MALAYSIAN Airlines flight en route to China is missing.

[YouMakeMyDreams]

Saga of missing flight MH370 continues to pose more questions

Two weeks after its disappearance, there are more twists to come in the mystery of MH370

PUBLISHED : Sunday, 23 March, 2014, 5:32am
UPDATED : Sunday, 23 March, 2014, 5:32am

Angela Meng in Kuala Lumpur [email protected]

Hishammuddin Hussein is faced by a media storm. Photo: AFP

If - and it's a big if - the latest images from a Chinese satellite turn out to be wreckage from flight MH370, it won't mark the end of the mystery, just a cruel new twist to a story which has been short on facts and long on theories.

That a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200ER aircraft bound for Beijing with 239 people on board vanished from sight over the South China Sea in the early hours of March 8 is indisputable. But the absence of facts has left a void readily filled with rumour, claim and wild speculation.

It seems inconceivable in a world which boasts satellites capable of reading vehicle license plates that a passenger jet can simply disappear.

In what has often seemed a desperate and confused search for the truth, every passenger, crew member and person with a direct connection to the flight has come under scrutiny, spawning an abundance of theories, from the wildly conspiratorial political revenge hijacking and mistaken shooting down of the plane, to the obvious terrorist outrage explanation and the more prosaic technical malfunction.

In fact, much of the last 15 days has been more about debunking theories and correcting misinformation than the production of cold, hard, facts.

Following the early disclosure that two passengers used stolen passports to board the plane, officials suspected a terrorist attack until the two Iranian men were found to have no known terror links. The two Iranians were most likely illegal immigrants.

Not long after Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak announced that new evidence of the airliner's movements pointed to a deliberate diversion of the plane, authorities raided the homes of 53-year-old captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah and 27-year-old first officer Fariq Abdul Hamid and seized a flight simulator that Zaharie built which contained files of landing locations in the Indian Ocean.

Mohammed Khairul Amri Selamat, an aviation engineer on the flight, also came under suspicion. Khairul's father has denied any possibility his son is linked to the plane's disappearance. His employers said he specialised in business jets, and would not have had the technical skills to divert a commercial aircraft.

Again, authorities have not completely ruled out hijacking, but so far, no organisation has claimed responsibility.

The main focus, according to Malaysian acting transport minister Hishammuddin Hussein, has been to reduce the area of search. But the area has expanded from the Gulf of Thailand and the South China Sea, first to the Strait of Malacca, then to the Andaman Sea and Indian Ocean, and northwards to Kazakhstan - roughly one tenth of the planet.

Laboratory analysis of oil slicks found off the coast of Malaysia on March 8 came back negative; Chinese satellite imagery on March 12 of possible debris between Malaysia and Vietnam was also a false alarm; and the two objects suspected to be linked to MH370, also from satellite imaging, announced by Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott have yet to be found after three days of searching.

Yesterday Hishammuddin relayed a message delivered to him in the daily press briefing that Chinese satellites had picked up a large object near the southern Indian Ocean. It is not known if it is one of the objects announced by the Australian prime minister.

Malaysian officials maintain that as long as the plane is not found in pieces, there is still hope for the families of passengers. The families are also hopeful that as long as no bodies are found, their loved ones may still be alive.

If MH370 were found with no survivors, it would become the deadliest commercial aircraft accident in 10 years.

__________________________________________________________________

Two weeks of rumours, false leads:

MARCH 8, 7.24am: Malaysia Airlines confirms a jet lost contact with air traffic control at 2.40am after leaving Kuala Lumpur for Beijing.

10.30am: Families waiting at Beijing airport are told passengers will not arrive.

NIGHT: International rescue effort is under way. Two passengers used passports - one Austrian, one Italian - reported stolen in Thailand. Airline does not rule out terrorism.

MARCH 9, 2am: Airline says it last heard from flight MH370 at 1.30am, not 2.40am.

NOON: Hong Kong Immigration Department confirms 45-year-old local woman was on board.

MARCH 10: The largest rescue flotilla in Chinese naval history - four warships and five civilian and commercial vessels - speeds overnight to waters between Malaysia and Vietnam. Ten Chinese satellites join hunt.

NIGHT: Airline announces it will give 31,000 yuan (HK$39,200) to relatives of each passenger as a special condolence payment.

MARCH 11: Two Malaysian military officials say jet flew for an hour off flight course and at a lower altitude after vanishing from civil aviation radar. Interpol identifies two Iranians as holders of stolen passports.

MARCH 12: Beijing slams Malaysia's "pretty chaotic" and conflicting information as Kuala Lumpur officials fail to pinpoint the plane's last known whereabouts.

MARCH 13: Malaysian military confirms spotting unidentified aircraft on its radar about 1 hour and 20 minutes after MH370's signal went cold. Airline says it has not been determined if that was the missing jet.

MARCH 14: Investigators are increasingly certain the jet turned back across the Malay Peninsula after losing communication. International search expands westwards towards Indian Ocean.

MARCH 15: Search narrows to two air corridors as Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak confirms plane kept flying after it "vanished". Officials also confirm the jet's disappearance was a "deliberate act".

MARCH 16: Search shifts to Indian Ocean with satellite data showing the plane flew for seven hours after it lost contact. Pilot's background under renewed scrutiny after a flight simulator is found at his home.

MARCH 17: Possible new timeline of when plane shut off its communication systems as airline reveals last words from cockpit, spoken by co-pilot, were: "All right, good night". A flight engineer who was a passenger comes under investigation.

MARCH 18: Disappearance is longest in modern aviation history. US officials confirm they are working closely with the Malaysian government. Relatives of passengers threaten hunger strike due to lack of information; Beijing rules out sabotage by its nationals.

MARCH 19: Authorities in the Maldives investigate reports that residents saw a low-flying jet. Three million people join crowd-sourcing satellite hunt as search area expands to 26 countries.

MARCH 20: Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott confirms two large pieces of possible wreckage spotted in the southern Indian Ocean. Beijing says plane did not enter Chinese territory, according to its data.

MARCH 21: Bad weather hampers search efforts more than 2,000 kilometres off west coast of Australia.

MARCH 22: Malaysian authorities say a transcript of the final 54 minutes of cockpit communication published by The Daily Telegraph in Britain is inaccurate. Chinese authorities say their satellites spotted a large object in the southern Indian Ocean.

 

[YouMakeMyDreams]

Nothing found on MH370 pilot's flight simulator: report

Yahoo! and agencies March 23, 2014, 8:35 am

Australia to continue plane search (clone 1395345572)

Forensic experts examining the home flight simulator of Malaysia Airlines pilot Zaharie Ahmad Shah have found nothing suspicious, according to police sources quoted by Fairfax Media.

A report from the publisher's Malaysia correspondent said the failure to uncover any suspicious recordings collapsed the only significant lead local investigators had been pursuing with regard to the missing flight MH370.

Malaysia had asked the FBI to help recover data deleted from a flight simulator in the home of Zaharie, a US official told AFP on Wednesday.

Malaysia's defense minister Hishammuddin Hussein has said that he believed Zaharie was innocent until proven guilty, and that family members of the missing pilot were contributing to the investigation.

'Leaked' transcript inaccurate: Malaysia

Malaysian authorities say a cockpit transcript released by UK media is inaccurate.

"The transcript is invalid and inaccurate," Department of Civil Aviation Director-General Datuk Azharuddin Abdul Rahman told the New Straits Times. "I have to inform that the transcript between the tower and the aircraft is not accurate," he repeated.

Azharuddin refused to comment on which parts of the transcript were not accurate, telling the paper that "the transcript by standard procedure cannot be publicly released."

A UK report said the potentially leaked transcript had been translated from a Mandarin Chinese version.

According to the Telegraph, the transcript of the last 54 minutes of conversations between the co-pilot, the control tower and other air traffic authorities, included a point at which investigators believe the plane was sabotaged.

Experts say the messages and conversation appeared "perfectly routine" but pointed out that two features were potentially odd.

At 1:07am, a message from the cockpit told authorities that the plane was flying at 35,000ft. This raised some eyebrows as it repeated a message delivered only six minutes earlier.

Adding to the suspicion of crew intervention, it happened just moments before the plane's ACARS signalling device sent its final message before being disabled.

The Telegraph (UK) claimed the final communications within the cockpit of the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 had been revealed. Photo: AP.

Secondly, it appears that the loss of communication and subsequent change of MH370's direction occurred at the point where the air traffic control in Kuala Lumpur were to handover to those in Ho Chi Minh City.

"If I was going to steal the aeroplane, that would be the point I would do it," said Stephen Buzdygan, a former British Airways pilot.

"There might be a bit of dead space between the air traffic controllers. It was the only time during the flight they would maybe not have been able to be seen from the ground."

The development was reported in London's Telegraph, which claimed at that time to have received no confirmation from authorities.

The Daily Telegraph has repeatedly asked Malaysia Airlines, Malaysia's Civil Aviation Authority and the office of Najib Razak, the Malaysian prime minister, to confirm the communications record; only the prime minister's office responded, saying it would not release this data.

No sight of potential MH370 debris in southern Indian Ocean

Spotter planes spent a second fruitless day scouring a remote stretch of the Indian Ocean for wreckage from a Malaysian jet, as Chinese relatives of the missing passengers clashed with Malaysian officials.

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) has tasked three RAAF P3 Orion aircraft, a New Zealand P3 RAAF Orion aircraft and two ultra long range commercial jets to search a 36,000 square kilometre area about 2500 kilometres south-west of Perth today.

Australian and US military aircraft usually used for anti-submarine operations on Friday criss-crossed the isolated search area 2500 kilometres southwest of Perth, looking for two floating objects that had shown up on grainy satellite photos taken several days before.

After two weeks of false leads, Australia revived the investigation on the mysterious disappearance of flight MH370 when it announced the detection of two "objects" in the southern Indian Ocean, some 2500 kilometres southwest of Perth in western Australia.

Although the images were too indistinct to confirm as debris from Flight MH370, Australian and Malaysian officials said they represented the most "credible" leads to date in the hunt for the plane and its 239 passengers and crew.

Friday's search concluded "without any sightings", the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) said in a statement.

A Royal Australian Air Force plane deployed to search part of the Indian Ocean for any potential signs of the missing MH370 passenger jet returned to Perth without spotting any debris. Photo: Reuters.

The planes flew low under the cloud cover rather than rely on radar, after poor weather the day before hampered the search.

"We replanned the search to be visual, so aircraft flying relatively low, with very highly skilled observers looking out of the windows," said AMSA official John Young.

"This means aircraft operating more closely together and we will need more aircraft for this task."

A crew member on board an Australian AP-3C Orion takes part in the search for the missing MH370 passenger jet. Photo: Department of Defence.

Friday's aerial contingent comprised three Australian air force P-3 Orions, a US Navy P-8 Poseidon and a civil Bombardier Global Express jet.

The distance from the west coast of Australia allows the planes only about two hours of actual search time before they must turn around with enough fuel to get back to Perth.

Two merchant ships were helping with the search, but Australia's HMAS Success, which is capable of retrieving any wreckage, was still days away.

"This is going to be a long haul," Malaysian Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein told a daily press briefing in Kuala Lumpur.

A map shows the search areas for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370. Photo: AP.

Malaysia has been criticised for its handling of the crisis, especially by Chinese relatives who have accused authorities and the flag-carrier airline of providing insufficient or misleading information.

A delegation of Malaysian government and military officials flew to Beijing for what turned out to be a bad-tempered meeting with relatives.

The event began with family members yelling at delegates to stand up when they were being introduced.

"You have wasted so much time," shouted one.

A relative of Chinese passengers aboard the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 walks out of a hotel ballroom after attending a news briefing organised by the airlines' officials in Beijing. Photo: AP.

The nature of the events that diverted MH370 from its intended flight path on March 8 remain shrouded in mystery, although Malaysian investigators have stuck to their assumption that it was the result of a "deliberate action" by someone on board.

Three scenarios have gained particular attention: hijacking, pilot sabotage, and a sudden mid-air crisis that incapacitated the flight crew and left the plane to fly on auto-pilot for several hours until it ran out of fuel and crashed.

If the objects in the remote southern Indian Ocean are shown to have come from MH370, some analysts believe the hijacking theory will lose ground.

Australian Maritime Safety Authority Search and Rescue Officers coordinate the search for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 from the Rescue Coordination Centre in Canberra. Photo: Australian Maritime Safety Authority.

The often storm-swept area is far from recognised shipping lanes and the satellite images were taken on March 16, meaning the objects would have been drifting for days in a volatile maritime region.

If debris is found, the mammoth task remains of locating the "black box" flight data recorder, which offers the best chance of peeling back the layers of confusion and mystery surrounding MH370.

The three Australian P3 Orions joined by a high-tech US Navy P8 Poseidon aircraft and a civilian Bombardier Global Express jet to search the 23,000 square km (8,900 sq mile) zone on Friday, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) said.

A Norwegian merchant ship that had been diverted to the area on Thursday was still searching there and another vessel would arrive later on Friday.

China is now sending three warships to join the search for possible pieces of the missing Malaysia Airlines plane in the southern Indian Ocean, the government said Friday.

The Hoegh St Petersburg car carrier has reached the area in the southern Indian Ocean off Australia where two floating objects, suspected to be debris from the missing Malaysian jetliner, were spotted, the ship's owner said on March 20, 2014. Photo: Reuters.

The ships are en route to the area where a satellite image showed two large objects floating about 2300 kilometres west of Australia, the National Maritime Search and Rescue Centre said Friday.

It gave no indication when they might arrive at the remote site, but earlier Chinese news reports said the ships — the Kunlunshan, the Haikou and the Qiandaohu — were searching near the Indonesian island of Sumatra.

The centre said a fourth Chinese vessel, the icebreaker Snow Dragon, is in the western Australian port of Perth following a trip to Antarctica and might join the search.

The search comes as one aviation expert said that if the plane crashed in the Indian Ocean it may never be found.

Rémi Jouty, head of the Bureau d’Enquêtes et d’Analyses, said that there would be much more work involved in an undersea search if objects found by satellites turned out to be from the missing plane.

“The only thing I can say is it will be most difficult and the recovery [of the wreckage on the seabed] is not guaranteed,” Mr Jouty told the Financial Times.

Four Australian aircraft completed the search over the 23,000 square kilometre area south-west of Perth, returning with no leads.

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority said the satellite images of the objects are credible but they may not be from the plane.

"It is a very long journey to the site and unfortunately, aircraft can only have one or two hours over the search area before they need to return to the mainland for fuel," Warren Truss, who is currently Australia's acting prime minister while Tony Abbott is overseas, told the ABC. He said that weather conditions in the area were poor and may get worse.

"And so clearly this is a very, very difficult and challenging search. Weather conditions are not particularly good and risk that they may deteriorate," Truss said.

A RAAF C-130J Hercules assists with the search off WA. Picture: Michael Wilson/The West Australian

"Search operations in the Southern Indian Ocean for the missing Malaysia Airlines aircraft will continue today in the Australian Search and Rescue Region," AMSA said in a statement.

"Today’s search will utilise four military aircraft, including two RAAF Orions, tasked by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) to search a 23,000 kilometre area, about 2500 kilometres south-west of Perth.

"A merchant ship remains in the search area. Another merchant ship is en route to the area and is expected to arrive tonight.

"A total of six merchant ships have assisted in the search since a shipping broadcast was issued by AMSA on Monday night.

"The current search area has been identified based on satellite data imagery from the Australian Geospatial-Intelligence Organisation (AGO) provided to AMSA on Thursday morning.

An updated satellite image has been provided by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority. Photo: AMSA

"Analysis of the imagery by AGO identified two objects possibly relating to the missing aircraft. The images have been assessed as being credible but it is possible they do not relate to the search for MH370.

"The Royal Australian Navy HMAS Success is also en route to the search area and is due in the area on 22 March."

AMSA said that there had been no reported sightings of wreckage yet.

"It would be very nice if you could see a whole wing floating there, then you could say, 'OK that's an airplane,'" said Sean O'Connor, an imagery analyst with IHS Jane's. In the case of these satellite images, "you can't tell what it is" so closer examination is critical.

The world will continue to look to Australia for new information about two objects in the southern Indian Ocean possibly linked to a missing jet. Photo: Department of Defence.

Another analyst said the debris is most likely not pieces of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. There have been several false leads since the Boeing 777 disappeared March 8 above the Gulf of Thailand en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

"The chances of it being debris from the airplane are probably small, and the chances of it being debris from other shipping are probably large," said Jason Middleton, an aviation professor at the University of New South Wales in Sydney.

Speaking to reporters in Papua New Guinea, Mr Abbott defended announcing the possible link to the plane in parliament.

He said it was the most "serious" lead so far in the search.

"We don't know what that satellite saw until we get much closer look at it, but this is the most tangible clue in what's been an utterly baffling mystery," Mr Abbott said on Thursday night.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott tells parliament in Canberra that satellite imagery has found two objects possibly related to the search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370. Photo: ABC.

Defence Minister David Johnston was also cautious of raising any false hopes.

"We are several days away from having an idea of the credibility and veracity of this (satellite) report," Senator Johnston told ABC TV.

The Australian Navy ship HMAS Success is en route to aid in the search when it recommences at first light.

New phase

Hishammuddin Hussein, Malaysia's Acting Transport Minister, says that if the objects in the South Indian Ocean are confirmed to be from the missing Boeing 777-200, a new phase of the search will focus on an international operation to find the black box recorder.

He said that the black box is the vital clue in establishing exactly what happened to the MH370.

Two objects in the southern Indian Ocean remain the target for Australian authorities as the search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 continues on Friday. Photo: Department of Defence.

The black box of an aircraft records extensive data from the flight, including engine information, and changes to a plane's controls, altitude and oxygen levels. More importantly, it records conversations from within the cockpit, which will prove crucial to unlocking the mystery of the missing MH370.

"For families around the world, the one piece of information they want most is the information we just don’t have: the location of MH370," Hussein told a press conference

"Our primary focus has always been to find the aircraft. And with every passing day, our efforts have intensified.

"Yesterday I said that we wanted to reduce the area of the search. We now have a credible lead. There remains much work to be done to deploy the assets. This work will continue overnight."

 

[Leongsam]

Re: more on MH370 by Cosmic awareness

This explains everything. The relatives can now go back to bed.

 

[tanwahtiu]

all credits of finding the debris has to quickly pass to Ah Tiong government to please the relatives of the Chinese dead passengers. Only Tiong can handle Tiong aggressiveness and stop kpkb for nothing.

planes heading to large debris spotted by tiong sat and floating debris northeast of it.

 

[Lizzert]

Re: These Nehs are good......MH370

NEH-STRADAMUS Predictions

 

[LEGEND]

all credits of finding the debris has to quickly pass to Ah Tiong government to please the relatives of the Chinese dead passengers. Only Tiong can handle Tiong aggressiveness and stop kpkb for nothing.

This is why Tiongs should remain in Tiongsland.

 

[tanwahtiu]

Re: more on MH370 by Cosmic awareness

UFO? Until Further Observation.

This explains everything. The relatives can now go back to bed.

 

[Suicide]

Re: These Nehs are good......MH370

Culled All these Ah Nehs... Scumbags of this Earth!

 

[tanwahtiu]

Re: more on MH370 by Cosmic awareness

well, I may be right. Someone want to sell new technologies to the Chinks but Chinks not convinced.

http://www.rumormillnews.com/cgi-bin/forum.cgi?read=303133

Previously and at some other sources its been said that the intent was to prevent some cutting-edge scientists from reaching China by forcing the aircraft to land t the military base on Diego Garcia, where everyone else would be killed and a staged "accident scene" created. This message neither contradicts or supports that information.

Simon

Link to both message on this missing airliner:
http://rainbow-phoenix.com/blog.html

Direct link to the message I'm referencing (pdf file)
http://rainbowphoenixcom.ipage.com/Archives/20140316Q1.pdf

 

[virus]

http://www.skynews.com.au/topstories/article.aspx?id=960517

Prime Minister Tony Abbott says civilian aircraft have spotted small pieces of debris in Australia's search area.

 

[Tuayapeh]

Re: more on MH370 by Cosmic awareness

UFO? Until Further Observation.

Until Further Obsfuscation........you mean......

 

[zeddy]

Re: These Nehs are good......MH370

What is the difference between PAP and a Keling..???

No difference.. Both can't be trusted..

Rule in life.. Never ever trust a Keling Scum..

 

[virus]

Re: These Nehs are good......MH370

What is the difference between PAP and a Keling..???

No difference.. Both can't be trusted..

Rule in life.. Never ever trust a Keling Scum..

What is the difference between GMS and Tonycat..???

No difference.. Both can't be trusted..

Rule in life.. Never ever trust a Malaysian turncoat Scum

 

[bakkuttay]

Re: more on MH370 by Cosmic awareness

This explains everything. The relatives can now go back to bed.

yes, move on move on move on

posting in this thread again

hahahahhahahahaaaa............
.

 

[currypuff]

this morning i made 72 curry puffs to match 72 feet of the latest large debris. :o

curry puff making is my trade speciality, yours is eat shit.

 

[eatshitndie]

curry puff making is my trade speciality, yours is eat shit.

hahahahaha! ok, i'll add to your points.

 

[Seee3]

Why is Abbott so enthusiastic? Is he trying to use this mishap to introduce himself to the world that he is the new PM of Australia? Or is he trying to show leadership among world leader? His actions reminded me of a young PM, with "his own initiative", organized the fist coordination meeting for leaders of countries affected by Tsunami. The disaster did not affect his country at all. Nevertheless, despite having only been a PM for only a few months, he called the meeting. It was awkward because the other leaders had eaten my salt than the rice this young chap had consumed. Nothing substantial comes out from his effort. Neither has he gained any respect from the older leaders. Only thing gain could just be "gim keh kiam".

Or is Abbott under the instruction of US? I think it is the former.

 

[scroobal]

Both Indonesian and Australia was asked to coordinate and cover the Southern Corridor. Both agreed as they are the only 2 countries that are close. I am sure the World would be surprised if Abbott declined. The debris was sighted in the Australian search sector so they took the lead. The Chinese sat also identified debris in that sector. The search HQ is now Perth and everyone that wants to contribute is gathering there.

What exactly did Abbott do wrong? Did he say something that was unexpected or uncalled for?

What should Abbott or Australia do or not do?

Why is Abbott so enthusiastic? Is he trying to use this mishap to introduce himself to the world that he is the new PM of Australia? Or is he trying to show leadership among world leader? His actions reminded me of a young PM, with "his own initiative", organized the fist coordination meeting for leaders of countries affected by Tsunami. The disaster did not affect his country at all. Nevertheless, despite having only been a PM for only a few months, he called the meeting. It was awkward because the other leaders had eaten my salt than the rice this young chap had consumed. Nothing substantial comes out from his effort. Neither has he gained any respect from the older leaders. Only thing gain could just be "gim keh kiam".

Or is Abbott under the instruction of US? I think it is the former.

 

[virus]

well... he passed words to the chinese that he is interested and called it mission abbot

the chinese messenger was shot when he told pm about this.

mission abort?!?!?!?! wat the fark...

 

[The_Hypocrite]

[video=youtube;pHchH_TQpl0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHchH_TQpl0[/video]

Published on Mar 21, 2014China is determined to be the country to discover the final fate of missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370! And not because they want answers for the families. The Chinese regime is locked in territorial disputes with almost every other country in the East and South China Sea and this could be a chance to prove themselves as the dominate military and maritime power in the region. Of course India doesn't seem too happy to have Chinese warships off their coasts. So want an update on Malaysia Flight MH370? Watch this episode of China Uncensored!