Malaysia reveals how
long lost jetliner went unnoticed
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia -- Air traffic controllers did
not realize thatMalaysia Airlines Flight 370 was missing until 17
minutes after it disappeared from civilian radar, according to the
preliminary report on the plane's disappearance released Thursday
by Malaysia's government.
In addition to the five-page report,
dated April 9, the government
also released other information from
the investigation into the flight, including
audio recordings of conversations
between the cockpit and air traffic
control, the plane's cargo manifest
and its seating plan.
Malaysia also released a map showing the plane's deducted flight path
as well as a document detailing actions taken by authorities in the hours
after the Boeing 777 disappeared from radar. The reports were mostly
information that has been released since the jet disappeared while
flying near the border separating Malaysian and Vietnamese airspace.
A map shows the possible path of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 as released to Reuters by the
Malaysian Transport Ministry May 1, 2014.
REUTERS/MALAYSIAN TRANSPORT MINISTRY
The plane went off Malaysian radar at 1:21 a.m. on March 8, but
Vietnamese air traffic controllers only queried about it at 1:38 a.m.,
according to the report, which was sent last month to the International
Civil Aviation Organization.
After the plane went dark on civilian
radar, itmade a left turn back toward
Malaysia. It followed an established
aviation corridor over several navigational "waypoints."
The Malaysian military tracked an
unidentified object on its radar
traveling west towards the Strait of
Malacca. Authorities now believe that was Flight 370. At 2:15 a.m.,
it disappeared from the military radar, about 200 miles northwest
of Penang.
Investigators also say the plane's antenna signaled to a satellite multiple
times over the next several hours. The last signal came at 8:11 a.m.,
about the time the plane would have run out of fuel.
The report also said Malaysian authorities did not launch an official
search and rescue operation until four hours later, at 5:30 a.m., after
efforts to locate the plane failed.
A separate report listing the actions
taken by air traffic controllers showed
Vietnamese controllers contacted Kuala
Lumpur after they failed to establish
verbal contact with the pilots and the
plane didn't show up on their radar.
That report also showed that Malaysia
Airlines at one point thought the plane
may have entered Cambodian airspace. The airline said in the report that
"MH370 was able to exchange signals with the flight and flying in
Cambodian airspace," but that Cambodian authorities said they had
no information or contact with Flight 370. It was unclear which flight
it was referring to that exchanged signals with MH370.
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak last week appointed a team of
experts to review all the information the government had regarding the
missing plane, and to decide which information should be made public.
"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," Defense Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said in a statement Thursday.
Hishammuddin said Malaysia's military
radar tracked the jet making a turn-back
in a westerly direction across Peninsular
Malaysia after playing back radar data
the next morning, nearly seven hours after
the plane vanished from civilian radar.
He said he was informed about the
military discovery two hours later and
relayed this to Najib, who immediately ordered a search in the Strait of
Malacca. He defended the military's inaction in pursuing the plane
for identification.
"The aircraft was categorized as friendly by the radar operator and
therefore no further action was taken at the time," Hishammuddin said.
The preliminary report ends by noting that although commercial
aircraft spend considerable amounts of time operating over remote
areas, there is currently no requirement for real time tracking of the
planes. The report recommends that the International Civil Aviation
Organization "examine the safety benefits of introducing a standard
for real time tracking of commercial air transport aircraft."
The cargo manifest includes a receipt
for a package containing lithium ion
batteries, noting that the package
"must be handled with care." Some
questions had been raised in March
about the batteries, but Malaysia
Airlines said then that they were in
compliance with the International
Civil Aviation Organization and the International Air Transport Association requirements and classified as "non-dangerous goods."
Meanwhile, Malaysia Airlines on Thursday advised relatives of
passengers who were aboard Flight 370 to move out of hotels and
return home to wait for news on the search for the plane.
Since the jet disappeared, the airline has been putting the relatives up
in hotels, where they've been briefed on the search. But the airline
said in a statement Thursday that it would close its family assistance
centers around the world by May 7, and that the families should receive
search updates from "the comfort of their own homes."
The airline said that it would establish family support centers in Kuala
Lumpur and Beijing, and that it would keep in close touch with the
relatives through means including phone calls and meetings.
Malaysia Airlines also said it would soon
make advanced compensation payments
to the relatives.
The plane vanished during a flight from
Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, and most
of the 227 passengers were Chinese.
No wreckage from the plane has been
found, and an aerial search for surface debris ended Monday after six weeks of fruitless hunting. An unmanned sub is
continuing to search underwater in an area of the southern Indian Ocean where sounds consistent with a plane's black box were detectedin early April. Additional equipment is expected to be brought in within the next few weeks
to scour an expanded underwater area.
The head of the search effort has predicted that the search could drag on for
as long as a year.
souce http://www.cbsnews.com/news/malaysia-airlines-flight-370-vanishing-went-unnoticed-for-17-minutes/
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