the data and dealing with internal disagreements about how much information to release, didn’t publicly acknowledge Inmarsat’s information until March 15, during a news conference with Prime Minister Najib Razak. Malaysia began to redirect the search effort that day to focus on the areas the information described, and said for the first time that deliberate actions were involved in the plane’s disappearance. Read the rest of this entry »

by Emily Rauhala/Beijing
TIME
March 19, 2014

The distraught families of passengers on missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 say their pain is compounded by a lack of information about the massive search now in its twelfth day

Grief stalks the halls of Beijing’s Metropark Lido Hotel. Families of the Chinese passengers aboard Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 have spent the last 12 days sleeping, eating and waiting here. They pass the hours scouring the Internet and watching television, desperate for information about their loved ones. They are exhausted and angry.

It is easy to spot them in hotel’s bright courtyards and corridors. Some flew here from distant provinces and barely speak Mandarin Chinese. They look lost in a hotel packed with foreign tourists, a place where Rimowa, a luxury luggage company, sells suitcases for 10,000 yuan ($1,600). Many are visibly grief-stricken, their eyes swollen, heads bowed. All are wary of speaking to outsiders. After all, one woman asked, “What is there left to say?” Read the rest of this entry »

I have just sent an urgent email to the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak asking for Cabinet endorsement at its meeting tomorrow for a Parliamentary Select Committee on MH370 to support the ongoing search-and-rescue (SAR) operation and to stand in readiness for a full-scale investigation into the MH370 crisis after the SAR operation.

In my email to the Prime Minister, I informed him of the amendment moved this morning by the Pakatan Rakyat MP for Seremban YB Anthony Loke to the Motion of Thanks currently debated by Parliament proposing the establishment of a Parliamentary Select Committee on MH370 to give full support to the ongoing search-and-rescue (SAR) operation and to stand in readiness to conduct a full-scale investigation into the MH370 crisis after the SAR operation.

We are now in the 13th day after over 300 hours of the traumatic and agonizing multi-national air-sea search, now involving over a hundred ships, helicopters and aircrafts as well as radar system from 26 nations for the missing MH370 Boeing 777-200 aircraft with 239 passengers and crew on board covering two vast tracts of territories totaling 2.24 million square nautical miles stretching from the southern Indian Ocean to Kazakhstan in the north.

We seem no nearer to the discovery of any clue to lead to the whereabouts of the aircraft or what happened in the early hours of March 8, although there are reports today of a new lead from Australian satellite imagery of two objects possibly related to the missing MG370 in the southern Indian Ocean, but which awaits verification. Read the rest of this entry »

The Malaysian Insider/Reuters
March 20, 2014

The disappearance of a Malaysian plane has prompted calls for in-flight streaming of black box data over remote areas, but industry executives say implementing changes may be complex and costly.

Mark Rosenker, former chairman of the US National Transportation Safety Board, said this incident and the 2009 loss of an Air France flight in the Atlantic should spur reforms in what he described an outdated accident investigation process.

Rosenker, a retired US Air Force general, said finding a way to transmit limited information from flight data and cockpit voice recorders to a virtual “cloud” database would help authorities launch accident investigations sooner and locate a plane if it got into trouble while out of reach of ground-based radars.

“This is the second accident in five years where we’ve had to wait to get the black boxes back,” Rosenker said. “We need to bring the concept of operations for accident investigations and the technology of what is available up to the 21st century.”

Twenty-six nations have been searching for the missing Boeing Co 777 airliner over an area roughly the size of Australia for 12 days, but the massive hunt has found no trace of any wreckage thus far. Read the rest of this entry »

The Malaysian Insider
March 20, 2014

Malaysia Airlines opted out of a simple computer upgrade that costs RM33 per flight which would have provided critical information to help find the missing flight MH370 because it went for a cheaper option when purchasing the aircraft, the Sydney Morning Herald reported today.

A satellite industry official was quoted as saying that the upgrade, called Swift, would have provided the direction, speed and altitude of flight MH370 even after other communications from the plane went off the radar.

Had the Swift system been upgraded to include the full package of applications, it could have sent information on engine performance, fuel consumption, speed, altitude and direction, regardless of whether the transponder and Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) were working, he said.

The expert, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told the Australian daily that the Swift system was similar to how a smartphone sends data to a satellite, while ACARS was akin to an app for a mobile phone.

“When ACARS is turned off, Swift continues on,” he told the Sydney Morning Herald.

“If you configure Swift to track engine data, that data will be streamed off the plane. It continues to be powered up while the aircraft is powered up.”

The report showed that had Malaysia Airlines obtained the upgrade, it would have continued to send flight data by satellite even after the plane’s transponder and ACARS communications went dead. Read the rest of this entry »

Jeswan Kaur| March 20, 2014
Free Malaysia Today

Grieving families, especially from China, are furious with the Malaysian government for its refusal to be forthcoming with information.

COMMENT

Even in the face of a heartbreaking crisis, the Malaysian government could not let go of its insatiable hunger for politicking.

The nation is left speechless and at a loss wondering why and how the national carrier Malaysia Airlines’ Boeing 777 plane, said to be one of the safest in the world, has disappeared.

It is day 13 since the MH370 Kuala Lumpur-Beijing flight has gone missing. International experts complementing Malaysia’s search and rescue efforts are baffled as to what became of the plane which was ferrying 239 people including the cabin crew.

Still, the Malaysian government refuses to get its act right. On Tuesday night, Defense Minister and Acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein briefed politicians from the ruling BN coalition on the missing aircraft.

For reasons best known to him, Hishammuddin, who is also Umno’s vice-president, ignored politicians from the opposition camp. BN’s nemesis, Pakatan Rakyat was visibly upset at being left out. Read the rest of this entry »

By News.com.au
New York Post
March 19, 2014

Was lost Flight MH370 the victim of a midair heist of gold bullion? Has it landed but remains hidden? Or was it a terrorist hijacking?

Speculation grows as Australia leads the Indian Ocean search for clues.

Top 10 theories – What may have happened to Flight MH370

1. Fire

A fire may have broken out on the aircraft shortly after last contact was made with air traffic control. The pilot may have made a sharp left turn and attempted to return to a Malaysian airport. Read the rest of this entry »

The Malay Mail Online
March 20, 2014

WASHINGTON DC, March 20 — US President Barack Obama said yesterday the search for the missing Malaysian airliner was a “top priority” for the United States and offered every possible resource — including the FBI.

In his first on camera comments on the mystery of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, Obama offered thoughts and prayers to the relatives of the missing passengers.

“I want them to be assured that we consider this a top priority,” Obama told Dallas television station KDFW in an interview at the White House.

“We have put every resource that we have available at the disposal of the search process,” he said. Read the rest of this entry »

The Malaysian Insider
March 20, 2014

With search for the missing Malaysia Airlines entering its 13th day without any significant development, the FBI has stepped in to help analyse data from a flight simulator seized from the home of flight MH370’s Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah last weekend.

Malaysia has now made available to the FBI electronic data generated by both pilots of flight MH370, including data from a hard drive attached to the captain’s flight simulator, and from electronic media used by the co-pilot, Fariq Abdul Hamid, an American law enforcement official said to Reuters.

The official, however, said he could not confirm that some data had been wiped from the simulator and stressed that there was no guarantee the FBI analysis would turn up any fresh clues.

USA Today, meanwhile, reported an American federal law enforcement official as saying that the material, including a flight simulator recovered from one of the pilot’s homes, is likely to be shipped to the FBI’s lab in Quantico, Virginia.

The report quoted United States Attorney General Eric Holder as saying that the US and Malaysian governments have been “in ongoing conversations about how we can help”.

“We’re working with authorities, but we don’t have any theories (on the cause of the plane’s disappearance),” USA Today quoted Holder as saying.

Acting Transport Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein had said at the daily press briefing yesterday that local and international expertise have been recruited to examine the pilot’s flight simulator.

“Some data had been deleted from the simulator and forensic work to retrieve this data is ongoing,” Hishammuddin had said.

He had said that the investigations into the flight simulator were part of the overall probe into all passengers and crew on board the Malaysia Airlines flight which has been missing since March 8.

“We are sharing all information relevant to the case with all relevant international investigative agencies,” he had said.

United States investigators had become increasingly frustrated in recent days that Malaysian authorities had not asked them for more help. Read the rest of this entry »

The Acting Transport Minister, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein should not have dishonoured Parliament by causing a parliamentary crack on the MH370 crisis when he should have presented a united national front in the world’s largest-ever 26-nation multi-national air-sea search-and-rescue (SAR) operation for the missing Malaysian Airlines aircraft with 239 passengers and crew on board.

Over a hundred ships, helicopters and aircrafts as well as radar systems from 26 nations are involved in a SAR mission scouring two vast tracts of territories totaling 2.24 million sq nautical miles (about 7.68 million square kilometres) stretching from the southern Indian Ocean to Kazakhstan in the north to find the missing MH370 Boeing 777-200 aircraft.

The world’s largest-ever multi-national air-sea SAR, entering the 12th day after over 250 hours without any clue on the whereabouts of the aircraft or what happened on March 8, is in a race against time as there are only 18 days left for the search teams to locate the aircraft’s black box, the most important piece of aviation technology, as it will only transmit a signal for 30 days.

When Malaysia expects unprecedented international unity in the world’s largest-ever multi-national SAR operation, Malaysians and in particular the Malaysian Parliament must demonstrate unprecedented national unity in support of the SAR mission for the missing aircraft and not to present any parliamentary crack, division or disunity to the world on this issue. Read the rest of this entry »

The Malay Mail Online
March 19, 2014

KUALA LUMPUR, March 19 — The person flying Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 on a northern trajectory would need pinpoint precision to have any chance of foiling an extensive network of radars operated by heavily-militarised countries in the region, according to US defence personnel.

Speaking to the New York Times, they noted the area that is home to India, China and Pakistan — all of whom have nuclear weapon capabilities and not all of whom are on good terms — who watch their airspace meticulously.

The northern corridor is one of two that investigators have calculated the plane — now missing for more than 10 days could — could have taken. It ranges from the borders of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to the northern edge of Thailand.

“I wouldn’t be looking through China and that northern route,” Sean O’Connor, a former intelligence analyst for the US Air Force told the NYT.

“It is not out of the realm of possibility that you could pull this off, but everything would have to go your way,” said O’Connor. Read the rest of this entry »

by Stephanie Pappas
LiveScience
Mar 18, 2014

Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 has been missing since Saturday, March 8, and every new piece of information seems to shroud the flight’s disappearance in more mystery.

Malaysian investigators now say deliberate action was taken to turn off communications systems and steer the aircraft far off course. “Pings” sent from the plane to a commercial satellite hours after MH370 disappeared suggest either a northern or southern route of flight, creating a search area that stretches from Kazakhstan into western China or from Indonesia into the southern Indian Ocean.

The mystery has spawned dozens of theories from experts and armchair analysts alike, all with varying degrees of credibility. Going on the information made public so far, there are only a few theories that fit — though none satisfactorily. Here are the remaining likely possibilities for flight MH370. Read the rest of this entry »

The Malaysian Insider
March 19, 2014

After 12 days and more than 200 hours, the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 jetliner has become a race against time for investigators trying to locate the aircraft’s black box.

ABC News reported that there are only 18 days left for the search teams to locate the most important piece of aviation technology, as it will only transmit a signal for 30 days.

The report said the black box has lost a third of its battery life since the plane disappeared on March 8 with 239 people, including 12 crew members, on board.

It will be a daunting task for the search teams to locate the black box before the battery runs out as they scour a search area of 2.24 million square nautical miles, said the American news company.

ABC News said if a plane crashes into the water, an underwater locator beacon sends out an ultrasonic pulse that cannot be heard by human ears but can be detected by sonar and acoustic-locating equipment. Read the rest of this entry »

The Malaysian Insider
March 19, 2014

The international search for flight MH370 entered its 12th day with Thailand now saying its military took 10 days to report radar blips that could have been the lost Malaysia Airlines jet “because we did not pay attention to it”.

India also reported that the Boeing 777-200ER (9M-MRO) carrying 239 people could have escaped detection by flying into a part of the Indian Ocean that gets irregular radar checks.

Both reports do not bring any fresh clues to finding the lost flight dubbed as an “unprecedented aviation mystery” after it vanished into thin air early March 8 while en route to Beijing. Read the rest of this entry »

The Malaysian Insider/Reuters
March 19, 2014

The global aviation industry is reverberating with shock as well as a range of theories over the fate of the missing Malaysia Airlines MH370 jet, but most in the business think the unsolved mystery is more of a tragic red herring than a wake-up call for drastic changes.

Despite the lack of new information, flight MH370 was at the top of the agenda on the street, at the pubs and in private meetings this week at the International Society of Transport Air Trading in San Diego, the annual gathering of 1,600 airplane makers, buyers and lessors.

“The people that I deal with are looking at this with great concern – it appears considerable efforts may have gone into cloaking the aircraft,” said Robert Agnew, chief executive of aviation consultant Morten Beyer & Agnew, referring to reports that the plane’s primary means of communicating with air traffic control were intentionally disabled.

“We are speculating on what was actually done in the cockpit. If this is a planned terrorist activity, could others know the process and copy it?” he said.

Investigators are convinced that someone with deep knowledge of the Boeing Co 777-200ER aircraft and commercial navigation diverted the jet early last Saturday, carrying 12 crew and 227 passengers, perhaps thousands of miles off course.

But no physical evidence of the aircraft has been found and authorities have failed to pinpoint any passengers with a known political or criminal motive to crash or hijack the plane. Read the rest of this entry »

The Malaysian Insider/Reuters
March 18, 2014

One is a technical wizard whose affable manner made him a favourite of trainee pilots; the other an enthusiastic young aviator planning to marry his sweetheart.

The captain and co-pilot of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 are now at the centre of a baffling paradox: as circumstantial evidence mounts that at least one of them may have been involved in the plane’s disappearance on March 8, accounts of their lives portray them as sociable, well-balanced and happy.

Described as devoted to their families and communities, neither fits the profile of a loner or extremist who might have a motive for suicide, hijacking or terrorism.

International media scrutiny and investigations by the Malaysian police have failed to turn up red flags on either the captain, 53-year-old grandfather Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah, or the co-pilot, 27-year old Fariq Abdul Hamid. Read the rest of this entry »