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Tag: MH370 report

  • MH370 Report: Could Gap Be Why Search Is Difficult?

    The MH370 report that has been anticipated for a long while was released yesterday along with the flight map, passenger manifests, and recordings from the communication with the plane’s pilot.

    Unfortunately, this small report could open Kuala Lumpur Air Traffic Control authorities to some criticism of their handling of the disappearance of Malaysian flight MH370.

    According to the report, which was only five pages long and originally written on April 9th, there was a conspicuous four-hour gap after Kuala Lumpur Air Traffic Control at 01:19:24 local time instructed the captain to contact Ho Chi Minh Air Traffic Control Center on radio frequency 120.9 MHz.

    Ho Chi Minh had lost contact and noticed the plane flying off path by then. The only response from MH370 was the now infamous statement, “Good night, Malaysian three seven zero.”

    The plane then disappeared off of Kuala Lumpur’s radar at 01:21:13 after it passed over a waypoint named IGARI. Then, at 01:38 Malaysian time, Ho Chi Minh ATC asked Kuala Lumpur ATC about the location of the MH370 aircraft. Kuala Lumpur ATC then initiated an effort to locate the aircraft through Malaysia Air’s operations center and air traffic control in Singapore, Hong Kong and Phnom Penh.

    However, when that effort was unsuccessful, it wasn’t until around 5:30 local time that search and rescue was initiated. Malaysia could be under some criticism in the following days for the delay. They could also be under intense scrutiny about the gap in the report that gives little to no information about efforts that were being made to find the plane in that important four-hour gap.

    It could be concluded that the four-hour delay in initiating search and rescue might just be the reason that MH370 has been so incredibly difficult to find. If the plane is ever found, perhaps those questions might be answered.

    Image Via YouTube

  • MH370 Report Shows Time Gap Before Search And Rescue

    According to a preliminary report released concerning Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 (MH370), air traffic controllers did not realize the plane was missing until 17 minutes after it disappeared from civilian radar.

    The report, analyzed in an article by The Associated Press, is a mere five pages and includes mostly information that was previously known to the public.

    In a press statement by Malaysian Minister of Defense and Acting Minister of Transport Hishammuddin Hussein, he says, “The Prime Minister set, as a guiding principle, the rule that as long as the release of a particular piece of information does not hamper the investigation or the search operation, in the interests of openness and transparency, the information should be made public.”

    The information released along with the report includes audio recordings between the cockpit of MH370 and Kuala Lumpur, a map that contains the flight path of MH370 deduced by authorities, and a document showing the actions of authorities during the hours of confusion when the plane disappeared near the border between Malaysian and Vietnamese airspace.

    The report noted that there is no requirement for real-time tracking of commercial aircraft, and that the uncertainty surrounding MH370’s last position has made it much more difficult to locate the plane. It recommended that international aviation authorities examine the safety benefits of introducing a standard tracking system.

    The report was dated April 9 and sent last month to the International Civil Aviation Organization.

    One instance documented in the report that is notable is the four-hour gap between MH370 disappearing from radar and the first search and rescue operation initiated by authorities.

    According to the report, Vietnamese air traffic controllers began contacting Kuala Lumpur at 1:38 a.m. after they failed to establish verbal contact with the plane and could not locate it on radar. At 5:30 a.m., the documents show that the first official search and rescue operation was initiated by Malaysian authorities after efforts to locate the plane had failed.

    Hishammuddin noted in his statement that authorities reviewed data from Malaysian military radar hours after the plane had vanished from civilian radar and only then saw that the plane had made a turn-back in a westerly direction across Peninsular Malaysia.

    Hishammuddin said, “The aircraft was categorized as friendly by the radar operator and therefore no further action was taken at the time.”

    Image via Wikimedia Commons