30 June 2014

FLIGHT MH370 - Was MH370's cockpit tampered with? Australian investigators discover evidence of mysterious power outage during early part of the flight

Was MH370's cockpit tampered with? Australian investigators discover evidence of mysterious power outage during early part of the flight

Missing plane's satellite data unit tried to log-on to a satellite, report reveals
Australian Transport Safety Bureau says this could be due to power outage
Log-on attempt occurred half an hour after plane left Kuala Lumpur
Expert suggests power interruption could have been caused by an attempt to switch off Boeing 777's communication systems to avoid radar detection

PUBLISHED: 06:30 GMT, 30 June 2014 | UPDATED: 09:22 GMT, 30 June 2014

Australian investigators have discovered evidence of a mysterious power cut during the early part of the missing Malaysia Airlines MH370 flight.

The findings by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau raises questions over whether the plane's cockpit equipment had been tampered with, possibly in an attempt to avoid being picked up by radar.

In the report, crash investigators reveal that the missing Boeing 777's satellite data unit had unexpectedly tried to log on to a satellite, around an hour and a half after the flight left from Kuala Lumpur on March 8.

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Investigation: A US naval vessel searches for missing flight MH370. Australian investigators have discovered evidence of a mysterious

power cut during the early part of the plane's journey

This request, known as a 'handshake', was likely to have been caused by a power failure on board, the 55-page report says.

'A log-on request in the middle of a flight is not common and can occur for only a few reasons,' the report states.

'These include a power interruption to the aircraft satellite data unit (SDU), a software failure, loss of critical systems providing input to the SDU or a loss of the link due to aircraft attitude.

'An analysis was performed which determined that the characteristics and timing of the logon requests were best matched as resulting from power interruption to the SDU.'

Hunt: The new phase of the search could take more than a year and involves mapping 23,000 square miles of ocean, while the

previous search area was only 330 square miles

Australia officials: Search for MH370 shifts south

Aviation safety expert David Gleave from Loughborough University says the power interruption could have been caused by someone in the cockpit trying to turn off the plane's communications systems to avoid being picked up by radar.

'It could be a deliberate act to switch off both engines for some time,' he told the Telegraph.

'By messing about within the cockpit you could switch off the power temporarily and switch it

on again when you need the other systems to fly the aeroplane.'

He added: 'There are credible mechanical failures that could cause it. But you would not then

fly along for hundreds of miles and disappear in the Indian Ocean.'

British satellite telecommunications company Inmarsat has confirmed there was a power outage on the plane, but has been unable to say why this happened.

Investigation: Australian Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss shows the new search area in the Indian Ocean for the missing aircraft last week

According to crash investigators who compiled the report, the plane had tried a further six times to log-on to satellites, including once at 2.25am, just three minutes after it was picked up by Malaysian radar as it flew north of the island of Sumatra, having diverted from its planned course to Beijing.

The final attempt at a handshake is believed to have been caused by the plane crashing into the Indian Ocean.

Details of the report, released last Thursday, also suggest that the passengers and crew are most likely to have died from suffocation as the plane coasted into the ocean on autopilot.

Investigators arrived at the conclusion after comparing conditions on the flight with previous disasters.

Last week it was announced the Australian-led search will now focus on a 60,000 square kilometre area further south in the Indian Ocean, as the report had narrowed down the possible final resting place from thousands of possible routes, while noting the absence of communications, the steady flight path and a number of other key abnormalities in the course of the ill-fated flight.

Mystery: Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 vanished during a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8 with 239 passengers and

crew aboard. Pictured is another Malaysia Airlines plane at Kuala Lumpur International Airport, five days after MH370 disappeared

'Given these observations, the final stages of the unresponsive crew/hypoxia event type appeared to best fit the available evidence for the final period of MH370's flight when it was heading in a generally southerly direction,' the ATSB report said.

Officials said this suggested the plane was most likely to have crashed further south than previously thought.

They said they are confident the Boeing 777, carrying 239 people, was set to autopilot several hours before its demise into desolate and unmapped waters.

Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss said: 'It is highly, highly likely that the aircraft was on autopilot otherwise it could not have followed the orderly path that has been identified through the satellite sightings.'

Suspect: Malaysian police have named pilot Zaharie Shah, 53, as the prime suspect behind the plane's disappearance

Investigators say what little evidence they have to work with suggests the plane was deliberately diverted thousands of kilometres from its scheduled route before eventually plunging into the Indian Ocean.

The search was narrowed in April after a series of acoustic pings thought to be from the plane's black box recorders were heard along a final arc where analysis of satellite data put its last location.

But a month later, officials conceded the wreckage was not in that concentrated area, some 1,000 miles off the northwest coast of Australia, and the search area would have to be expanded.

The next phase of the search is expected to start in August and take a year, covering some 60,000 sq km at a cost of A$60 million ($56 million) or more. The search is already the most expensive in aviation history.

The new priority search area is around 2,000km west of Perth, a stretch of isolated ocean frequently lashed by storm force winds and massive swells.

Two vessels, one Chinese and one from Dutch engineering company Fugro, are currently mapping the sea floor along the arc, where depths exceed 5,000 metres in parts.

A tender to find a commercial operator to conduct the sea floor search closes today.

Malaysian police have named pilot Zaharie Shah, 53, as the prime suspect behind the plane's disappearance after officers discovered files on his home flight simulator showing he practiced landing on small airfields, including several in the Indian Ocean.

The files had been deleted from the computer before officials seized it, but have since been recovered by detectives.

The criminal inquiry completed intelligence checks on all of the people on board the flight to Beijing via Kuala Lumpur, but the only individual arousing suspicion was Captain Zaharie.

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2674694/Was-MH370s-cockpit-tampered-Australian-investigators-discover-evidence-mysterious-power-outage-early-flight.html#ixzz367RgYqB6

MALAYSIA - Selepas ‘sampahkan’ negara, jangan jadikan universiti sampah, kata PMUM

Pelajar Universiti Malaya turut memberi reaksi negatif dengan peletakan jawatan Pengarah UMcedel

merangkap Dekan FSSS UM Prof Datuk Dr Redzuan Othman. Gambar fail The Malaysian Insider.

Pelajar Universiti Malaya menggesa Kementerian

Pendidikan tidak merobek dan menjadikan universiti seperti

sampah, selepas negara ini turut 'disampahkan'.

Persatuan Mahasiswa Universiti Malaya (PMUM) memberikan reaksi itu susulan tindakan Kementerian Pendidikan yang dikatakan menekan Profesor Datuk Dr Mohamad Redzuan Othman sehingga beliau meletakkan jawatan sebagai pengarah Pusat Kajian Demokrasi dan Pilihan Raya Universiti Malaya (UMcedel).

Perkhidmatan Redzuan sebagai dekan Fakulti Sastera dan Sains Sosial (FSSS) universiti itu juga tidak disambung mulai hari ini walaupun dikatakan masih mendapat sokongan daripada rakan-rakan pensyarah di fakulti berkenaan.

Presiden PPUM Fahmi Zainol berkata profesor itu berjaya meletakkan Fakulti Sastera dan Sains Sosial (FSSS) Universiti Malaya (UM) sebagai antara yang terbaik di di negara ini.

"Saya mengecam pihak tidak bertanggungjawab yang bertindak sedemikian. Jika betul Kementerian Pendidikan dan Ketua Setiausaha II Kementerian Pendidikan, Datuk Dr Zaini Ujang terlibat dalam kejadian ini, saya yakin UM akan sentiasa bergerak ke belakang seiring dengan ‘kebodohan’ sesetengah pihak.

"Untuk pengetahuan semua sejak FSSS UM di bawah kepimpinan Prof Redzuan pelbagai kejayaan dikecapi, paling membanggakan FSSS UM merupakan fakulti ke-2 terbaik selepas Fakulti Perubatan dalam aspek pengambilan pekerjaan.

"Pada masa sama beliau mempunyai rekod cemerlang pernah dinobatkan sebagai dekan terbaik dan cemerlang di UM," katanya dalam satu kenyataan hari ini.

Fahmi berkata, UMcedel di bawah kepimpinan Redzuan yang juga merupakan pengasasnya berjaya menghasilkan kajian terbaik.

"Nyatakan pusat kajian yang dimiliki oleh Kementerian Pendidikan Malaysia atau kerajaan sendiri yang mampu menandingi kualiti hasil kajian UMcedel?

"Kajian Majlis Profesor Negara juga tidak mampu menandingi kualiti hasil kajian UMcedel," katanya.

Dalam kenyataannya, Fahmi mengesahkan alasan diberikan pengurusan UM ketika tidak menyambung tugasnya sebagai dekan adalah faktor usia yang dikatakan akan bersara tahun depan.

"Saya sendiri mendapat panggilan terus daripada naib canselor UM berkenaan isu pelantikan dekan FSSS di universiti.

"Secara telusnya Dr Redzuan tidak dipilih atas faktor umur yang semakin lanjut, itu respon pihak atasan setelah saya meminta sebab dan alasan kenapa jawatan dekan FSSS UM tidak dijawat lagi oleh beliau.

"Alasan yang diberi sangat tidak masuk akal dan kebudak-budakan," katanya.

Fahmi berkata, jika Redzuan rasa dirinya sudah tua dan tidak mampu meneruskan kerja, beliau tidak akan bersetuju dan terhegeh-hegeh untuk bertanding sebagai calon dekan FSSS UM.

"Jika umur menjadi ukuran saya fikir pengerusi senat UM tidak layak untuk jawat jawatan beliau sekarang kerana umurnya hampir mencecah 80 tahun," katanya. – 30 Jun, 2014.

Sumber: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com

FLIGHT MH370 - Was MH370 hijacked?

Hijackers may have tampered with cockpit equipment.

CANBERRA: Hijackers may have tampered with cockpit equipment on the missing Malaysia Airlines flightMH370 in an attempt to avoid radar detection, experts analysing a report released by an Australian government agency said.

The report, released by The Australian Transport Safety Bureau, showed there was a power outage that happened within 90 minutes of the missing jet leaving Kuala Lumpur.

The “not common” power event caused the Boeing 777′s satellite unit to attempt to log on to a satellite after power was restored.

The process of the plane attempting to connect to a satellite is known as a “handshake”.

“A log-on request in the middle of a flight is not common and can occur for only a few reasons,” the investigators said.

“An analysis was performed which determined that the characteristics and timing of the log-on request were best matched as resulting from power interruption to the SDU.”

Aviation expert Peter Marosszeky from the University of New South Wales told Fairfax newspaper group that this type of electrical event could have been a result of a hijacking attempt.

“If there was a crew wanting to do something that was rather sinister or there were hijackers onboard, they would remove power by opening up the bus-tie breakers and opening up the battery control switch. That way the aircraft virtually loses all power to just about all systems except the engines,” he said.

“The engines have their own little computer and they have their own power source by a generator on the gearbox.

“You can reset the power in some way, this way the aircraft would go dead as far as any satellite contact or any information being transmitted by transponders. They can reinstate it and re-initialise the flight management computers … it has to be a very clever pilotor person who really knows that aeroplane to be able to achieve that.”

It added another layer of complexity to the mystery of the MalaysianAirlines flight, which disappeared on March 8.

Chris McLaughlin from Inmarsat, the global satellite networkinvestigators have been using to try and track the flight path of MH370, told The Telegraph: “It does appear there was a power failure on those two occasions … it is another little mystery. We cannot explain it. We don’t know why. We just know it did.”

An undersea search had so far been unable to uncover any signs of the plane, which is believed to have crashed somewhere in the Indian Ocean.

Source: http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com

RUSSIA - Fourteen survive copter crash in Russia: officials

AFP – 4 minutes 6 seconds ago

All 14 passengers survived a close brush with death on Monday when their helicopter crashed in the far east of Russia -- a rare happy ending for a country prone to aviation disasters.

The Mi-8 helicopter, which included 11 forest firefighters among its passengers, crashed near the village of Chekunda in the Khabarovsk region, the Federal Forestry Agency said.

"They got in touch and said they were alive," a spokeswoman for the agency, Yulia Vasyutinskaya, told AFP. She did not provide further details.

Regional investigators had earlier reported that the helicopter had crashed and burned, and that a team of investigators was heading to the site.

Deadly aviation disasters are common in Russia, often blamed on ageing aircraft and poor maintenance.

Aviation experts say the Soviet-era Mi-8 has an especially poor safety record.

On June 1, a Mi-8 helicopter carrying 18 people crashed into a lake in northern Russia, killing all but two of the passengers.

Source: https://malaysia.yahoo.com

SHOCKING - Snakebite Causes Huge Mass in Woman's Leg, 50 Years Later

By Bahar Gholipour, Staff Writer | June 27, 2014 11:50am ET

X-ray images show multiple views of patient's leg, revealing a calcified mass that developed following

a snake bite. Case report: doi:10.1186/1752-1947-8-193

More than 50 years after being bitten by a venomous snake, a woman developed a large mass in her lower leg, according to a new report of her case.

The 66-year-old woman in Thailand had been bitten by a Malayan pit viper, a venomous snake native to Southeast Asia, when she was 14.

The painless mass had become noticeable 10 years earlier, and on an X-ray it looked like an enlarged cavity wrapped in a tough, calcified membrane, resembling an eggshell. It ultimately grew so large that it broke through the woman's skin. Doctors surgically removed the mass, and the wound completely healed by one month after the surgery, they wrote in their report, published June 16 in the Journal of Medical Case Reports.

Such masses have rarely been reported following a snakebite, but they have been seen following other types of traumatic injury to muscles, according to the report's authors, who are researchers at the Prince of Songkla University in Thailand.

A calcified mass can form as muscle tissue starts to die after a crushing injury or disruption of the blood supply, usually in the lower leg, said Dr. Darren Fitzpatrick, an assistant professor of Radiology at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York, who wasn't involved in the woman's case.

The result is usually a firm, hard, palpable mass that can be examined using X-ray or MRI scans.

"It's very common for it to be mistaken for a tumor, but usually, the imaging helps with the diagnosis," Fitzpatrick told Live Science.

In the case of this patient, doctors suspected that, because of the snakebite, the woman had developed a condition called compartment syndrome; the name refers to sections of muscle that are held together, along with nerves and blood vessels, by a tough tissue called the fascia, which does not stretch easily.

The woman's compartment syndrome had been left untreated, according to the report.

"Compartment syndrome usually happens below the knee," Fitzpatrick said. "You have a big group of muscles there, and they are in kind of a tight compartment.

"If the muscles start to swell from trauma or injury, they can run out of space, and that could result in compromised blood flow," he added. "That's certainly a very plausible reason as to why this could have happened in this case."

Editor's Note: This article was updated at 5:00 p.m. ET. It incorrectly referred to the snake as poisonous rather than venomous.

Source: http://www.livescience.com

PENDEDAHAN - BUAYA Makan Kepala PAWANG

NUSANTARA - The best ending of kuda kepang

NUSANTARA - Kuda Kepang Rasuk

IINDONESIA - Mount Sinabung erupts

Indonesia’s Mount Sinabung in North Sumatra province erupted

Sunday evening, gushing 4,000 meter-high cloud of ash and smoke

into the air, an official said.

There were no immediate reports of casualties, said Sutopo Purwo

Nugroho, a spokesman for the National Disaster Management

Agency (BNPB). “The eruption is sending hot clouds about 4,500

meters towards the south-east,” Nugroho said, adding that the local

villagers living at the foot of the mountain have been told to

evacuate, informs DPA. According to Emergency Management

Agency of Indonesia, rescuers prepare temporary accommodation

for the displaced, reports TASS. Previous volcanic eruption, which

lasted almost six months, from September 2013, caused the deaths

of 15 people. More than 30 thousand local residents were forced to

flee their homes. There are still 14,382 local residents living in

temporary shelters. Sinabung is located in the north of the island of

Sumatra, 60 km from the city of Medan. The height of the volcano

above sea level is 2, 460 m. The first eruption for nearly 400 years

occurred in 2010, followed by ash emissions were repeated in 2013

and early 2014.

Source: inserbia.info/today/2014/06/indonesia-mount-sinabung-erupts/ © InSerbia News

MH370 - New evidence of cockpit tampering as investigation into missing plane continues

Investigations into the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 have revealed apparent tampering of systems in the cockpit

MH370 underwater search areas planning map, a new underwater search will begin in August and cover about 23,000 square

miles Photo: JACC

By Jonathan Pearlman, Sydney

2:26PM BST 29 Jun 2014

Air crash investigators probing the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines MH-370 have discovered possible new evidence of tampering with the plane's cockpit equipment.

A report released by Australian air crash investigators has revealed that the missing Boeing 777 suffered a mysterious power outage during the early stages of its flight, which experts believe could be part of an attempt to avoid radar detection.

According to the report, the plane's satellite data unit made an unexpected "log-on" request to a satellite less than 90 minutes into its flight from the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur, to the Chinese city of Beijing. The reports says the log-on request - known as a "handshake" - appears likely to have been caused by an interruption of electrical power on board the plane.

"A log-on request in the middle of a flight is not common," said the report, by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau. "An analysis was performed which determined that the characteristics and timing of the logon requests were best matched as resulting from power interruption."

David Gleave, an aviation safety expert from Loughborough University, said the interruption to the power supply appeared to be the result of someone in the cockpit attempting to minimise the use of the aircraft's systems. The action, he said, was consistent with an attempt to turn the plane's communications and other systems off in an attempt to avoid radar detection.

"A person could be messing around in the cockpit which would lead to a power interruption," he said. "It could be a deliberate act to switch off both engines for some time. By messing about within the cockpit you could switch off the power temporarily and switch it on again when you need the other systems to fly the aeroplane."

Inmarsat, the company has confirmed the assessment but says it does not know why the aircraft experienced a power failure.

"It does appear there was a power failure on those two occasions," Chris McLaughlin, from Inmarsat, told The Telegraph. "It is another little mystery. We cannot explain it. We don't know why. We just know it did it."

The Australian report released by Australian authorities has revealed that the Boeing 777 attempted to log on to Inmarsat satellites at 2.25am, three minutes after it was detected by Malaysian military radar.

This was as the plane was flying north of the Indonesian island of Sumatra. The aircraft had already veered away from the course that would have taken it to its destination of Beijing, but had not yet made its turn south towards the Indian Ocean.

The aircraft experienced another such log-on request almost six hours later, though this was its seventh and final satellite handshake and is believed to have been caused by the plane running out of fuel and electrical power before apparently crashing, somewhere in the southern Indian Ocean. The other five handshakes were initiated by the satellite ground station and were not considered unusual.

Asked whether the power interruption could have been caused by a mechanical fault, Mr Gleave said: "There are credible mechanical failures that could cause it. But you would not then fly along for hundreds of miles and disappear in the Indian Ocean."

Another aviation expert, Peter Marosszeky, from the University of New South Wales, agreed, saying the power interruption must have been intended by someone on board. He said the interruption would not have caused an entire power failure but would have involved a "conscious" attempt to remove power from selected systems on the plane.

"It would have to be a deliberate act of turning power off on certain systems on the aeroplane," he said. "The aircraft has so many backup systems. Any form of power interruption is always backed up by another system.

"The person doing it would have to know what they are doing. It would have to be a deliberate act to hijack or sabotage the aircraft."

An international team in Malaysia investigating the cause of the crash has not yet released its findings formally, but has indicated it believes the plane was deliberately flown off course. The plane disappeared on March 8 with 239 passengers aboard but an international air, sea and underwater search has failed to find any wreckage.

The Australian report added that the plane appeared to have flown on autopilot across the Indian Ocean and that the crew and passengers were likely to have been unresponsive due to lack of oxygen during the southward flight.

It has recommended an underwater search in an area about 1,100 miles west of Australia, around the location where the plane's seventh "handshake" is believed to have occurred.

The report also notes that the plane's in-flight entertainment system delivered a satellite message 90 seconds after the first power failure but not after the second failure hours later. This, it says, "could indicate a complete loss of generated electrical power shortly after the seventh handshake".

The new underwater search will begin in August and cover about 23,000 square miles. It is expected to take up to a year.

Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk

MH370 - Poor response to ‘informer’ fund forces MH370 families to revise crowdfunding plan

Poor response has prompted families of those on board

missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 to relook their drive

to raise US$5 million (RM16.1 million) through crowd

funding, as a source of funds to reward whistleblowers who

can reveal the truth about the plane.

As the amount raised via the crowdfunding website Indiegogo, since the campaign was launched earlier this month, has fallen far short of the target, the families are looking to set smaller targets but with an ultimate aim of still hitting the US$5 million mark.

The families are also revising their approach to Europe and certain other markets whereby pledges will be sought from “wealthy donors” as well.

The Reward MH370: The Search for the Truth campaign had aimed to raise US$3 million to entice whistleblowers to come forward with key information on the plane’s disappearance, and another US$2 million to hire private investigators to follow up on leads.

Sarah Bajc, whose partner Philip Wood was on board the plane which disappeared from radar on March 8 en route to Beijing, said the revised target through crowdfunding has been reduced to US$100,000 (RM321,000), adding that when such target is achieved, a similar or new target will be set.

"The timeline to reach these smaller targets will also be subject to extension," Bajc said, adding that the change is to allow for the families to still achieve the main target, but in more manageable steps instead of all in one go.

So far, the amount raised through Indiegogo stands at US$78,440 (RM251,500), or 78% of the revised target.

Sarah said their initial survey of how people felt about doing a reward and private search for the plane received lots of support, but people did not follow through with action when the campaign kicked off early this month.

“I frankly do not understand it,” said Sarah in an email to The Malaysian Insider.

“We still believe that the reward amount must be a "life-changing" sum or genuine whistleblowers won't come forward and risk themselves. They will need enough money to disappear,” said Sarah.

She hoped that the contributors keep their trust and faith in the families as they were committed to the project to offer a reward and conduct private investigations into the leads.

Sarah said with US$100,000 they could hire private investigators to pursue the best leads.

“We hope to get something started, and be able to show concrete progress, even if it is just to eliminate theories that have been floating around for months. We hope this will motivate people to continue to contribute to our efforts.

"Investigations take time, energy and money, but if done correctly, will yield results,” she said.

She said the project is not only about finding the truth about MH370, its passengers and the plane, but is also about the safety and security of airline passengers in general.

“The disappearance of MH370 has highlighted many flaws in the aviation industry and the procedures used to screen passengers, cargo and monitor aircraft in flight,” she added.

The ongoing search for flight MH370 is considered the longest and most expensive in aviation history, with costs estimated to have hit RM141 million in the first month alone.

The Boeing 777 jet carrying 239 people disappeared on March 8 after the plane veered from its Beijing-bound flight path and flew in the opposite direction towards the southern Indian Ocean.

The unprecedented event has created a dark cloud over the safety of over 8 million airline passengers every day, said the families.

They said that until MH370 is recovered and the cause of the disappearance is known, the skies would not be safe. “The next time maybe you or I will be on board a flight that goes missing,” they said.

Australian officials recently announced that a new search area has been identified further south within the prior search area.

The new search area is some 2,000km west of Perth, a stretch of isolated ocean frequently lashed by storm force winds and massive swells.

The next phase of the search is expected to start in August and take a year, covering some 60,000 sq km at a cost of A$60 million (RM181.75 million) or more.

Two vessels, one Chinese and one from Dutch engineering company Fugro, are currently mapping the sea floor along the arc, where depths exceed 5,000 metres in parts.-June 29, 2014. – June 29, 2014.

Source: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/poor-response-to-whistleblower-fund-forces-mh370-families-to-seek-rich-dono#sthash.y2mrhjmD.dpuf