Missing Flight MH370 -The search continues, with some new developments

[bsteadman]

British marine archaeologist claims to have found flight MH370 3,000 miles from the search zone after spotting debris painted in the colours of Malaysia Airlines

• Tim Akers believes he has discovered MH370 debris off the coast of Vietnam
• He says satellite images appear to show tail, wings and other debris
• Claims it is more likely plane crashed in South China Sea than Indian ocean
• Authorities have been searching for aircraft off coast of Western Australia
• Mr Akers had previously been studying Australian waters off Perth for years in search for remains of lost WWII ship - the HMAS Sydney
• It comes as airline boss tells relatives of passengers onboard MH370 to go home and wait for further news

The Daily Mail / Mail Online
James Rush and Richard Shears
5/1/2014

Excerpt:

A British marine archaeologist claims to have found the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 more than 3,000 miles from where authorities are currently searching.

Tim Akers, 56, had been studying Australian waters off Perth for years in a search for the remains of the country's lost WWII ship - the HMAS Sydney.

The search for the vessel was in the same waters that are believed to contain the missing flight MH370 off the coast of Western Australia.

British marine archaeologist Tim Akers believes he has discovered debris from the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 more than 3,000 miles from where everyone has been looking

A massive search operation involving satellites, aircraft, ships and sophisticated underwater equipment capable of scouring the ocean floor has failed to turn up any trace of the Boeing 777, which disappeared on March 8.

But Mr Akers, of North Yorkshire now thinks he might have discovered where the flight, carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew, went down after it went missing en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

He claims to have identified what he believes is part of the tail of the jet off the coast of Vietnam - just around 1,000 miles from where the plane took off.

His findings appear to support reports this week from a US former pilot Michael Hoebel, from New York, who believes he found the wreckage of the flight off the coast of Thailand.

Mr Akers - who is referenced as an independent researcher with the National Maritime Museum - said he has now identified sections of the aircraft close to where Vietnam authorities received a report from oil workers who saw a plane burning coming out of the sky.

He said it was more plausible the jet crashed in the South China Sea than making it to the south Indian Ocean.

Images taken by Mr Akers from satellite scans appear to show what he claims are a 'tail', 'wings' and other debris.

He said: 'The problem with the debris field in the southern Indian Ocean is that it has to be considered - what other material could be mimicking the debris?

'The only material that could be giving off signals randomly and persistently and multi-coloured debris is remnants from the Indian Ocean Tsunami in 2004 which is still trapped in currents.

'The Japanese earthquake was the same magnitude and its debris is still travelling across the Pacific Ocean - it too will have things which are making noise on scans in the sea.

'The very fact that no debris from a crashed aircraft has been seen or found at sea or on land or beach in Australia so far gives good reason to doubt there's any truth in it ever having been there.

'Reports from the pilot in the US that the plane is seen off Thailand would back up my findings because the plane would break up soon afterwards and the currents in that region are strong.'

Mr Aker said he believes in the South China Sea there have been witnesses, debris, aviation fuel and what he believes are jet aircraft parts.

He said it also appeared on his images that ships registered to Vietnam have been in contact with the wreckage.

He said: 'There's no question it could be anything else, because aircraft parts are very distinctive.

'Having seen the oil rig worker's report of the crash and NASA's satellite images of the area it would seem strange the Malaysian authorities have dismissed the area out of hand.

'Logically they should have checked it out by aircraft at low altitude and by a surface warship, but it looks like they chose not to. That in itself is very odd.

'Fortunately the water there is shallow as it's on the continental shelf and there will be debris all over the sea floor.'

Earlier this week, Australian tech firm GeoResonance said it had found what it believed was wreckage of a plane in the Bay of Bengal that should be investigated as potential debris from missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, but the possibility was dismissed by search coordinators.

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View the complete article,including video and photos, at:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...-Airlines.html

[bsteadman]

Flight MH370 search countries reject Bay of Bengal wreckage claim

Resource survey company says multispectral images show potential wreckage thousands of miles from search area

The Guardian
AP in Kuala Lumpur
4/30/2014

Excerpt:

Authorities searching for Malaysia Airlines flight 370 have rejected claims from an Adelaide technology company that it has found a wreckage in the Bay of Bengal that may be the missing aircraft.

GeoResonance claims its sensor technology has found a plane in the Bay of Bengal, south of Bangladesh, and in an area at the northern part of the original search for the commercial plane.

Although the marine exploration company – which specialises in geophysical surveys to find oil, gas, groundwater and uranium – has not declared the discovery is MH370, it says the possibility should be investigated.

But Australia's Joint Agency Co-ordination Centre, which is leading the search, said the location of MH370 suggested by the GeoResonance report was not in the Australian search and rescue zone.

"The Australian-led search is relying on information from satellite and other data to determine the missing aircraft's location," JACC said.

"The location specified by the GeoResonance report is not within the search arc derived from this data."
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http://www.theguardian.com/world/201...-bay-of-bengal

[bsteadman]

Bangladeshi navy ships search Bay of Bengal for traces of Flight 370

CNN
By Holly Yan and David McKenzie
5/3/2014

Excerpt:

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Bangladeshi navy frigates searching Bay of Bengal have found nothing, officer says
• A Malaysian official warns of the consequences of sending ships to the bay
• The joint search chief says he's still confident the plane is in the southern Indian Ocean
• Malaysia Airlines is closing relatives' support centers, urging relatives to return home

(CNN) -- Three Bangladeshi navy ships have begun searching the Bay of Bengal for traces of missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, but have yet to find anything, a commander said Friday.

The ships are operating off a tip from an Australian company that claims to have found possible traces of an underwater airplane wreck in the area.

"We haven't found anything yet, and the frigates will continue the search until they verify all available information," Commodore Rashed Ali, director of Bangladeshi navy intelligence, told CNN on Friday.

Although Australian officials and other experts have derided the claim, acting Malaysian Transportation Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said he, too, is considering sending a ship to search -- even though he thinks it is "highly unlikely" the plane will be found in the Bay of Bengal.

Hussein said the tip could be confirmed only by sending vessels to the area, which is thousands of kilometers away from the official search area in the southern Indian Ocean.

"But I just want to stress that by doing that, we are distracting ourselves from the main search," he said Friday. "And in the event that the result from the search is negative, who is going to be responsible for that loss of time?"

His comments came three days after the Australian company GeoResonance publicized its claim that it may have found the wreckage of a plane in the bay.

While GeoResonance said it's not sure whether the debris is from Flight 370, the company said it has been pressing officials to take a look.

The chief coordinator of the international search effort said he doubts GeoResonance's claims.

"I am confident that the area in the southern (Indian) Ocean is the right search area, and I'm sure that in ... some time, we'll find the aircraft in that area of the Indian Ocean," chief coordinator Angus Houston said Friday.

Houston said the search for the plane, which was carrying 239 people when it disappeared on March 8, may take eight to 12 months.

Next phase of the search

The Bluefin-21 drone finished its 18th underwater mission and found no debris of interest on the Indian Ocean floor, search officials said Friday.

The drone's search area was set based on the findings of another device, a towed pinger locator, which had detected signals that officials believed were from the jet's flight data recorders.

But no debris from the plane has been found.

The search is entering a new phase, Hishammuddin said Friday. He said officials have had detailed talks with several Malaysian companies about deploying specialized assets such as deep-water towed side-scan sonars and remotely operated vehicles to join in the new phase of the mission.
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View the complete article, including video, at:

http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/02/world/...irlines-plane/

[bsteadman]

Mystery of lithium ion batteries in flight MH370 disappearance

The Times of India
5/3/2014

Excerpt:

KUALA LUMPUR: A new mystery has emerged in MH370's disappearance with the Malaysia Airlines saying the lithium ion batteries carried in the plane weighed over 200kg, even as the cargo manifest released recently listed the "consolidated" consignment at 2.453 tonnes.

"About two tonnes, equivalent to 2,453kg of cargo was declared as consolidated under one master airway bill. This master AWB actually comprised five house AWB. Of these five AWB, two contained lithium ion batteries amounting to a total tonnage volume of 221kg. The balance three house AWB, amounting to 2,232 kg, were declared as radio accessories and chargers," the Malaysia Airlines (MAS) said in a statement last night.

But this has not been disclosed before and is not stated in the cargo manifest, the Star reported.

According to Malaysian company NNR Global Logistics the batteries formed only a small part of a "consolidated" shipment weighing 2.453 tonnes.

Even though the MAS said the batteries weighed 221 kg, a company spokesman said they weighed less than 200kg. He, however, did not say what the remaining 2.253 tonnes of cargo was.

"I cannot reveal more because of the ongoing investigations. We have been told by our legal advisers not to talk about it," he was quoted as saying by the daily.

He said he could not name the company which manufactured the batteries.

Malaysia Airlines CEO Ahmad Jauhari Yahya had also announced on March 24 that 200kg of lithium batteries were on board the plane. He said they were packed safely.

Malaysian authorities released the plane's full cargo manifest along with the preliminary report on the missing Boeing 777-200 on Thursday which showed that NNR Global shipped 133 pieces of one item weighing 1.99 tonnes and 67 pieces of another item weighing 463kg for a total weight of 2.453 tonnes. Neither the number of batteries nor its weight were specified.

The manifest came with an instruction that it should be handled with care and that flammability hazards exist. Its flammability had been the source of many earlier theories over how the plane was lost. However, most of the theories have been debunked.

Meanwhile, an International panel probing the case of the missing Malaysian jet will determine the reason for the four-hour delay in the hunt for the plane.
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View the complete article at:

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/w...w/34577514.cms

[bsteadman1]

11 with links to al Qaeda being questioned in MH370 probe

New York Post
By Post Wires
5/3/2014

Excerpt:

Members of a violent cell of al Qaeda-linked terrorists are being questioned in connection with the disappearance of Flight MH370, according to several British press reports.

International law enforcement agencies, including the FBI and Britain’s MI6, asked Malaysian authorities to conduct intense interrogations of the 11 militants, who range in age from 22 to 55 and include students, business professionals and a young widow, the Mail newspaper said.

They were all arrested in Malaysia last week.

An officer with the Counter Terrorism Division of Malaysia’s Special Branch said the arrests have increased concern that terrorists may have taken control of the plane.

“The possibility that the plane was diverted by militants is still high on the list,’’ the officer said.

“International investigators have asked for a comprehensive report on this new terror group.’’

The official revealed that the suspects admitted planning “sustained terror campaigns in Malaysia,’’ but insisted their group had nothing to do with the plane.
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View the complete article, including photos, at:

http://nypost.com/2014/05/03/11-terr...o-missing-jet/

[bsteadman]

MH370: Search for plane enters new, 'more difficult' $60 million phase

CNN
Holly Yan
5/5/2014

Excerpt:

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Officials will review data to see if satellite information has been "accurately interpreted"
• More high-tech devices will be used over an expanded search area
• The search area will expand to deep water that has "never been mapped"
• Australia estimates the next phase will cost $60 million

(CNN) -- More than 300 flights.

Over 3,000 hours in the air.

A staggering 4.6 million square kilometers of ocean.

The numbers speak to the breadth of the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.

The results speak to the fruitlessness of it.

The plane, carrying 239 people, disappeared on March 8. And despite an expansive search involving 26 countries, officials have nothing to show for it.

So authorities are moving on to the next phase of the search -- one that will be even more challenging.

"We know very clearly the area of the follow-up search will be even broader, with more difficulties and tougher tasks," Chinese Transport Minister Yang Chuantang said Monday.

What's next

Australian, Malaysian and Chinese officials will meet in Canberra, Australia, on Wednesday to hash out plans for the next stage of the hunt.

One group will analyze the data and information collected so far. Another will look at the resources needed.

The data audit will look at information gathered since the beginning of the search.

"It will also look again at the satellite information that's been accumulated so that we can make sure that it's been accurately interpreted," Australian Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss said.
Photos: The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 Photos: The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370

Authorities have relied on satellite information and pings believed to be from the plane's flight data recorders in picking their search area.

But with an expanded search area comes the most challenging task ahead: scouring uncharted territory.

A key element of the new phase will be a detailed mapping of the ocean floor.

"We know that the water is very deep," Truss said. "And for the next stage involving sonar and other autonomous vehicles, potentially at very great depths, we need to have an understanding of the ocean floor to be able to undertake that kind of search effectively and safely."

Truss said he's not sure how deep the ocean is in the expanded search area because "it's never been mapped."

The tools

The next stage of the hunt will involved highly specialized technology, including towed side-scan sonar and more autonomous underwater vehicles, Truss said.

"You can count on one hand the number of devices that can do this work, when you talk about towed sonar devices," said Angus Houston, chief coordinator of the joint search effort.

Truss said he's optimistic that the new devices will be in the water within a month or two. In the meantime, he said, the Bluefin-21 drone will continue underwater missions.

The Bluefin-21 has already scanned 400 square kilometers of the Indian Ocean floor, but with no luck. The United States has authorized the use of the drone for another month. The cost? About $40,000 a day.

While the Bluefin-21 provides greater resolution than deep-towed sonar devices, the drone can only go about 4.5 kilometers deep.

The cost

Australia estimates the next phase of the search will cost about $60 million, Truss said. He said officials will consult with Malaysia, China and other parties on how that cost would be shared.

Until now, all countries involved in the search have paid for their own costs.

"Whenever we've asked, people have come forward," Truss said. But "I think we'll be looking at increasing involvement from the manufacturers and their host countries."

Letting others in

The new phase will allow more parties to join the search, acting Malaysian Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said.

"This gives an opportunity to those not involved in the early phase of the search and rescue efforts to come on board," he said.

Those could involve research institutions and more countries, he said.

Truss said most of the new equipment will likely have to come from the private sector.
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View the complete article, including video, at:

http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/05/world/...missing-plane/

[bsteadman]

MH370 is America’s Put-up Show with Australia its Co-actor

International Business Times, Australia
Athena Yenko
5/6/2014

Excerpt:

On May 5, officials from Malaysia, Australia and China decided to expand the search for the missing MH370 beyond a remote area of the Indian Ocean off Western Australia. MH370's flight path will be re-examined, going back to step 1.

All data obtained from fruitless search will be re-analysed by Wednesday.

"We've got to this stage of the process where it's very sensible to go back and have a look at all of the data that has been gathered, all of the analysis that has been done and make sure there's no flaws in it, the assumptions are right, the analysis is right and the deductions and conclusions are right," Mr Angus Houston, head of the search operation, said in a press conference in Canberra.

He added that the underwater search will continue on for up to another year.

Australian Transport Minister Warren Truss admitted all efforts made were unsuccessful.

"Unfortunately, all of that effort has found nothing. We've been confident on the basis of the information provided that the search area was the right one, but in practice, that confidence has not been converted into us discovering any trace of the aircraft."

As the nations searching for the missing plane were back to square one, one theory traced back all theorists surrounding MH370, sewing them all together.

For Dr Steve Pieczenik, one of the world's most experienced international crisis managers and hostage negotiators, the Americans have put up a good show with MH370, with Australians as its co-actors.

Pieczenik had 20 years of experience handling international crises for five US administrations - as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State under Nixon, Ford, Carter, and Bush Sr. and was a Senior Policy Planner under president Reagan; worked directly with, and reported directly to, Secretaries of State Henry Kissinger, Cyrus Vance, George Schultz and James Baker, as well as the respective White Houses.

"The Americans have put up a good show. First diverting all the attention and search effort in the South China Sea while the plane made their way to Indian Ocean. Then they came out with some conflicting statement and evidence to confuse the world. The Australians are the co-actor," he wrote in his blog.

Pieczenik noted an incident in Feb 2014 where while Americans were withdrawing from Afghanistan, Talibans hijacked and ambushed their convoy and seized the command and control system which weighed about 20 tons and packed into 6 crates.

The Talibans planned to sell the American control system to the Russians and the Chinese. While Russia was busy in its own crisis, China took the opportunity to negotiate for the control system which could render all American drones futile. China sent its 8 most reputable scientists to check for the system before paying.

Pieczenik alleged that on March 2014, these 8 scientists and the 6 crates went to Malaysia where they kept the cargo in the Embassy under diplomatic protection. To safely transport the cargo, they had it via a civilian aircraft - MH370 - thinking Americans will not likely hijack a civilian flight.

America, on the other hand, asked for Israeli intelligence to have the cargo back in its custody. The country then sent five Americans and two Israeli agents on board the Malaysian plane. As remembered, MH370 had 2 "Iranian" with stolen passports.

"When MH370 is about to leave the Malaysian air space and reporting to Vietnamese air control, one American AWAC jammed their signal, disabled the pilot control system and switched over to remote control mode. That was when the plane suddenly lost altitude momentarily," Pieczenik wrote.

He said that AWAC were all installed with a remote control system following the 911 tragedy.

At this point, American/Israeli agents switched off the transponder and other communication system -- changed course and flew westwards.

"The plane flew over North Sumatra, Anambas, South India and then landed at Maldives (some villagers saw the aircraft landing), refueled and continued its flight to Diego Garcia, the American Air Base in the middle of Indian Ocean. The cargo and the black box box were removed. The passengers were silenced via natural means, lack of oxygen. They believe only dead people will not talk. The MH370 with dead passengers were air borne again via remote control and crashed into South Indian Ocean, make it to believe that the plane eventually ran out of fuel and crashed, and blame the defiant captain and co-pilot," Pieczenik said, weaving all popular theories on MH370 all together.

Pieczenik, in his web site, encourages all opinion and reactions about his theory.
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View the complete article, including photo and links, at:

http://au.ibtimes.com/articles/55124...m#.U2jinVdrPPQ

[bsteadman]

Malaysian Flight MH370

Australia's Titanic
teknome
4/22/2014

Excerpt:

The flight left Malaysia en route to Beijing via Vietnam air space ....

On the 9th March (2014) we heard of a sighting made by people on the Songar Mercury oil drilling rig, owned by the Japanese Idemitsu Oil and Gas Company, in the South China Sea off the south eastern coast of Vietnam. A New Zealand oil rig worker named Michael Jerome McKay saw a badly damaged jet catch fire and fall from the sky, entering the water nearby, and as reported by him via the email shown here.

Merlindown capture of a NASA image from Google Earth Historical 10th March 2014 – released 31st March 2014

This image shows the Songar Mercury oil rig in the South China Sea, upon which Michael McKay was based, together with what could be a supply vessel which may or may not be involved in the salvage operation detailed below.

At first Merlindown were of the opinion that this may be related in some way to the missing Malaysian MH 370 flight although, because of the number of hoaxes that were around at the time surrounding the missing flight, we decided not to pursue this publicly, but to keep alert for any imagery that may come to light that may add substance to the supposed sighting.

Taking a back seat and following events for a couple of weeks or so resulted in our noticing images released by NASA showing what appears to us to be wreckage from a jet plane being retrieved from the sea and loaded onto ships. In ... image ... notice the prominent colour markings on what seems to be a section from the rear of an aircraft fuselage. These markings appear to us to match the standard colours displayed by Malaysian Airlines.

This image shows another ship, which is stationary in the water, alongside which can be seen an item of debris, together with what may be more debris floating towards the right hand side of the image.

The area in which this was going on was the same area in which the oil rig is located. The sea around the rig appears to be littered with large chunks of discernable debris, including the main wings and part of the cockpit as typified in the next three images.

... two images appear to show sections of wing from the stricken aircraft.

The side-angle cockpit windows are visible on the floating debris to the centre top left viewed here and indicated by the arrows. Although not profound, as water is reflected through the exposed cockpit, the angle of the two windows give them away. The debris seen at centre of the image has several openings suggesting at least one door and possible passenger windows. The very top section debris has defined curves suggesting part of the cabin fuselage.

... image ... taken later in the day appears to show the two vessels featured in the above images but with what appears to be the debris now onboard.

Why has what seems to be an operation to salvage an aircraft from the sea, particularly on this scale, not come into the news? The question will be asked – do these images relate to the missing Malaysian Flight MH 370? It’s a fair question. The images were taken shortly after the MH 370 flight was reported missing. In addition, they certainly appear to show the retrieval of aircraft debris within an area in which a witness to what appears to have been a jet aircraft crash was located at the time. The wreckage also appears to us to be of a jet of substantial size. We ask again, if the wreckage being retrieved here is from another aircraft crash, why can we not find any reports of that crash? Of course, any other crash that may have taken place may have been overshadowed by the potentially-more tragic MH 370 disappearance, but surely something would have been reported.

We have to admit that, based on the above, we are at a total loss as to why the Australians are searching the location that they are for the wreck .

Why has Australia taken control of the search?
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View the complete post, including photos, at:

http://www.australias-titanic.com/ma...-flight-mh370/

[bsteadman]

MH370: ‘Pings’ Detected came from Marine Animals, The Questionable Australian-led Search

International Business Times / Australia
Athena Yenko
5/8/2014

Excerpt:

On March 17, Australia accepted the responsibility to lead the search for the missing MH370 in the southern vector as requested by the Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak

"He asked that Australia take responsibility for the search on the southern vector, which the Malaysian authorities now think was one possible flight path for this ill-fated aircraft. I agreed that we would do so. I offered the Malaysian prime minister additional maritime surveillance resources which he gratefully accepted," Australia's Prime Minister Tony Abbott said in confirmation of the task.

On April 7, search co-ordinator Angus Houston said that detected pings by Ocean Shield were from a black box flight recorder.

"We've got a visual indication on a screen and we've also got an audible signal - and the audible signal sounds to me just like an emergency locator beacon," Mr Houston said.

By April 11 Mr Abbott was 'confident' that the pings, signals, acoustic sounds, detected were coming from MH370's black box.

"[The search area] has been very much narrowed down because we've now had a series of detections, some for quite a long period of time. Nevertheless, we're getting to the stage where we are very confident [the signal] is the black box is starting to fade.We are hoping to get as much information as we can before the signal finally expires," Mr Abbott said.

On Monday, May 5, Australia, China and Malaysia officials met in Canberra. They agreed and later announced that the search for the missing plane will be scaled back - back to square one - as all debris, pings and signals returned zero.

With these developments, it is about time to put Australia's 'confidence' into question.

Writing for the Malaysian Insider, William Meacham, an archaeologist and writer affiliated with the University of Hong Kong pointed out one significant point why the Australian led search was returning zero results.

In essence, Mr Meacham thinks that the pings on which Australia based its decisions on MH370 were coming from satellite trackers tagged to marine animals found in Australia.

"For several decades, pingers with frequencies of 30 to 50kHz have been commonly used to track large, deep ocean animals. Location and other data is transmitted to receivers in the ocean or to satellites whenever the animal surfaces. Acoustic pingers are also widely used as fishing net protectors, to drive away predators that would steal fish," he wrote.

Various governmental projects in Australia had employed tagging marine animals with satellite trackers.

In November 2013, Dr Ian Bell of WWF and Queensland's Governments tagged four satellite transmitters to the shells of flatback turtles coming from Wunjunga Beach. "Satellite tracking is one way to fill the knowledge gap about the flatbacks whereabouts and what impacts they are facing in the northern ," WWF explained in its Web site.

The Southern Shark Ecology Group (SSEG) is using DNA tags and satellite tracks to track shortfin mako outside South Australia.

Experts also used satellite trackers to protect endangered dugongs with significant number to be found in north Australian waters from Shark Bay, Western Australia, in the west to Moreton Bay, Queensland and the Great Barrier Reef.

"There are several features of the evidence obtained by the TPL that indicates the signals it received came from a tracking device, or pinger attached to a net that is drifting. First and foremost is the signal's frequency of 33.3khz. This is NOT within the manufacturer's specs of 37.5 +/- 1 for the black box pinger," Mr Meacham continued.

He said that an email from oceanographer P.H Nargeolet said that the frequency indicated should have given search officials a hint that the pings were not from the missing plane. Mr Nargeolet was involved in the search for the Air France 447 that crashed in the Atlantic.

Another major issue to the Australian search is the range of detection from where the pings came from, said Mr Meacham. Apparently, scientists of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution employed a pinger similar to MH370's in order to study baleen whales. The scientists found that the maximum range that such pinger can cover is 2.3 km. But black box pings reportedly coming from MH370 covered the distance beyond 9.5, 12.3 and 13.6km.

"Dr Lee Freitag, one of the scientists in the study that I contacted, expressed scepticism that the pings were coming from the black box, and also confirmed that the frequency of the pinger would not change due to deep sea conditions."
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View the complete article at:

http://au.ibtimes.com/articles/55165...m#.U2vWA1drPPQ

[bsteadman]

THE TWO-TON ELEPHANT ON BOARD MH370: Will M'sia ever reveal the TRUTH?

Malaysia Chronicle
Tyler Durden
5/7/2014

Excerpt:

At this point it is clear that Malaysian Airlines flight MH 370 which has been missing for two months will almost certainly never be found: whether due to the nature of the disappearance, or because it is a cover up stretching all the way to the very top (recall that it was disclosed by none other than NBC that the released air traffic control recording with the plane was edited, suggesting that the government itself is complicit in whatever happened), the plane will forever be entombed in the annals of history, alongside CNN's Nielsen ratings, and its final resting place will remain a mystery.

However, over the past 24 hours, another mystery surrounding the final voyage of flight MH-370 has emerged.

Recall that as part of our last article on MH370, we also provided a copy of the just released cargo manifest - something which should have been made public the day the airplane went missing and instead was withheld for two months. We repost the manifest below:

MH370 - Cargo Manifest and Airway Bill

Note that on page 5 of the manifest, in a waybill from NNR Global Logistics in Penang to JHJ International Transporation in Beijing, are disclosed two shipments of some 200 units of Lithium Ion batteries, weighing a gross weight of 2453 kilos.

So far so good. However, as the Malaysia Chronicle reported last night, there is a major discrepnacy between the declared shipment weight on the manifest, and what Malaysa Airlines stated yesterday. From the Chronicle:

A new mystery has emerged in Flight MH370's disappearance with the Malaysia Airlines saying the lithium ion batteries carried in the plane weighed over 200 kg, even as the cargo manifest released recently listed the "consolidated" consignment at 2.453 tonnes.

"About two tonnes, equivalent to 2,453 kg of cargo was declared as consolidated under one master airway bill. This master AWB actually comprised five house AWB. Of these five AWB, two contained lithium ion batteries amounting to a total tonnage volume of 221 kg. The balance three house AWB, amounting to 2,232 kg, were declared as radio accessories and chargers," the Malaysia Airlines (MAS) said in a statement last night.

But this has not been disclosed before and is not stated in the cargo manifest, the Star reported.

According to Malaysian company NNR Global Logistics the batteries formed only a small part of a "consolidated" shipment weighing 2.453 tonnes.

Even though the MAS said the batteries weighed 221 kg, a company spokesman said they weighed less than 200kg. He, however, did not say what the remaining 2.253 tonnes of cargo was.

"I cannot reveal more because of the ongoing investigations. We have been told by our legal advisers not to talk about it," he was quoted as saying by the daily.

Legal advisers guiding M'sian govt's cover-up?

Would it be the same law firm that "advised" the Malaysian government to edit the voice recordings before public release?

He said he could not name the company which manufactured the batteries.

Malaysia Airlines CEO Ahmad Jauhari Yahya had also announced on March 24 that 200 kg of lithium batteries were on board the plane. He said they were packed safely.

Malaysian authorities released the plane's full cargo manifest along with the preliminary report on the missing Boeing 777-200 on Thursday which showed that NNR Global shipped 133 pieces of one item weighing 1.99 tonnes and 67 pieces of another item weighing 463kg for a total weight of 2.453 tonnes. Neither the number of batteries nor its weight were specified.

The manifest came with an instruction that it should be handled with care and that flammability hazards exist. Its flammability had been the source of many earlier theories over how the plane was lost. However, most of the theories have been debunked.

So because one mystery was not enough, here is the second one: what is the undisclosed 2 tonnes of cargo? And since absolutely everything about this disappearance stinks to high heaven, including a potentially non-benign cover up, one wonders: what else on the cargo manifest was left undisclosed?
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View the complete article at:

http://www.malaysia-chronicle.com/in...#axzz319ZHMGyE

[bsteadman1]

Girlfriend of man on missing Malaysia Airlines flight has become the victim of a death threat, two break-ins and sinister phone calls as FBI investigate

• Sarah Bajc, girlfriend of passenger Philip Wood, received the threat via a message from a China-based number
• Bajc has also had her apartment broken into twice and has received unsettling phone calls since MH370 disappeared on March 8
• Bajc was planning to move to Kuala Lumpur to live with Wood, who works for IBM Malaysia

The Daily Mail / Mail Online
Jonathan Block
Updated 5/10/2014

Excerpt:

The girlfriend of an American passenger on board the Malaysia Airlines plane that disappeared on March 8 has received a death threat.

Sarah Bajc, the girlfriend of passenger Philip Wood, received a instant message saying 'I'm going to come and kill you next' several weeks after Flight 370, a Boeing 777 jetliner, vanished from radar, NBC News reported.

Several pornographic images and unsettling phone calls were also received from the same China-based number.

Even worse, Bajc has has two break-ins, as well as several distrubing phone calls.

'It was just another straw on the camel’s back, very upsetting,' Bajc said.

'Whoever came wasn’t very careful because I’m a real neat freak, so it was immediately apparent to me that some things had been moved,” she said of the first break-in. 'My housekeeper was out of town so it couldn’t have been her and I got home before my son got back. The password on my safe had been reset which happens when you try the wrong code three times.'

Bajc said the calls and message began shortly after the first break-in. She added that the calls ended after an FBI agent was assigned to investigate.

Before Flight 370 disappeared, Bajc was planning to move from Beijing to live with Wood in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Wood, 50, from Texas, worked for IBM Malaysia.
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View the complete article, including photos, at:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...h-threats.html

[bsteadman]

US Navy & Commercial Pilot on Flight 370: Claiming to Pick up Beacon, but Not Localize is “Highly Unlikely”

Freedom Outpost
Tim Brown
5/8/2014

Excerpt:

Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 has been missing since March 8, 2014. During that time, there has been a lot of reporting on theories and recovery efforts. The Malaysian government has said the flight was hijacked and recently 11 Islamic jihadists were arrested in connection to the plane's disappearance. So far, no trace of the plane has been found. This past week, I had the opportunity to interview a personal friend of mine, a pilot for a major US Airline for the past 23 years, who also served seven years in the Navy as a pilot. Kent Thelen sat down with me to answer some questions about Flight 370 and about some of the theories and reports we've posted here at Freedom Outpost. He told me that from his experience that for there to be claims that those searching have picked up Flight 370's black box signal, but be unable to localize the signal is "highly unlikely."

Thelen currently flies the Boeing 767ER category airplanes and has flown around the world, including the specific area that Flight 370 disappeared in. He has also lived on Diego Garcia (affectionately called 'Dodge' by military personnel), a small island that many have speculated was used to either house or refuel Flight 370 for transportation to a more secure location. He knows the area well.

Though Kent has flown in a Boeing 777, he has never actually piloted one, but he is very experienced as a captain in the operations of large wide body jets.

When it comes to the issue of the "black boxes" (actually, two orange cylinders – one which is the flight data recorder and the second a cockpit voice recorder) onboard the aircraft, if there had been an explosion they would have survived and had they impacted water, their beacons would have begun emitting a signal, as they are activated by sea water.

These black boxes are charged by the plane's electrical system, unless the system has lost power, then they are powered by batteries. These batteries are changed out during routine maintenance to ensure they will last over a long period of time should the devices become activated. While many news sources have been promoting the fact that the devices will operate for 30 days, Thelen says that the batteries can last up to 90 days, according to information he has read. He said while his airline would fall well within the guidelines of scheduled maintenance concerning batteries and other equipment, he also said that he had no way of knowing what Malaysia Airlines maintenance requirements are like.

"I don't know if they would be as strict or rigid as US airlines," he told Freedom Outpost. "They have their own sovereign rules and I don't know what are required by Malaysian authorities or the reliability of the maintenance performed on their aircraft."

In trying to understand the various theories of what may have happened to Flight 370, I asked about two possible scenarios in which the plane experienced some sort of mid-air explosion (whether onboard or via a missile) or the plane crashing in the water. Thelen told me that, in either scenario, there would be plenty of floating debris. Specifically, he pointed out that not only were there life preservers under each seat, but also that each seat cushion is a floatation device. In addition, any bodies would also float for a period of time. "As aircraft are constructed of lightweight materials, there's plenty that will float." So far, we have seen nothing from Flight 370.

"Even a 'water landing' would be difficult to perform without tearing the plane to pieces, simply by virtue of the nature of the construction of the aircraft, with very large underwing fan engines and with a likely high sea state," Thelen told us. "I would expect seat cushions to be washing ashore eventually as they are designed as secondary life preservers…much of passengers' carry-on would float also."

Also, he informed us that shoulder fired missiles were not a threat to commercial airliners, unless they were either taking off or landing, as the range of shoulder fired missiles is a fairly short distance. We do know they have been a threat to military helicopters.

Now, Kent Thelen was a P3 Orion Anti-Submarine warfare pilot during his service in the Navy. According to Thelen, "The P3 Orion was a combat aircraft used during the Cold War. Though the P8 Poseidon is the latest successor, the Navy still flies P3s extensively. The P3 is a maritime platform that serves in many kinds of missions, but was designed primarily for anti-submarine warfare."

He went on to explain that the missions he was engaged in would track submarines based on the noises they put in the water. They would then localize the sub, track it, and finally attack it (though only a simulated attack).

When asked about what the reasoning would be to allow pilots to turn off the ability to track the plane, Thelen laid out for us the fact that there are two ways to track airplanes. First, there is digital tracking with a transponder. This occurs by typical Air Traffic Control radar. If the pilot turns the transponder off, that will eliminate the ability to digitally track the plane.

The second means of tracking is what Thelen refers to as "old World War II radar, where you 'paint' the skin of the airplane."

Just as the sun shines against a mirror and reflects it's brilliance on the mirror, the same thing occurs with "skin paint" radar, which gets its name for the brightly colored blips it produces on a radar screen via radio frequency energy reflections. This type of radar does not require a talking back and forth feature with onboard data systems. In essence, a signal is put out at the airplane and is reflected back to the source. The technology is commonly known as the primary surveillance radar (PSR).

Some reports have claimed that skin paint radar was used on Flight 370 as it was headed West over the Indian Ocean. This was the same technology employed by the USS Vincennes, a US Navy Ticonderoga-class Aegis guided missile cruiser that shot down Iran Air Flight 655 over the Persian Gulf on July 3, 1988, killing all 290 passengers on board.

Considering Kent Thelen's extensive experience as both a commercial and Navy pilot, I asked him what his gut instinct was concerning Malaysia Flight 370. "For the record, I tell everyone that when we finally find out what happened, I'll say, 'I knew it all along.'" Of course, he said that tongue in cheek. He has also discussed with other pilots he's flown with about their theories. All have been reluctant to state emphatically what they think happened. "We don't like to be wrong."

"The fact of the matter is I have no idea," Thelen told Freedom Outpost. "This is the biggest mystery in aviation history, in my opinion. There's no evidence of this thing being ditched, and if this thing landed somewhere, how can you hide something the massive size of a triple seven?" "Scientifically, we can rule out nearly every thinkable scenario and yet we still have a missing 777."

"P3s were always able to localize," he said, "because you dropped a DIFAR (Directional Frequency Analysis and Recording) buoy that points to where the sound is coming from, and yet, they say they can't localize on what they know to be the beacon of that airplane. That, to me, is unlikely."

"If we could localize on a Russian submarine, that makes much less noise from hundreds of miles away, using convergent zone (CZ) tracking, why can't we pick that up with a sonobuoy and localize it?" he mused. "That, to me, seems very strange…that they say they can hear it, but they can't localize on it."

However, as a hypothetical, when we posted the question that Diego Garcia was used as a landing spot for refueling in order to fly to another location, Thelen told us, "It's not impossible, but unlikely because for a triple seven to be refueled would require scaffolding… because the wing is so high…I want to emphasize, I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but if this thing is all planned out, then they would have to have scaffolding or a pump truck with a hydraulic lift, then maybe it would be possible…but logistically to refuel this plane would be very challenging to pull off unless it was planned by a large group of people in advance…moreover, if something the size of a triple 7 landed & took off from Diego Garcia, you'd think the island residents would have noticed."

Witnesses have said that they saw a jumbo jet with similar markings to the Malaysia flight headed towards Diego Garcia on March 8.

Having lived on Diego Garcia, Thelen is convinced that a Boeing 777 cannot be hidden there. "It doesn't seem likely that it landed there," said Thelen. "But it is possible it did land somewhere…. you can't rule anything out."
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View the complete article at:

http://freedomoutpost.com/2014/05/us...1MgYyUiqviQ.03

[bsteadman1]

Flight MH370: out of the headlines, but the search goes on

While families demand answers, it seems that the rest of the world has forgotten the lost Malaysian Airlines plane. But the task appears to be more daunting than ever

The Guardian
Ggwyn Topham
5/11/2014

Excerpt:

Two months since the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, the story that gripped the globe has slipped from the headlines. The first funeral services have been held for some of the missing 239 passengers and crew; the first oblique jokes cracked by President Obama at a White House press dinner. The relatives of the presumed victims, mainly Chinese, have dispersed after Malaysia closed its assistance centres. While families continue to demand answers and action, there is a sense that the world has moved on. Publicly, governments vow to never stop searching, but the daily updates have ceased, and the Malaysian transport minister is back to using his Twitter account to post selfies in his new glasses.

The command centre for the hunt has moved from Perth in western Australia to Canberra – further from the scene of the action and a tacit suggestion that hopes of an imminent breakthrough have faded. The best chance of swiftly locating any wreckage ended after around 30 days, the limit of battery life for locator beacons for the black box, or flight recorders – but while some man-made signals were detected, a month of hunting the predicted crash zone with the underwater robot Bluefin-21 found nothing. While the search team points out that at least 400 square kilometres of seabed have now been trawled and eliminated, continuing the hunt over the entire 56,000sq km area could take years – and the US navy has only officially leased the Bluefin for one more month.

Families are urging a full, transparent public review of all the data, with some querying whether the pattern of the electronic "handshakes" between the missing Boeing 777 and the Inmarsat satellite – the only faint trace of the plane after it disappeared from radar screens – definitely points to a crashlanding in the southern Indian Ocean.

At least now, says Professor Ian Wright, director of science and technology at the National Oceanography Centre, "there's no longer a technical time pressure. But the acoustic pings [from the black box] are obviously more difficult to triangulate than they have thought. You could be spending a lot of time mapping in the wrong place. A better thing would be to consolidate all the data, get experts in the room and have a more considered approach for taking the search forward."
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View the complete article, including photo, at:

http://www.theguardian.com/world/sho...ysian-airlines

[bsteadman]

Searchers fear 'pings' they thought were from missing MH370 were not from the plane at all

• Searchers now say 2 of 4 'pings' picked up 'too weak' to be man made
• Comes as satellite firm used in search for MH370 offers low-cost tracking system to prevent another flight disappearing
• Service to be offered to all commercial aircraft with Inmarsat satellite link
• That comprises virtually 100 percent of world's long haul commercial fleet
• Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 has now been missing for two months

The Daily Mail / Mail Online
Matthew Blake
5/12/2014

Excerpt:

MH370 searchers have said electronic 'pings' initially thought to have come from missing Malaysian Airlines flight may not have emanated from the plane at all.

A senior Australian naval officer said he 'increasingly suspects' some of the signals detected last month didn't come from the jetliner's black-box flight recorders, piling further doubts over the search effort.

Australian naval Commander James Lybrand said of four 'pings' picked up by the U.S. Navy's Bluefin-21 autonomous underwater vehicle, two were too weak to have been from a man-made device.

Search teams picked up two signals on April 5 at a frequency of 33.5kHz before two more were received three days later at 27kHz.

While both are significantly lower than the 37.5kHz frequency black box beacons are designed to emit, the April 5 signals are still possible, down perhaps to weakening batteries or the 'vagaries of deep-sea conditions'.

Cmdr Lybrand, captain of the Ocean Shield vessel, said: 'As far as frequency goes, between 33 kHz and 27 kHz is a pretty large jump.'

He did say the authorities still believe that the two April 5 signals, one of which was held for 2 hours and 20 minutes - are consistent with black-box locator beacons.

Cmdr Lybrand did not give any clues as to what may have emitted the April 8 'pings' if they did not indeed come from MH370.

Dolphins can produce echolocation signals of anywhere between 0.2kHz and 150kHz to obtain sonic information about their environment.

Experts say dolphins' lower frequency vocalizations (between about 0.2 and 50kHz) are likely used in social communication while higher frequency clicks (40 to 150 kHz) are primarily used for spacial awareness.

Days after the signals were detected, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said he was 'very confident' they were from the black box on MH370.

'We have very much narrowed down the search area...and we are very confident the signals are from the black box from MH370,' he said.

'We have a series of detections, some lasting for quite a long period of time.

'We're now getting to the stage from where the black box is starting to fade. We're hoping to get as much information as we can before the signal finally expires.

'I really don't want to give any more information than that at this stage...as a sign of respect to the Chinese people and their families.'

Satellite firm which was used in search for missing MH370 offers low-cost tracking system to prevent another flight disappearing

The British firm whose satellites helped track the final route of missing Malaysian Airlines airliner MH370, is to offer a free, basic tracking service to prevent other flights from disappearing.

Inmarsat said today that the service would be offered to all 11,000 commercial passenger aircraft which are already equipped with Inmarsat satellite connection, comprising virtually 100 percent of the world's long haul commercial fleet.

It's launch comes two months after Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 went missing without a trace on March 8 with 239 passengers on board.

It still has not been found despite a multi-agency, international search effort, including fruitless analysis by Inmarsat's own network of satellites.

It was very brief electronic 'pings' from Inmarsat equipment on the lost plane that prompted investigators to look for wreckage in the Indian Ocean.

'In the wake of the loss of MH370, we believe this is simply the right thing to do,' Chief Executive Rupert Pearce said.

'This offer responsibly, quickly and at little or no cost to the industry, addresses in part the problem brought to light by the recent tragic events around MH370.'

It said at its results last week that it would make available free data transfers for a position reporting service.

It would see a plane determine its location using GPS and then transmit that data - together with a heading, speed and altitude - over Inmarsat's global network of satellites every 15 minutes.
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View the complete article, including photos and video, at:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...appearing.html

[bsteadman]

Flight MH370 Lost Because $10 Tech Update was Missing, Claims Book

International Business Times / UK Edition
Dominic Gover
5/16/2014

Excerpt:

Missing Malyasia Airlines flight MH370 could have been found by now if only bosses had installed a £6 ($10) technology update, it has been claimed.

That is the claim detailed in a new book Flight MH370: The Mystery, about the tragedy of the vanished jumbo jet, which disappeared seemingly without trace in March.

Hampering efforts to find the plane - which disappeared with 239 people on board - has been the enormous search area. Although the focus of the search has recently homed in on an area of the Indian Ocean off the west coast of Australia, not a single physical trace of the plane has been found.

Writing in a book about the case, author Nigel Cawthorne claimed the missing software update has created the problem of having no data upon which to build a solid hypothesis about the location of MH370.

Cawthorne, who has written for titles including British newspaper the Guardian and America's New York Tribune, wrote: "Along with several other carriers, Malaysia Airlines had opted for a cheap data package for its aircraft that transmitted only minimal information rather than pay an additional small fee to transmit detailed flight data."
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View the complete article at:

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/flight-mh37...s-book-1448916