Missing Malaysia Airlines plane: Hunt for black box as more debris spotted

Missing Malaysia Airlines plane: Hunt for black box as more debris spotted

One of Australia's maritime surveillance aircraft has spotted four orange-coloured objects at sea, each more than two metres in size, as the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 continues.

Flight MH370: Chinese relatives demand apology from Malaysia

Flight MH370: Chinese relatives demand apology from Malaysia

Families of Chinese passengers criticise officials over handling of disaster, as search for missing plane enters fourth week
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Relatives of passengers of flight MH370 attend a protest outside the Malaysian embassy in Beijing last week. Photograph: Feature China / Barcroft Media/Feature China/Barcroft Media
Tania Branigan in Beijing
Sunday 30 March 2014 13.13 BST

Dozens of angry relatives of Chinese passengers aboard the missing flight MH370 have demanded that Malaysia apologise for its handling of the investigation as they arrived in Kuala Lumpur from Beijing on Sunday.

About 50 more family members joined those who had earlier flown to Malaysia, saying they hoped to get more information from officials in the capital. Around two-thirds of the 239 people on board the flight were Chinese.

As the hunt enters its fourth week, search crews are no closer to finding the plane, which disappeared on 8 March after diverting from its scheduled flight path as it headed from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. Ten ships and as many aircraft were scanning a vast area of the southern Indian Ocean on Sunday, far off the western coast of Australia.

"We want evidence. We want the truth. We want our relatives," the group chanted in Chinese as they staged a protest at a hotel near the Malaysian capital, holding banners reading: "We want evidence, truth, dignity" in Chinese, and "Hand us the murderer. Tell us the truth. Give us our relatives back" in English.

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Representing the relatives, Jiang Hui said they wanted Malaysia to apologise for what they see as mistakes in its initial handling of the disaster and Monday's declaration that it had crashed into the southern Indian Ocean with the loss of all lives. They argue that conclusion – based on radar and satellite analysis – was premature given the lack of physical evidence.

Jiang said they wanted to meet senior officials from the airline and government as well as technical teams, complaining that they had not received satisfactory answers during meetings with Malaysian representatives in Beijing.

Ong Ka Ting, the Malaysian prime minister's special envoy to China, said that the government understood their feelings.

"We know that definitely by coming over here there will be a lot more discussions and meetings … So we try our best to assist them," he said.

Malaysia Airlines has said it will fly families to Australia if the wreckage of the plane is found.

Both Chinese and Australian vessels have found debris since authorities moved the search about 700 miles closer to Perth on Friday, but officials said the objects turned out to be unconnected to the missing Boeing-777.

Commodore Peter Leavy of the Australian navy said the teams needed to find items, establish they were from flight MH370 and then try to establish where the plane might have hit the water. Experts say that currents could have carried floating wreckage hundreds of miles from the main crash site by now.

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Only then can specialist equipment be used to photograph possible debris on the seabed and help track the aircraft's black box flight data and cockpit voice recorders.

"The search area remains vast and this equipment can only be effectively employed when there is a high probability that the final location of flight MH370 is better known," Leavy said.

The electronic beacons on the black box is certified to emit signals for just 30 days – a deadline that is fast approaching.

But Captain Mark Matthews, the US navy supervisor of salvage and diving, said: "In my experience, they do last a little bit longer than that … I would say 45 days is the realistic limited expectation."

Australia has appointed its former defence force chief, Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, to head a new joint agency co-ordination centre as more planes and ships join the search. The Perth-based centre will co-ordinate operations between the numerous countries involved in the hunt and keep families involved.

It has also issued rules and guidelines to all those involved in the search, stipulating that Australia will hold any wreckage found securely for Malaysian authorities, which will have authority in investigating it.

Equipment to detect MH370 black box dispatched after more objects spotted

Equipment to detect MH370 black box dispatched after more objects spotted

Four orange objects seen on Sunday, but US navy technology cannot track black box until search area is narrowed down

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US navy Captain Mark Matthews with equipment to be used for searching for flight MH370 in Perth on Sunday. Photograph: Xinhua/Landov/Barcroft Media
Australian Associated Press
Sunday 30 March 2014 22.22 BST

An Australian navy vessel is heading out from Perth with special equipment able to detect signals from the black box recorder on missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.

On Sunday one of Australia's P-3 Orions spotted four orange objects at sea, each more than two metres in size.

The co-ordinates and images of the items, the latest to be sighted, were "of interest" but would need to be analysed, Flight-Lieutenant Russell Adams told Fairfax Media from RAAF Pearce base after returning from an 11-hour mission on Sunday night.

A GPS buoy had also been dropped in the area of the sighting, Adams said.

The Australian navy vessel, the Ocean Shield, was due within the Indian Ocean search zone early on Monday to join an international array of ships and aircraft scouring the seas for any sign of the lost plane.

The US navy technology on board the Ocean Shield will not be able to detect the "pinger" within the plane's black box until a more confined search area is identified.

The flight vanished with 239 people on board after setting out from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on 8 March.

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A number of satellite cameras and aircraft crews have spotted objects in the water, but no confirmed debris from the Boeing 777 has been picked up by surface vessels.

As more planes and ships joined the hunt at the weekend, Australia appointed one of its most decorated military figures to help co-ordinate the search for MH370.

The prime minister, Tony Abbott, said retired Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, the country's former defence force chief, would lead a new joint agency co-ordination centre (JACC) in Perth.

The headquarters will help communication between international search partners, while trying to keep the families of those on the missing flight informed.

"There is no one better placed than Angus to co-ordinate and liaise given the quite significant number of countries that all have a stake in this search," Abbott said.

Officials on Sunday said the first debris picked up by ships combing the updated search area about 1,850km west of Perth was not from the stricken plane.

"It appeared to be fishing equipment and just rubbish on the [ocean's] surface," said a spokesman for the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, which is in charge of the operation.

It had been feared the 30-day life of the black box could expire before the equipment arrives.

But Captain Mark Matthews, the US navy supervisor of salvage and diving, said although the device was certified for only 30 days, it could last up to 15 days longer than that.

Australian navy Commodore Peter Leavy said the focus was still to find debris and confirm it was from flight MH370, then work backwards to a possible crash site.

"The search area remains vast and this equipment can only be effectively employed when there is a high probability that the final location of flight MH370 is better known," he said.

The Ocean Shield is also carrying an unmanned submersible vehicle which can be used to sonar map and photograph debris on the seafloor if the black box signal is located.

Satellite spots possible debris field in search for missing Flight MH370 - www.ctvnews.ca

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia -- A French satellite scanning the Indian Ocean for remnants of a missing jetliner found a possible plane debris field containing 122 objects, a top Malaysian official said Wednesday, calling it "the most credible lead that we have."

Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein also expressed exasperation with the anger rising among missing passengers' relatives in China, who berated Malaysian government and airline officials earlier in the day in Beijing. About two-thirds of the missing are Chinese, but Hishammuddin pointedly said that Chinese families "must also understand that we in Malaysia also lost our loved ones" as did "so many other nations."

Nineteen days into the search for Malaysian Airlines Flight 370, the latest satellite images are the first to suggest that a debris field from the plane -- rather than just a few objects -- may be floating in the southern Indian Ocean, though no wreckage has been confirmed. Previously, an Australian satellite detected two large objects and a Chinese satellite detected one.

Read more: http://www.ctvnews.ca/world/satellite-spots-possible-debris-field-in-search-for-missing-flight-mh370-1.1746398#ixzz2x70HC5CJ

All three finds were made in roughly the same area, far southwest of Australia, where a desperate, multinational hunt has been going on for days.

Clouds obscured the latest satellite images, but dozens of objects could be seen in the gaps, ranging in length from one meter to 23 metres. At a news conference in Kuala Lumpur, Hishammuddin said some of them "appeared to be bright, possibly indicating solid materials."

The images were taken Sunday and relayed by French-based Airbus Defence and Space, a division of Europe's Airbus Group; its businesses include the operation of satellites and satellite communications. The company said in a statement that it has mobilized five observation satellites, including two that can produce very high resolution images, to help locate the plane.

Various floating objects have been spotted in the area by planes over the last week, including on Wednesday, when the Australian Maritime Safety Authority said three more objects were seen. The authority said two objects seen from a civil aircraft appeared to be rope, and that a New Zealand military plane spotted a blue object.

None of the objects were seen on a second pass, a frustration that has been repeated several times in the hunt for Flight 370, missing since March 8 with 239 people aboard.

Australian officials did not say whether they received the French imagery in time for search planes out at sea to look for the possible debris field, and did not return repeated phone messages seeking further comment.

It remains uncertain whether any of the objects seen came from the plane; they could have come from a cargo ship or something else.

The search resumed Wednesday after fierce winds and high waves forced crews to take a break Tuesday. A total of 12 planes and five ships from the United States, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand were participating in the search, hoping to find even a single piece of the jet that could offer tangible evidence of a crash and provide clues to find the rest of the wreckage.
Malaysia announced Monday that a mathematical analysis of the final known satellite signals from the plane showed that it had crashed in the sea, killing everyone on board.

The new data greatly reduced the search zone, but it remains huge -- an area estimated at 1.6 million square kilometres, about the size of Alaska.

"We're throwing everything we have at this search," Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott told Nine Network television on Wednesday.

"This is about the most inaccessible spot imaginable. It's thousands of kilometres from anywhere," he later told Seven Network television. He vowed that "we will do what we can to solve this riddle."

Malaysia has been criticized over its handling of the search, though it is one of the most perplexing mysteries in aviation history. Much of the most strident criticism has come from relatives of the 153 Chinese missing, some of whom expressed outrage that Malaysia essentially declared their loved ones dead without recovering a single piece of wreckage.

At a hotel banquet room in Beijing on Wednesday, a delegation of Malaysian government and airline officials explained what they knew to relatives of those lost. They were met with skepticism and even ridicule by some of the roughly 100 people in audience, who questioned some of the report's findings, including how investigators could have concluded the direction and speed of the plane. One man later said he wanted to pummel everyone in the Malaysian delegation.

"Time will heal emotions that are running high. We fully understand," Hishammuddin said in Kuala Lumpur.

"For the Chinese families, they must also understand that we in Malaysia also lost our loved ones. There are so many other nations that have lost their loved ones," Hishammuddin said. "I have seen some images coming from Australia, very rational. (They) understand that this is a global effort. Not blaming directly on Malaysia, because we are co-ordinating something that is unprecedented."

But one of the main complaints from families -- mixed messages from Malaysia -- continued Wednesday. Two days after Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said there were no survivors, Hishammuddin allowed for the possibility that some people aboard the plane might still be alive.
"If (the debris) is confirmed to be from MH370, then we can move on to deep sea surveillance search and rescue, hopefully, hoping against hope," he said.
China dispatched a special envoy to Kuala Lumpur, Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Yesui, who met Najib and other top officials Wednesday, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

China, which now has Chinese warships and an icebreaker in the search zone, has been intent on supporting the interests of the Chinese relatives of passengers, backing their demands for detailed information on how Malaysia concluded the jet went down -- details Hishamuddin said Malaysia handed over on Wednesday.

China's support for families is the likely reason why authorities there -- normally extremely wary of any spontaneous demonstrations that could undermine social stability -- permitted a rare protest Tuesday outside the Malaysian Embassy in Beijing, during which relatives chanted slogans, threw water bottles and briefly tussled with police who kept them separated from a swarm of journalists.
Though officials believe they know roughly where the plane is, it remains unknown why it disappeared shortly after taking off from Kuala Lumpur. Investigators have ruled out nothing -- including mechanical or electrical failure, hijacking, sabotage, terrorism or issues related to the mental health of the pilots or someone else on board.

The search for the wreckage and the plane's flight data and cockpit voice recorders will be a major challenge. It took two years to find the black box from Air France Flight 447, which went down in the Atlantic Ocean on a flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris in 2009, and searchers knew within days where that crash site was.

Wednesday's search focused on an 80,000 square kilometre swath of ocean about 2,000 kilometres southwest of Perth.

There is a race to find Flight 370's black boxes, whose battery-powered "pinger" could stop sending signals within two weeks.

On Wednesday, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, which is co-ordinating the southern search operation on Malaysia's behalf, said a U.S. Towed Pinger Locator arrived in Perth along with a Bluefin-21 underwater drone. The equipment will be fitted to the Australian naval ship the Ocean Shield, but AMSA could not say when they would be deployed.

Kerry Sieh, the director of the Earth Observatory of Singapore, said the seafloor in the search area is relatively flat, with dips and crevices similar to the part of the Atlantic Ocean where the Air France wreckage was found.

He believes any large pieces of the plane would likely stay put once they have completely sunk. But recovering any part of the plane will be tough because of ocean depths in the search area, which are mostly 3,000 to 4,500 metres.

Aviation expert Geoffrey Thomas, publisher of Airlineratings.com, called the search "the most complex, the most difficult in aviation history."

"The weather in this part of the world is far more difficult than that experienced in the search for (Air France) 447."

He said huge swells were common, particularly during the southern hemisphere's upcoming winter. "There's a real urgency to find something as quickly as possible because through the winter months, they'll probably have to suspend the search."

Australia's Bureau of Meteorology warned that the weather was expected to deteriorate again Thursday, with thunderstorms, low clouds and strong winds on the way.

Read more: http://www.ctvnews.ca/world/satellite-spots-possible-debris-field-in-search-for-missing-flight-mh370-1.1746398#ixzz2x70LxWGz

As it happened: Hunt for flight MH370 - www.bbc.com

As it happened: Hunt for flight MH370

Key Points

• A second day of searching the southern Indian Ocean ends without any sightings of objects that could be debris from the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.
• Five planes are involved in the search of a vast area 2,350km (1,460 miles) south-west of Perth, Australia.
• A Norwegian cargo vessel, diverted to the area, scoured the sea through the night using searchlights.
• Bad weather hampered Thursday's search but conditions improved on Friday.
• It emerged earlier this week that two objects that could be plane debris were spotted on satellite images, one 24m (78ft) long.
• The airliner with 239 people on board disappeared on 8 March after leaving Kuala Lumpur bound for Beijing. (All times GMT)

Could debris be missing flight MH370? - www.bbc.com

Search teams hunting for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 have spotted several objects floating in the southern Indian Ocean.

Malaysia's prime minister has announced that the aircraft is now known to have crashed in the region, following new analysis of satellite tracking data. 

The crew of a Chinese plane has seen "suspicious" objects in the search area, Chinese state media said, while the Australian government confirmed its teams had also seen floating material.

The news followed recent releases of satellite images and data relating to what could be debris.
Teams are continuing to scour the search zone - more than 2,000km (1,200 miles) south-west of Perth - to try to identify the objects

Here is what we know about what has been spotted.

1. Images of debris from 16 March

  Object 24m in length

Australian officials released images last week showing two whitish objects on or just under the surface of the ocean. They were spotted by satellite on 16 March, but not released until days later because it had taken time to analyse them, Australian Air Commodore John McGarry said.

Australia's Defence Imagery and Geospatial Organisation, which carried out the analysis, said the larger of the objects could measure up to 24m (79ft) long.

"The indication to me is of objects that are a reasonable size and probably awash with water, moving up and down over the surface,'' John Young, general manager of the emergency response division of Amsa said.

Mr Young added that the debris was spotted along a busy shipping route and could be containers that had fallen off cargo vessels. However, the larger object appeared to be longer than a container, he added.

Object 5m in length

On the same day, a second object was also spotted - estimated to be about 5m (16ft) long.

2. Images of debris from 18 March

  Object measuring 22m by 13m

Latest image taken by China's Gaofen-1 satellite

 

On Saturday 22 March, China released a satellite image showing an object near to the area already being searched.

The grainy image was released by China's State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense.

The Xinhua state news agency said the image was taken at about 04:00 GMT on 18 March and showed objects about 120km "south by west" from the site of possible debris shown in the satellite images from 16 March.

The image was taken by the Gaofen-1 high-resolution optical Earth observation satellite of China's National Space Administration.

3. Satellite data from 21 March

  Then, a day later, on Sunday 23 March, France's foreign ministry said data from a French satellite showed possible debris located about 930km (575 miles) north of where the objects reported by China and Australia.

Radar echoes had picked up several objects about 2,300km (1,430 miles) from Perth on 21 March, a statement added.

The data was passed on to Australian authorities in the form of "satellite-generated radar echoes" rather than images. Radar works by sending out radio waves or microwaves and listening for echoes that bounce back.

Malaysian officials later confirmed they had received a further set of images from French satellites, this time captured by cameras. These images were taken on 23 March and have been relayed to the Australian authorities coordinating the search.

4. Objects sighted by Chinese plane on 24 March

 

On 24 March, Chinese search teams reported seeing two "relatively big" objects with "many white smaller ones scattered within a radius of several kilometres", according to Xinhua news agency.

"When two of our IL-76 planes were searching the relevant suspected sea area, one of the planes photographed white, square floating objects," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei said.
"At present we are unable to confirm whether the floating objects are related to the missing passenger jet."

The crew of the Ilyushin IL-76 aircraft had given the co-ordinates of the objects to the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (Amsa) as well as China's ice-breaker Xue Long (Snow Dragon), which is heading to the area, Xinhua news agency said.

5. Objects sighted by Australian planes on 24 March

 

The same day, Australian prime minister Tony Abbott confirmed that an Australian search crew on board a P-3 Orion plane had also spotted two objects - the first "a grey or green circular object" and the second "an orange rectangular object".

Later, Australian crews confirmed they had seen four objects - one rectangular and one circular slightly below the ocean and two cylindrical objects, with one measuring up to two metres in length.
Australian navy supply ship HMAS Success is on the scene and is trying to locate and recover the objects in order to assess whether they are connected to the missing Malaysian Airlines jet.

Malaysia plane: 10 questions that are still unresolved - www.bbc.com

As the search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 continues in the southern Indian Ocean, some key questions remain unanswered. 

Here are 10 questions about what happened to the Boeing 777 that disappeared after leaving Kuala Lumpur bound for Beijing on 8 March, with 239 people on board.
1. Why did the plane make a sharp left turn?
 
Military radar logs show flight MH370 turned unexpectedly west when it diverted from its planned flight path, by which time the plane's transponder had already been switched off, and its last ACARS datalink transmission sent.

Sudden turns like this are "extremely rare", according to Dr Guy Gratton of Brunel University's Flight Safety Lab. He says the only real reason pilots are likely to make such a manoeuvre is if there's a serious problem on the plane which makes them decide to divert to a different destination, to get the aircraft on the ground.

That could be a fire or sudden decompression, according to David Barry, an expert on flight data monitoring at Cranfield University.

Malicious intent - by a pilot or intruder - is another possibility.

But unless the "black box" flight recorders are found, whatever happened in the cockpit at that moment will remain in the realms of speculation.

2. Is it reasonable to speculate that a pilot could have intended to kill himself?
 
There has been much speculation in the media that suicide might have been behind the loss of the plane.

It wouldn't be the first time it's happened. The crashes of Egypt Air flight 990 in 1999 and Silk Air flight 185 in 1997 are both thought to have been caused deliberately by a pilot, though the view has been contested. The Aviation Safety Network says there have been eight plane crashes linked to pilot suicide since 1976.

So far, no evidence has been released from searches of the homes of Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah and his co-pilot Fariq Abdul Hamid that back up any similar explanation for MH370. There has been speculation that Shah may have been upset after breaking up with his wife, but there is so far no reliable source for his state of mind. It's been reported police are still examining a flight simulator found in the captain's home.

Barry says the apparent turning off of certain systems might give weight to the theory, but "pilot suicide is a theory like any other". Gratton agrees. "There simply isn't any evidence to prove or disprove it," he says.

3. Is a hijack scenario even possible? 
 

Airliners have been fitted with strengthened flight deck doors - intended to prevent intruders from taking control - since 9/11. David Learmount, safety editor at Flight International magazine, says they are "bulletproof" and "couldn't be penetrated with an axe".

Sylvia Wrigley, light aircraft pilot and author of Why Planes Crash, agrees it's unlikely anyone would be able to force their way in. "Even if the door was being broken down, they wouldn't be able to get in before there'd been a mayday call, unless the pilots were incapacitated," she says.

However, one former pilot, who did not wish to be named, has suggested there is theoretically a way to disable the lock and get into the flight deck.

But in any case, however secure the door, there are times when the door is open - when a member of the crew either visits the toilet or has to check on something in the cabin. It's always been pointed out that it would be possible to rush the cockpit when this is the case. Some airlines, including Israel's El Al, have double doors to guard against this scenario. Gratton says there's a procedure which requires a member of the cabin crew to guard the door when it's opened.

But even in the event of hijackers rushing the cockpit, it would be easy for either crew member to send a distress signal.

The security of the cockpit door offers protection against intruders, but it also prevents action being taken if something does go wrong. Last month the co-pilot of an Ethiopian Airlines flight waited for the pilot to go to the toilet before hijacking the aircraft and flying it to Switzerland.

There's also the possibility that a pilot invited a passenger in. Photographs have emerged of the co-pilot of MH370 entertaining teenage tourists in an aircraft cockpit during a previous flight.
Boeing said it would be inappropriate to comment on an ongoing investigation.

4. Is there an accidental scenario that stands up to scrutiny?
 
So far most theories have been based on the assumption that the communications systems and the plane's transponder were deliberately disabled, a view endorsed by Malaysian officials.

However, Wrigley believes it's possible a sequence of events may have taken the plane so far off course by accident. "Something could have gone wrong in stages. A fire could have taken out part of the plane, or led to some systems failing, but left the plane intact. Then there could have been decompression - not an explosive decompression, but a gradual one," she says.

Wrigley cites the Helios Airways flight 522 which crashed into a mountain in Greece in 2005 after a loss of cabin pressure and lack of oxygen incapacitated the crew, but left the plane flying on autopilot, as an example. "If the Helios plane hadn't hit the mountain, it would have kept going until it ran out of fuel. I'm not saying it's a likely scenario, but it's not impossible," she says.

Pilots have pointed out that one of the very first actions in many emergency drills is to send a message to air traffic control or some other form of signal. For a purely accidental scenario to make sense, whatever initial event took place must have simultaneously knocked out all regular means to communicate with the ground.

5. Why was no action taken when the plane's transponder signal went off?
 
MH370's transponder - which communicates with ground radar - was shut down as the aircraft crossed from Malaysian air traffic control into Vietnamese airspace over the South China Sea.
If a plane disappeared in Europe, Barry says someone in air traffic control would have noticed and raised the alarm pretty quickly. Gratton agrees. "In Europe handover is extremely slick.

"At the very least I'd expect air traffic controllers to try and contact a nearby aircraft to try and establish direct contact. Pilots frequently use TCAS [traffic collision avoidance system], which detects transponders of other aircraft to ensure they aren't too close to each other," he adds.

Air traffic control

 

However Steve Buzdygan, a former BA 777 pilot, says that from memory, there's a gap or "dead spot" of about 10 minutes in the VHF transmission before the plane would have crossed into Vietnamese airspace.

Learmount says it's also perfectly feasible that nobody on the ground noticed the plane's disappearance. "Malaysian air traffic control had probably handed it over to the Vietnamese and forgotten about it. There could have been a five-minute delay before anyone noticed the plane hadn't arrived - a gap in which nobody pressed the alarm button," he says.

Even if air traffic control did notice the plane was amiss, they wouldn't necessarily have made it public, he adds.

6. Why isn't it easier to track missing planes by military satellite?
 

The search effort on seas some 2,500km (1,500 miles) to the south-west of the Australian city of Perth has relied on images provided by commercial satellite companies.

Dan Schnurr, chief technology officer at Geospatial Insight, says there are 20 known satellites that have a resolution capable of obtaining these images in the "vast tracts of the ocean passing over the poles". Of those, probably about 10 of them capture images on a daily basis.

The images are beamed down from the satellites in very near real time, and are probably on the ground within two or three hours of image capture, he says. The delay in detecting valuable images is down to the time it takes to analyse the large volume of imagery.

There are also satellite sources owned by the military and government, but these have not been prominent in the search. This has led to some speculation that the fate of the plane was known about earlier in the search, but not revealed.

Laurence Gonzales, author of flight 232: A Story of Disaster and Survival, says some nations are bound to have more sophisticated surveillance systems than they are letting on. "A very small, fast ballistic missile can be picked up easily, so how can they lose a big, slow-moving object like a jumbo jet? It tells me somewhere in the angles of power in the world someone knows where the plane is but doesn't want to talk about it, probably for reasons of national security because they don't want to reveal the sophistication of the material they have... that their satellite technology is so good it can read a label on a golf ball," he says.

But Gratton says military satellites looking for ballistic missiles probably wouldn't have thrown up much useful data because they wouldn't have been calibrated to pick up aircraft of this size.
"This aircraft was seven miles up and travelled at three-quarters of the speed of sound. Ballistic missiles go up to four or five times the speed of sound, and 30 to 50 miles up - they have very different profiles," he says.

7. Did the plane glide into the sea or plunge after running out of fuel?
 

The MH370's final moments seem to depend on whether the plane was still being flown by a pilot.
"If it was under control, the plane was capable of being glided. The Airbus that went into the New York's Hudson River lost both engines - which is an identical outcome to running out of fuel - and the pilot managed to land on the water," Gratton says.

Barry agrees there could have been a gentle descent. "Aircraft of this size will normally fly or glide over 50 miles before they hit the sea if they run out of fuel," he says. However, if no-one was at the controls, he says the descent could have been "pretty severe".

8. Would the passengers have known something was wrong?
 
If a major malfunction had not occurred, it is unclear whether passengers would have known anything was awry, especially if there were no obvious signs of a struggle onboard. Joe Pappalardo, senior editor at Popular Mechanics magazine, says in most scenarios where a plane flies off course for hours, passengers can remain oblivious. At 01:00, many would probably have been asleep. In the morning, the astute might have worked out the Sun was in the wrong position.

 

Boeing 777s can fly higher than 40,000ft

 

Malaysian authorities have said the plane rose to 45,000ft, before falling to 23,000ft, after it changed course. If that's the case, passengers might have felt the loss of altitude, according to Pappalardo.
However one theory is that the plane's apparent climb could have been designed to induce hypoxia - oxygen deprivation - which could have knocked people unconscious and even killed them.

Wrigley thinks it could have played out in one of two ways. "In the horror story version passengers would have realised something was wrong as the plane climbed - and a decompression event would have led to oxygen masks coming down, and an awareness that oxygen was limited. A better scenario is they didn't know anything had happened until impact," she says.

9. Why didn't passengers use their mobile phones?
 
One commonly asked question is why, if it had been obvious something was wrong, passengers wouldn't have used mobile phones to call relatives and raise the alarm. This seems especially puzzling in light of the example of United flight 93, where passengers communicated with people on the ground after the plane was hijacked during 9/11.

 

Waiting for news of MH370 in Beijing

It's been stated that it's extremely unlikely that anyone could get mobile signal on an airliner at 30,000ft. Barry agrees the chances of a mobile phone working on the plane were "virtually impossible". "It can be hard to get a signal on a remote road, let alone seven miles up, away from mobile phone masts, travelling at 500mph," he says.

10. Why can't planes be set up to give full real-time data to a satellite? 
 

Arguably the most baffling thing to a layperson about the disappearance of MH370 is how it is even possible for a plane of this size to disappear so easily. In an era when people are used to being able to track a stolen smartphone, it's perplexing that switching off a couple of systems can apparently allow an airliner to vanish.

Barry says the technology exists to allow planes to give off full real-time data. The problem is planes are "snapshots in time from when they are designed".

"We're doing research into devices that will allow aircraft to start transmitting information by satellite when something unusual like a fire or decompression happens, but it's hard to fit things into a plane retrospectively.

"The 777 went into service in the early 90s... the technology is of that era," he says.

However, Gratton says ACARS would have done the job if it hadn't been turned off. A more complex satellite system would also be open to that risk, he argues, unless the industry wanted to go with = a system that couldn't be manually switched off, and that would come with other risks.

"It's not a particularly easy question. Is the bigger risk an aircraft going missing, or electronics overheating? Both situations can't be met," he says.

Flight MH370: 122 new objects spotted - Malaysia minister - www.bbc.com

A further 122 objects potentially from the missing Malaysian plane have been identified by satellite, the country's acting transport minister has said.

The images, taken on 23 March, showed objects up to 23m (75ft) in length, Hishammuddin Hussein said.

All aircraft taking part in Wednesday's search have now left the area without identifying debris from the plane.

Flight MH370 from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing disappeared on 8 March with 239 people on board.

The objects were found in satellite images from a 400 sq km area around 2,557km (1588 miles) from Perth in Western Australia, Mr Hishammuddin said.

Continue reading the main story

MH370 - Facts at a glance

• 8 March - Malaysia Airlines Kuala Lumpur-Beijing flight carrying 239 people disappears
• Plane's transponder, which gives out location data, was switched off as it left Malaysian airspace
• Satellite 'pings' indicate plane was still flying seven hours after satellite contact was lost
• 16 March - first satellite image of potential debris in southern Indian Ocean
• 24 March - Based on new calculations, Malaysian PM says "beyond reasonable doubt" that plane crashed in southern Indian Ocean with no survivors

• What we know
• The search for flight MH370

He said that it was not possible to tell whether the potential objects were from the missing aircraft, but called them "another new lead that will help direct the search operation". 

The images were supplied by French-based Airbus Defence and Space and were given to the Malaysian Remote Sensing Agency on 25 March, Mr Hishammuddin said.

The images were passed on to the Australian Rescue and Co-ordination Centre in Perth on Tuesday, he added.

The latest images are the fourth known collection of satellite pictures showing possible debris in the southern Indian Ocean. No pieces have yet been recovered in the search area, which has now been split into an east and west

Aircraft leave area
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (Amsa), co-ordinating the search, said that all aircraft involved had left the area without finding objects from the plane.

Continue reading the main story

Analysis

John Sudworth BBC News, Beijing

---

Three hundred or so family members in Beijing packed into a meeting room for a meeting with a senior Malaysian delegation on Wednesday. They were almost matched in number by plain clothes and uniformed police officers, a sign of the close eye the Chinese authorities are keeping on the volatile and sensitive mood.

Over more than three hours the delegation was met with a barrage of questions, sometimes hostile, occasionally abusive. Their long, technical explanation of the analysis of the signal frequencies received from the plane, on which the conclusion that it headed into the Indian Ocean and crashed was based, was given pretty short shrift.

Many of the relatives say they still want to see physical proof before they accept that all on those on board are dead. There were also angry exchanges about the support they are being given.

The airline has said that around 700 caregivers are on hand, more than two per family, but the ambassador was forced to admit that that is a global figure. Here in Beijing, where most of the family members are based, only around 50 are currently available to provide the relatives with the emotional and practical support they so badly need.

It said seven military and five civilian planes had taken part and a total of six countries were now involved - Australia, New Zealand, the US, Japan, China and the South Korea.

The commander of the Chinese search operation, Dong Yan, said his ships were still looking for an object spotted by a plane earlier on Wednesday.

"The focus is on searching for floating objects, oil slicks, floating parts of the external layer of the plane and people that may have fallen into the water," he told Chinese television.
Australian authorities said on Wednesday that three more objects had earlier been spotted by a civilian aircraft involved in the search.

However, it could not be confirmed whether they were related to the missing aircraft.

The search for debris from the missing plane is taking place in one of the world's remotest regions.
If debris confirmed to be from the plane is found, the search area will narrow further.

However, experts say the aircraft's locator beacons, which will help guide ships to the wreckage, now have less than two weeks of battery life remaining.

Specialised equipment which can help locate the beacon is being flown to the search area.

Live: Relatives of victims on flight MH370 clash with police outside Malaysian embassy as hunt for wreckage goes on

Families have reacted with anger to the news that there is no hope that their loved ones survived

Pictures of family members of Flight MH370 passengers demonstrating today show just how angry and upset they are.

This man broke down in tears as he shouted slogans during a protest in front of the Malaysian embassy in Beijing

 

A family member of a passenger on board Malaysia Airlines MH370 cries as he shouts slogans during a protest in front of the Malaysian embassy in Beijing

Scuffles broke out today during the protest.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/missing-plane-mh370-families-clash-3279598#ixzz2x11A648T
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Missing flight MH370: now the plane is 'lost', what next?

Without any confirmed sighting, the mystery of what happened to MH370 is very much unresolved. So what happens next?

The announcement by Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak that MH370 is assumed to have crashed into the southern Indian ocean, with no survivors, had a degree of finality to it. But without any confirmed sighting, let alone recovery of any part of the plane, the mystery of what happened to MH370 is very much unresolved.

What has been found so far?

On Monday, Chinese and Australian search planes spotted several more objects in the sea, about 2,500km (1,550 miles) south-west of Australia, which could be debris from the missing Malaysian jet. An Australian P3 Orion aircraft located two objects: one was described as grey or green and circular; the other orange and rectangular. An Australian navy supply ship, the HMAS Success, could reach the objects within several hours or by Tuesday morning, Malaysia's defense minister Hishammuddin Hussein said.

A Chinese spotter plane crew, meanwhile, saw two large objects and several smaller ones spread across several square kilometers, state media reported. At least one of the items – a white, square-shaped object – was captured on a camera aboard the plane. A Chinese icebreaker, the Snow Dragon, was headed towards the area and would arrive on Tuesday morning local time.

There have been several earlier potential sightings. On Saturday, images taken on 18 March by a Chinese satellite were released, appearing to show an object measuring 22 metres by 13 metres about 1,550km (960 miles) south-west of Perth. This coincided with an update from the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (Amsa) that a wooden pallet and "strapping belts of different lengths" had been spotted by a civil search plane.

Australian prime minister Tony Abbott first announced on Thursday that a “credible” sighting had been made in the Indian ocean, about 2,500km south-west of Perth, based on satellite imagery of two large objects.

What happens next in the search?

Inmarsat, the British firm handling the electronic “pings” said to have been sent from MH370 for hours after its last contact with the ground, said it had now determined that it must have flown south. While the search had already been focused on the southern of two “corridors” indicated by the plane’s final ping as a potential final location, it had still been officially possible that it could have ended up somewhere to the north.

At the request of the Malaysian government, Australia has been overseeing the search for debris in the southerly search sector, from a military base near Perth. It has deployed four military planes, four civilian jets and two navy vessels. China has dispatched seven ships, including three warships and an ice-breaker, along with two military aircraft. Japan has sent two P3 Orion planes, New Zealand one, and the US is using an elite P8 Poseidon navy aircraft.

The US navy is also moving a black box locator into the region, called a Towed Pinger Locator. In a navy statement, Commander Chris Budde said: “If the wreck site is located, we can hear the black box pinger down to a depth of 20,000ft. Basically, this super-sensitive hydrophone … listens for black box pings.”

The boxes are designed to emit signals for at least 30 days following a crash, in accordance with international law. But depending on the strength of the black box's battery at the time of a crash, they can continue "pinging" for another 15 days or so beyond that.

Nasa, playing a support role, said it would continue to use satellites and cameras on the International Space Station to search for flotsam. China, Australia and private companies are also continuing to scour satellite data for evidence of the plane.

What are they looking for?

Should investigators identify flotsam belonging to MH370, search planes will guide ships to the area so that they can retrieve debris and begin searching on the ocean floor – which in the south Indian ocean slopes from 2,500 metres deep to about 4,000 metres. If the debris field is found, searchers will try “to backtrack that debris to find the ‘X marks the spot’ where the plane actually hit the water, because that would be the center of the haystack,” David Gallo, a director of the Massachusetts-based Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, told CNN.

Sonar, special systems and submersibles, including automated underwater vehicles (AUVs) – the deep sea equivalent of drone aircraft – will scan the bottom for wreckage. Though the area still remains too vast for “feasible” undersea search, as France's Bureau of Investigation and Analysis said in a statement on Monday, investigators will want to find the black box and fuselage. The black box, which comprises both the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder, could solve many of the mysteries surrounding MH370, from the plane’s precise course and altitude over time to the status of the autopilot and fuel gauge; the cockpit recorder not only would have recorded the pilots’ voices, but also sounds such as engine disturbances. The condition of the fuselage, meanwhile, could determine whether an explosion took place, and moreover how the plane went down.

Where are they searching?

According to the statement by the Malaysian prime minister, it is now known that the plane’s last known position “was in the middle of the Indian Ocean, west of Perth”. He added: “This is a remote location, far from any possible landing sites.” The prime minister did not elaborate, but his statement suggested that investigators have now narrowed down their search area from the almost three million square miles of sea identified last week as the necessary search zone. However, debris from the plane may since have drifted significantly.

In a statement about the search on Monday, France's BEA said that while it had been sharing with Malaysian authorities its “experience in the organisation of undersea searches” to find Air France Flight 447, which disappeared in June 2009, the search area remained so vast by the time its officials returned to France that underwater searches were still not possible.

Who will end up writing the final report on what happened?

Amid pressure from the US and China to allow more direct involvement by foreign authorities, Malaysia’s government has so far jealously defended its jurisdiction. Assuming that enough of MH370 is recovered to make an inquiry possible, and the debris is found in international waters, Malaysia is sure to want to oversee any official inquiry and final report into what happened, and why the plane apparently crashed.

The International Civil Aviation Organisation, which is part of the United Nations, has publicly clarified that the state of the airline involved takes the lead in the event of an accident in international waters. As a result, the official report on Air France Flight 447, which crashed into the Atlantic Ocean en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris, was written by France's Bureau of Investigation and Analysis.
Investigators have so far been searching an area far beyond Australia’s maritime boundaries, and it seems unlikely that the debris would drift far enough to alter this. If, however, the plane were to be recovered within Australian waters, the responsibility for an inquiry would pass to Abbott’s government. Malaysia would be invited to appoint a representative to the inquiry team.

In any case, those desperate to know precisely what happened may have to wait some time, however. The official report on Flight 447 was not published until July 2012 – more than a year after the flight data recorders were finally recovered.

 http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/24/whats-next-malaysian-airlines-flight-mh370

Monday, March 24, 10:15 PM MYT +0800 Malaysia Airlines MH370 Flight Incident - Media Statement 23

Note: The communication below was shared with the family members of passengers and crew of MH370

Malaysia Airlines deeply regrets that we have to assume that MH370 ended in the southern Indian Ocean. As you will hear in the next hour from Malaysia’s Prime Minister, new analysis of satellite data suggests the plane went down in the Southern Indian Ocean.

On behalf of all of us at Malaysia Airlines and all Malaysians, our prayers go out to all the loved ones of the 226 passengers and of our 13 friends and colleagues at this enormously painful time.

We know there are no words that we or anyone else can say which can ease your pain. We will continue to provide assistance and support to you, as we have done since MH370 first disappeared in the early hours of 8 March, while flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

The ongoing multinational search operation will continue, as we seek answers to the questions which remain. Alongside the search for MH370, there is an intensive investigation, which we hope will also provide answers.

We would like to assure you that Malaysia Airlines will continue to give you our full support throughout the difficult weeks and months ahead.

Once again, we humbly offer our sincere thoughts, prayers and condolences to everyone affected by this tragedy.

马来西亚航空公司MH370航空事件

媒体声明廿三

（2014年3月24日晚上10时15分发布）

注： 以下信息谨与MH370航班的乘客及机组人员的家属共享。
就马来西亚首相在其刚发表的声明中指出，根据卫星数据的最新分析，MH370航班已坠毁于南印度洋，对此，马来西亚航空公司深感悲痛与遗憾地告知各位我们不得不假设此航班已终结于南印度洋。

在此极度悲伤的时刻，我们谨代表马来西亚航空公司全体同仁与所有马来西亚人，向226位乘客以及本航13位友人兼同事的亲友们致以深切的哀悼与祈祷。

大家悲痛的心情，我们感同身受。我们也知道，此时此刻，无论任何人或任何语言，都难以抚平 你们内心的伤痛。我们将继续给您提供援助与支持，就如我们在MH370于3月8日失联后初期就开始提供的一般。

多国的搜救行动依然在持续着，因为我们仍旧需要寻求答案。在搜寻MH370的同时，尚有许多方面有待调查，希望也能得到答案。

我们向您保证马来西亚航空将在您整个艰熬时期与未来的数月中给予全面的支援与帮助。

我们再次向所有遭受此悲剧的每一位表示深切的哀悼与慰问。

http://www.malaysiaairlines.com/my/en/site/dark-site.html

Tuesday, March 25, 12:30 AM MYT +0800 Malaysia Airlines MH370 Flight Incident - Media Statement 24

It is with deep sadness that Malaysia Airlines earlier this evening had to confirm to the families of those on board Flight MH370 that it must now be assumed the flight had been lost. As the Prime Minister said, respect for the families is essential at this difficult time. And it is in that spirit that we informed the majority of the families in advance of the Prime Minister’s statement in person and by telephone. SMSs were used only as an additional means of communicating with the families. Those families have been at the heart of every action the company has taken since the flight disappeared on 8th March and they will continue to be so. When Malaysia Airlines receives approval from the investigating authorities, arrangements will be made to bring the families to the recovery area and until that time, we will continue to support the ongoing investigation.

马来西亚航空公司MH370航空事件

媒体声明24

(发布时间：2014年3月25日 上午12:30) 

怀着沉重的悲伤之情，马来西亚航空公司今晚早些时候向MH370失联航班乘客及机组成员的亲属确定了飞机失事这一推断。 正如马来西亚总理纳吉布.扎克拉之前在媒体声明中所说的，在这一艰难时刻，对各位乘客家属的尊重至关重要，也正是因为这一原因，我们在总理发表媒体声明之 前，通过电话事先通知了大部分家属这一消息，同时我们还使用短信作为额外的方式与家属进行了沟通。自从3月8日飞机失联以来，乘客家属一直都是我们每一步 行动的重中之重，在日后的工作中我们也将继续如此。一旦从调查机关获得批准，马来西亚航空公司便会安排将各位乘客亲属带往恢复区，其后再继续参与到正在进 行的调查中去。

http://www.malaysiaairlines.com/my/en/site/dark-site.html

Tuesday, March 25, 12:30 PM MYT +0800 Malaysia Airlines MH370 Flight Incident - Media Statement 25

By: Tan Sri Md Nor Md Yusof, Chairman of Malaysia Airlines

As you will be aware, last night the Prime Minister of Malaysia, Dato' Seri Najib Tun Razak, announced new evidence regarding the disappearance of MH370 on 8^th March.

Based on this evidence, the Prime Minister’s message was that we must accept the painful reality that the aircraft is now lost and that none of the passengers or crew on board survived.

This is a sad and tragic day for all of us at Malaysia Airlines. While not entirely unexpected after an intensive multi-national search across a 2.24 million square mile area, this news is clearly devastating for the families of those on board. They have waited for over two weeks for even the smallest hope of positive news about their loved ones.

This has been an unprecedented event requiring an unprecedented response. The investigation still underway may yet prove to be even longer and more complex than it has been since March 8^th. But we will continue to support the families – as we have done throughout. And to support the authorities as the search for definitive answers continues. I will now ask our Group Chief Executive¸ Ahmad Jauhari Yahya, to provide you will with fuller details of our support for the families.

By: Ahmad Jauhari Yahya, Group Chief Executive Officer, Malaysia Airlines

I stand before you today not only as the Group Chief Executive Officer of Malaysia Airlines, but also as a parent, as a brother, as a son. My heart breaks to think of the unimaginable pain suffered by all the families. There are no words which can ease that pain. Everyone in the Malaysia Airlines family is praying for the 239 souls on MH370 and for their loved ones on this dark day. We extend our prayers and sincere condolences.

We all feel enormous sorrow and pain. Sorrow that all those who boarded Flight MH370 on Saturday 8^th March, will not see their families again. And that those families will now have to live on without those they love.  It must be remembered too that 13 of our own colleagues and fellow Malaysians were also on board.

And let me be very clear on the events of yesterday evening. Our sole and only motivation last night was to ensure that in the incredibly short amount of time available to us, the families heard the tragic news before the world did. Wherever humanly possible, we did so in person with the families or by telephone, using SMS only as an additional means of ensuring fully that the nearly 1,000 family members heard the news from us and not from the media.

Ever since the disappearance of Flight MH370 Malaysia Airlines’ focus has been to comfort and support the families of those involved and support the multi-national search effort. We will continue to do this, while we also continue to support the work of the investigating authorities in the Southern Indian Ocean.
Like everyone else, we are waiting for news from those authorities. We know that while there have been an increasing number of apparent leads, definitive identification of any piece of debris is still missing. It is impossible to predict how long this will take. But after 17 days, the announcement made last night and shared with the families is the reality which we must now accept. When Malaysia Airlines receives approval from the investigating authorities, arrangements will be made to bring the families to the recovery areas if they so wish. Until that time, we will continue to support the ongoing investigation. And may I express my thanks to the Government and all of those involved in this truly global search effort.

In the meantime, Malaysia Airlines’ overwhelming focus will be the same as it has been from the outset – to provide the families with a comprehensive support programme. Through a network of over 700 dedicated caregivers, the loved ones of those on board have been provided with two dedicated caregivers for each family, providing care, support and counsel. We are now supporting over 900 people under this programme and in the last 72 hours, we have trained an additional 40 caregivers to ensure the families have access to round-the-clock support.

In addition, hotel accommodation for up to five family members per passenger, transportation, meals and others expenses have been provided since 8^th March and that will continue.

Malaysia Airlines has already provided initial financial assistance of USD 5,000 per passenger to the next of kin. We recognize that financial support is not the only consideration. But the prolonged search is naturally placing financial strain on the relatives. We are therefore preparing to offer additional payments as the search continues.

This unprecedented event in aviation history has made the past 18 days the greatest challenge to face our entire team at Malaysia Airlines. I have been humbled by the hard work, dedication, heartfelt messages of concern and offers of support from our remarkable team. We do not know why, and we do not know how this terrible tragedy happened. But as the Malaysia Airlines family, we are all praying for the passengers and crew of Flight MH370.


 -end-

Note: Please attribute all quotes to Malaysia Airlines

马航MH370事件 媒体声明25

2014年3月25日中午12:30发布

马来西亚航空公司董事长丹斯里诺.于瑟夫


正如大家所知，马来西亚总理纳吉布先生在昨晚宣布了于3月8日失联的MH370航班的新线索。

根据这些线索，总理先生所传达的信息是，我们必须接受这样一个沉痛的现实：这架飞机已经失事，机上乘客和机组成员无人生还。

对于马航的每一个人来说，这都是无比沉痛的一天。尽管在经历了224万平方英里的多国集中搜救行动之后，这样的消息并非完全出人意料，但它对于机上人员的家属们来说一定是沉重的打击。在两个多星期的时间里，他们一直在等待关于亲人的消息，哪怕仅存一线希望。

这是一个史无前例的事件，需要作出前所未有的反应。调查仍然在进行之中，并可能发展成为一个比3月8日以来更加漫长和复杂的过程。但是我们将继续一 如既往地为家属提供全力帮助。同时，我们也将继续协助当局对最终结论所进行的调查。现在我请我们的集团首席执行官阿末佐哈里向大家通报有关家属援助的更多 细节。


马来西亚航空公司集团首席执行官阿末佐哈里

今天我站在大家面前，不仅是作为马来西亚航空公司集团首席执行官，同时也作为一个父亲，一个兄长、和一个儿子。一想到所有家属所遭受的令人无法想象 的伤痛，我的心也无比沉痛。没有什么话语能抚平伤痛。在这不幸的一天，马航的每个人都在为MH370航班上的239 个在天之灵以及他们挚爱的亲属而祈祷。我们表达最真挚的祈祷和哀悼。

我们都感受到了无比的悲伤与痛苦。那些在3月8日星期六登上MH370航班的人将再也无法见到自己的亲人；而那些家庭将在失去亲人的日子里继续生活。同时我们要纪念的还有机上13位马航同事和马来西亚同胞。

请允许我就昨晚的事情进行说明：我们昨晚唯一的出发点，是在时间非常紧迫的情况下，确保家属先于公众获得这个消息。在人力能及的范围内，我们是通过 当面或电话形式与家属进行沟通的。手机短信只是附加的沟通方式之一，是为了确保近1,000名家属能够全部从我们这里先于媒体获取消息。

MH370航班失联以来，对家属的援助和对多国搜救行动的支持一直是我们的工作重心所在。我们将继续这样的努力，同时也将继续协助调查机构在南印度洋开展的工作。

象每个人一样，我们正在等待来自调查机构的信息。我们知道尽管有越来越多的线索出现，但还缺少对于飞机残骸的最终鉴定。我们不可能预计这需要多长时 间。但是经历了17天后，昨晚所宣布的以及与家属沟通的公告，是我们目前所必须接受的。一旦马来西亚航空公司收到来自调查机构的许可，我们将按照家属的意 愿安排他们前往恢复区。在这之前我们将继续协助调查的进行。同时我感谢政府和所有参与这次全球搜救努力的人。

与此同时，马来西亚航空公司的工作重心将一如既往的着眼于乘客亲属——为他们提供全面的援助计划。之前我们已经派出了700名专职护理员，每个失联 乘客家庭受到由两名护理员所提供的照料、支持与心理咨询。目前我们为900多位家属成员提供帮助，此外，在过去的72小时中我们还增加培训了40名护理 员，以保证家属能够得到全天候的帮助。

另外，从3月8日飞机失联以来，我们为每位乘客的家庭提供了多达五人的酒店住宿、交通、饮食等各项费用支出。这些服务也将继续提供。

马来西亚航空公司已经为每一位乘客的直系亲属提供了5,000 美元的初始补助金。我们知道资金援助并不是唯一的因素，但持久的搜救工作对失联乘客家属而言无疑将造成一定的经济负担。因此随着搜救的持续进行，我们也会为家属继续提供资金援助。

对于马来西亚航空公司全体员工而言，这次史无前例的航空事件在过去18天中一直是我们最大的挑战。对于马航团队所付出的努力、贡献、感同身受的担 忧、以及无所保留的支持，我心存感激。对于这个悲剧发生的原因和经过，我们尚未知晓，然而作为马来西亚航空公司大家庭，我们真诚的为MH370航班的每一 位乘客及机组成员衷心祈祷。
- 完 -


http://www.malaysiaairlines.com/my/en/site/dark-site.html

MH370 Flight Incident - Tuesday, March 25, 06:50 PM MYT +0800 Malaysia Airlines MH370 Flight Incident - Press Briefing by Hishammuddin Hussein, Minister of Defence and Acting Minister of Transport

Introductory statement

As the search for MH370 continues, we remain focused on narrowing the search area.
With such strong co-operation from our international partners, the challenge is no longer diplomatic. It is now primarily technical and logistical. Because the scale of the investigation is now much more complex, the release of technical and logistical information will be handled differently. As you have seen today, this means that Malaysia Airlines will take the lead in communicating with the families.

As the search area has narrowed, new challenges have arisen, including managing resources in a remote search and rescue effort. We continue to work closely with our friends and partners as we seek to marshal more specific resources in support of the operations in that area.

1. New data

Last night the Prime Minister announced that according to new analysis of satellite data, Inmarsat and UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) have concluded that flight MH370 ended in the southern Indian Ocean.

Today I will provide further details of how the data was analysed, as provided to us the UK AAIB. This information is quite technical in nature. So although I will give you as much information as I can, I will not be in a position to answer questions about this data analysis today.

However, we will accept written questions which will be answered as soon as possible. We will be providing this information as a press release at the end of this press conference. This is the information provided to us by the AAIB. Click here for the document.

2. Further details

In recent days Inmarsat developed a second innovative technique which considers the velocity of the aircraft relative to the satellite. Depending on this relative movement, the frequency received and transmitted will differ from its normal value, in much the same way that the sound of a passing car changes as it approaches and passes by. This is called the Doppler effect. Click here for Doppler document.

The Inmarsat technique analyses the difference between the frequency that the ground station expects to receive and that actually measured. This difference is the result of the Doppler effect and is known as the Burst Frequency Offset.

The Burst Frequency Offset changes depending on the location of the aircraft on an arc of possible positions, its direction of travel, and its speed. In order to establish confidence in its theory, Inmarsat checked its predictions using information obtained from six other B777 aircraft flying on the same day in various directions. There was good agreement.

While on the ground at Kuala Lumpur airport, and during the early stage of the flight, MH370 transmitted several messages. At this stage the location of the aircraft and the satellite were known, so it was possible to calculate system characteristics for the aircraft, satellite, and ground station.

During the flight the ground station logged the transmitted and received pulse frequencies at each handshake. Knowing the system characteristics and position of the satellite it was possible, considering aircraft performance, to determine where on each arc the calculated burst frequency offset fit best.

The analysis showed poor correlation with the Northern corridor, but good correlation with the Southern corridor, and depending on the ground speed of the aircraft it was then possible to estimate positions at 0011 UTC, at which the last complete handshake took place. I must emphasise that this is not the final position of the aircraft.

There is evidence of a partial handshake between the aircraft and ground station at 0019 UTC. At this time this transmission is not understood and is subject to further ongoing work. No response was received from the aircraft at 0115 UTC, when the ground earth station sent the next log on / log off message. This indicates that the aircraft was no longer logged on to the network.

Therefore, sometime between 0011 UTC and 0115 UTC the aircraft was no longer able to communicate with the ground station. This is consistent with the maximum endurance of the aircraft.
This analysis by Inmarsat forms the basis for further study to attempt to determine the final position of the aircraft. Accordingly, the Malaysian investigation has set up an international working group, comprising agencies with expertise in satellite communications and aircraft performance, to take this work forward.

3. Technical background

The new analysis I have described above was convincing enough for the AAIB to brief the Prime Minister that MH370 flew along the southern corridor, and that its last position was in the middle of the Indian Ocean, west of Perth. Within a few hours, the families had been informed, and the Prime Minister announced the new development to the world.

As the Prime Minister stated, this type of analysis has never been done in an investigation of this sort. There remains more work to be done, and we are grateful to Inmarsat, AAIB and the international investigations team, who are continuing to work with the Malaysian authorities. This is a developing situation, and as soon as we know more, we will share it.

4. Operational update

As a result of this new data analysis, the search and rescue operation in the northern corridor has been called off. We have also stopped the search and rescue operation in the northern part of the southern corridor, close to Indonesia.

All search efforts are now focused in the southern part of the southern corridor, in an area covering some 469,407 square nautical miles, as against the 2.24 million square nautical miles which we announced on 18th March.

We are currently working to further narrow down the search area, using the four methods I mentioned previously: gathering information from satellite surveillance, analysis of surveillance radar data, increasing air and surface assets, and increasing the number of technical and subject matter experts.
On the assets deployed, 2 Korean aircraft left Subang airport for Perth this morning, to help in the multinational search operation. No flights from Perth to the search area took place today, due to bad weather. 6 Chinese ships are currently in the search area. They are expected to arrive within the vicinity of MH370’s last known position by tomorrow morning. These ships include the ice breaker ‘Xue Long’.

HMAS Success is also currently in the search area.

The American Towed Pinger Locater – an instrument that can help find a black box - is currently en route to Perth and will arrive tomorrow. The system will be fitted onto the Australian ship Ocean Shield, which is due to dock in Perth on 28th March. The Ocean Shield, fitted with the Towed Pinger Locater, is due to arrive in the search area on 5 April.

5. Concluding remarks

The new analysis shared with the investigation by Inmarsat and the AAIB has focused our efforts on the southern part of the southern corridor.

Although yesterday’s news was incredibly hard for the family members, as our Prime Minister said, it was released out of a commitment to openness and respect for the relatives, two principles which have guided the investigation.


-ENDS

Contact Information

Family Support Centre
(Toll-free number)

South China
10-800-130-1364

North China
10-800-713-1404


Malaysia
1800-81-4819

Indonesia
001-803-015-203-7708


Australia
1800-198-163


US/Canada
877-504-4210

New Zealand
080-045-4029

India
000-800-100-3449


France
080-091-2622

Family members may also get in touch with the centre at
+603 8777 5770 

Press/Media Contact
Malaysia:
+603 8787 1276
+603 8777 5698

http://www.malaysiaairlines.com/my/en/site/dark-site.html

Malaysia plane: Why black boxes can't always provide the answers

The voice recorder only captures the final two hours

Listening to the last moments of Air France flight 447, which crashed into the Atlantic in 2009, gives a chilling insight into the confusion that had overcome the pilots. Such a record of what went on in the cockpit would be a priceless tool for investigators trying to work out whether the Malaysia Airlines plane was the victim of foul play or a mechanical fault. But it's not that simple even if the black box is found. The cockpit voice recorder continually records over itself as the flight goes on.

US firm Honeywell Aerospace says the black box on the missing airliner - which it provided - only retains two hours of recording. That's the length of time that regulations demand. The principle is in place because it is normally the last section of a flight that determines the cause of the crash.

But in the case of the Malaysia Airlines 777 it might well be the case that the key events happened long before the actual crash. On the other hand, Steve Buzdygan, a former BA 777 pilot, says the data recorder would provide a wealth of useful information. "You can almost reconstruct the flight path from it."

The battery life is short

The black box sends out a ping - activated by immersion in water - that can be picked up by a microphone and a "signal analyser". There's another beacon - the emergency locator transmitter - which transmits a distress signal on impact.

But these don't work in water. Both the voice recorder and the data recorder each have their own pinger. But there's a problem - the battery of the pinger on MH370 will only last for 30 days, says Steve Brecken, media director at Honeywell.

Some pingers last for 90 days. The variation stems from the fact the rules changed after Air France flight 447. It took nearly two years to find its black box and new guidelines were issued that the ping should last for 90 days to give search teams longer to find it. Some planes have since been updated, but apparently not the MH370. Even after the batteries for the pinger run out, the recorded data remains intact.

It is a small object to find

The black box is bolted into the tail of the aircraft to avoid damage in a head-on crash. It is small - about the size of a shoe box, says Dr Guy Gratton of Brunel University's Flight Safety Lab. Contrary to the name, it is bright orange. But it's not easy to see it in the middle of the ocean.

The search will aim to try to locate the wreckage before moving in to pinpoint the black box by picking up the ping. If the pinger has expired then other techniques - such as magnetic detection - are going to be necessary.

It doesn't float

The box is made out of aluminium and designed to withstand massive impact, fierce fire or high pressure. That means it's heavy - about 10kg for what is a small box - and will sink quickly. The Indian Ocean has very deep sections. The search area ranges between 1,150m (3,770ft) and 7,000m (23,000ft) deep, media reports suggest.

So investigators will have to consider the prospect of it being out of reach of many sonar devices. "You have to ask if there's terrain in the way. The seabed could be as mountainous as the Alps," says David Barry, an expert on flight data monitoring at Cranfield University.

The pinger's range is only a few miles

Honeywell, who made MH370's pinger, say the signal can typically only be picked up a mile away. David Mearns, director of Blue Water Recoveries, says this means aircraft really needs to be almost directly on top of the black boxes to hear the ping.

There are also factors that may diminish the signal. Wreckage on the surface, or if the black boxes are submerged in mud or sediment on the seabed, he adds. But if the pinger is deep on the ocean floor navies have hydrophone technology that has a better chance of locating it than conventional detectors.

The Air France black box was not found until after its ping had expired. It was eventually located by slow moving unmanned underwater vehicles. A modern submarine - such as one of the Royal Navy's hunter-killer models - could potentially at least hear a ping from many miles away, Gratton says. The US, China and Australia all have similar submarines, he says. "By now there will be a submarine down there. I'm certain the Chinese will have put something out there."

The US has deployed a ship that will tow a special black box locator through the water. According to the Associated Press, "the Towed Pinger Locator, which is pulled behind a vessel at slow speeds, has highly sensitive listening capability so that if the wreck site is located, it can hear the black box pinger down to a depth of about 20,000ft (6,100m)".

However, there is a further complication, says Barry. The black box may be giving off pings from the ocean floor. But if those pings hit a layer of warmer or colder water above, the signal might be refracted or reflected.

 http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-26721975