30 June 2014

FLIGHT MH370 - Missing MH370: Was this the end? New report says suffocation killed all before crash in water






55-page report released by the Australian Transport Safety Board


UPDATE: The passengers and crew of the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 most likely died from suffocation and coasted lifelessly into the ocean on autopilot, a new report released by Australian officials said.

In a 55-page report released by the Australian Transport Safety Board (ATSB) outlined how investigators had arrived at this conclusion after comparing the conditions on the flight with previous disasters, although it contained no new evidence from within the jetliner.

The report narrowed down the possible final resting place from thousands of possible routes, while noting the absence of communications and the steady flight path and a number of other key abnormalities in the course of the ill-fated flight.

"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.

All of that suggested that the plane most likely crashed farther south into the Indian Ocean than previously thought, Australian officials also said, leading them to announce a shift farther south within the prior search area.

The new analysis comes more than 100 days after the Boeing 777, carrying 239 passengers and crew, disappeared on March 8 shortly after taking off from Kuala Lumpur bound for Beijing.

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.
Crew unresponsive
Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 was almost certainly on autopilot when it ran out of fuel and crashed, with the crew likely "unresponsive", Australian officials said Thursday, announcing the search for wreckage would shift further south.

Investigators have been grappling with the mystery of the Boeing 777's disappearance on March 8 with 239 people on board, spending months scouring the Indian Ocean in vain.

An expert group has reviewed all the existing information and AustralianDeputy Prime Minister Warren Truss said it was now "highly, highly likely that the aircraft was on autopilot" when it went down.

"Otherwise it could not have followed the orderly path that has been identified through the satellite sightings," he told reporters.

Martin Dolan, commissioner of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB), which is leading the search, agreed.

"Certainly for its path across the Indian Ocean we are confident that the aircraft was operating on autopilot until it went out of fuel," he said.

He quantified this by saying the experts assessed that the plane flew in a straight line, according to the electronic "handshakes" it periodically exchanged with satellites.

"If you look at our detailed report, you will see there are seven arcs that we are looking at and we're saying the path the aircraft took to intercept each of those arcs was a straight path," he said.

The plane was flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing when it veered off course and vanished, shattering families of those aboard, who still have no idea what happened to their loved ones.

No trace of the plane has been found despite an extensive Australian-led search deep in the Indian Ocean, where Malaysia believes it crashed.

Theories on what happened include a hijacking, rogue pilot action or mechanical failure.

But a 64-page report into the disappearance by the ATSB released Thursday said the most likely scenario was the pilots and crew suffered from hypoxia, or lack of oxygen, where a plane loses air pressure at high altitude.

Hypoxia can cause confusion, hallucinations, poor judgement and eventually unconsciousness and death.

ATSB said "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".

'Painstaking' search 

A review of the data has now identified a new area, covering up to 60,000 square kilometres in the southern Indian Ocean, where an underwater search will start in August and take up to 12 months.

"Specialists have analysed satellite communications information - information which was never initially intended to have the capability to track an aircraft -- and performed extremely complex calculations," Truss said.

"The new priority area is still focused on the seventh arc where the aircraft last communicated with satellites.

"We are now shifting our attention to an area further south along the arc based on these calculations."

The new area is around 1,800 kilometres (1,100 miles) west of Perth and had previously been subject to an aerial search, which found no debris.

Truss said he was "optimistic" that "this site is the best available and most likely place where the aircraft is resting".

Until now, the most intensive search had been with a mini-submarine in a zone further north, where "pings" believed to be from the plane's black box flight recorders were detected.
That area has now been ruled out as the final resting place of MH370. The source of the noises is unknown.

Before the new underwater search can begin, the ocean floor, which is up to five kilometres deep, needs to be mapped.

Two ships - Fugro Equator and Zhu Kezhen - are currently surveying the area before a contractor begins the intensive undersea probe.

Truss said Australia was currently tendering for a company to take control of the search, while Malaysia was set to hire additional equipment such as a towed side-scan sonar, a multi-beam echo sounder and a sub bottom profiler for the underwater survey.
Malaysian plane on 'autopilot'
Australia's Deputy PM says it is 'highly likely' that the missing flight MH370 was flying on autopilot when it flew into the southern Indian Ocean and disappeared more than 100 days ago.

The plane that vanished on March 8 was carrying 239 passengers while travelling from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.
New report revives conspiracy theory
In a latest development that contradicts an earlier report, the wife of one of the pilots onboard the missing MH370 flight has reportedly confirmed that her husband spoke to her from the cockpit, according to a report in the independent.
The report quotes two New Zealand journalists who claim to have spoken to the wife of the captain.
It was earlier reported that the co-pilot had said the words “good night Malaysia 370” and weeks later, the airline had revealed that they were unsure as to who uttered those words.
 
EARLIER STORIES:
New report revives conspiracy theory
A new Sunday Times reports states that the official police investigation into the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 has reportedly identified the plane's captain as the prime suspect.
According to the report Malaysian cops discovered that married dad of three Shah, 53, appeared to have made no social or work commitments for the future, unlike other members of his crew,.
The report also claims that a probe found that he had programmed a flight simulator with drills practising a flight far out into the southern Indian Ocean and landing on an island with a short runway.
This section of the report will revive the conspiracy theorists favourite explanation: Diego Garcia.

Click to read: Diego Garcia and MH370 conspiracy of a 'lost' island in middle of it all

Search to change direction
The drawn-out search for missing Malaysian Flight MH370 will revert to an area hundreds of kilometres south of the previously suspected crash site following new analysis of the plane's flight path, a report said Friday.

Investigators grappling to solve the mystery of the jet's disappearance are set to scour a zone 1,800 kilometres (1,116 miles) west of Perth - previously subject to an aerial search - when an underwater probe resumes in August, the West Australian said.

Citing unnamed US sources, the newspaper said Australia's Joint Agency Coordination Centre (JACC) would soon announce the hunt will move 800 kilometres southwest from where it was previously focused.

It said these sources had revealed that survey ship Fugro Equator was already operating in this area and would soon be joined by Chinese vessel Zhu Kezhen.

A massive aerial and underwater search for MH370, which had 239 people onboard when it diverted from its Kuala Lumpur to Beijing flight path on March 8, has failed to find any sign of the plane.

Scientists from British company Inmarsat told the BBC earlier this week that the search had yet to target the most likely crash site, or "hotspot", after becoming diverted by pings thought at the time to have originated from the plane's black boxes.

It was not clear from the West Australian report whether the new search area overlaps with the "hotspot".

JACC said Friday that the revised search zone, based on an intensive study of satellite communications from the jet and other data, would be announced by the end of the month.

Australian officials have said repeatedly that the revised search zone will be in the area of the seventh arc, or the final satellite "handshake" from the plane. It is believed to be when the aircraft ran out of fuel and was in descent.

JACC said the Fugro Equator was now working in this zone.

"Located along the seventh arc, that area is consistent with provisional analysis of satellite and other data that is being used to determine the future search area," it said.

Australian officials announced earlier this week that a survey of the sea bed, as yet mostly unmapped and crucial to the success of the underwater search, had resumed.

Two ships - Fugro Equator and Zhu Kezhen - will survey an area up to 6,000 metres deep and covering up to 60,000 square kilometres before an a contractor begins an intensive undersea probe looking for debris.

Previously an intensive undersea search for the plane, in the area in which the acoustic noises were detected, failed to find any sign of the jet.

The source of the noises is unknown.
Revised search zone for Malaysian flight by month's end; Seabed mapping resumes
Australian officials said Wednesday they will announce the new search zone for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 by month's end, as mapping of  the Indian Ocean seabed resumed.
The jet went missing on March 8 flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing and despite a massive aerial and sea search no sign of the aircraft which was carrying 239 people has been found.
An underwater probe of the Indian Ocean seabed where acoustic signals, thought at the time to have come from the jet's black box recorders, were heard also proved fruitless.
Australia's Joint Agency Coordination Centre said analysis of satellite and other data to determine the search area for the next underwater phase would be concluded soon.
"The search area will be confirmed before the end of June, after completion of extensive collaborative analysis by a range of specialists," it said in a statement.
"It is already clear from the provisional results of that analysis that the search zone will move, but still be on the seventh arc (where the aircraft last communicated with satellite)."
The search has been frustrated by a lack of information, with experts modelling the plane's most likely flight path based on signals between it and an Inmarsat satellite.
The seventh arc, or "handshake", is the final signal from the plane and thought to be when the jet ran out of fuel.
Scientists from the British firm have suggested that searchers are yet to target the most likely Indian Ocean crash site because they became distracted by the acoustic signals detected in April.
"It was by no means an unrealistic location but it was further to the northeast than our area of highest probability," Chris Ashton at Inmarsat told the BBC's Horizon programme on Tuesday.
But JACC said the area in which the Australian vessel Ocean Shield used a mini-sub to scour the ocean floor was "based on the best information and analysis available at that time", including from Inmarsat.
"The location was identified by the satellite communications sub-group, which included accident investigation agencies from the USA and the UK along with their technical advisors, including from the aircraft manufacturer, the satellite manufacturer and Inmarsat as operator of the satellite," JACC said Wednesday.
"Based on analysis at the time, it represented the most likely location of the aircraft."
Australia, which is leading the hunt given the plane is likely to have crashed in its search and rescue zone, said the vessel Fugro Equator, which it contracted, had begun its work in mapping the ocean floor.
It will be joined by Chinese PLA-Navy ship Zhu Kezhen in conducting the bathymetric survey crucial to carrying out the deep water search for the plane which is set to begin in August.
"So far, the Zhu Kezhen has surveyed 4,088 square kilometres of the ocean floor," before it was forced back to port for repairs, JACC said.
The survey of a 60,000 square kilometre search zone was expected to take three months.

Dead, alive or lost? How to live for 100 days... A wife's story
Zhang Qian's world has collapsed in the more than 100 days since her husband disappeared along with Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. She quit her job, sleeps rarely and prefers not to go out, except to Buddhist temples, where she has found some solace.
In the more than 100 days since her husband disappeared along with Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, Zhang Qian's world has collapsed. She quit her job, sleeps rarely and prefers not to go out, except to the Buddhist temples where she has found some solace.

"At the temple, I can speak from my heart to my husband," Zhang, 28, said on a recent visit to the Temple of Spiritual Light in the western hills of Beijing. She broke down in sobs before continuing.

"I think he can hear me ... I have so much to tell him, there is so much I have not said. I hope the Buddha will carry those words to him and bring him back."

Much of the world has moved on from the frenzied interest in the mysterious March 8 disappearance of the plane, but relatives of the 239 people missing cannot. Satellite data shows that the plane went down in a remote area of the southern Indian Ocean far from any land, but with no trace of the aircraft recovered, many cling to a flicker of hope — however faint — that their loved ones might still be alive.

"It may be my fantasy, but what if one day he sends some distress signals and he gets saved, and that will be the end of this?" Zhang said.

Her husband was among 153 Chinese on the plane. Chinese culture places an especially heavy emphasis on finding and seeing the remains of people believed dead before true grieving and the process of moving on can begin.

The absence of proof of death has made closure elusive for all relatives, said Lawrence Palinkas, professor of social work at the University of Southern California.

"When there is no physical proof of death, it is easier to remain in (denial) for a much longer period of time," he said. "At this point, those who have not accepted the possibility that the plane crashed and all aboard were lost are relying on extended family and friends to maintain the belief that family members are still alive, or that hope is still viable until the remains are found."
Hotspot hope?
The search for the missing Malaysian Flight MH370 is yet to target the most likely crash site, having been distracted by what is now believed to have been a bogus signal, British company Inmarsat claimed Tuesday.
Inmarsat's scientists told the BBC's Horizon programme that they had calculated the plane's most likely flight path and a "hotspot" in the southern Indian Ocean in which it most likely came down.
The flight lost contact on March 8 en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with total of 239 passengers and crew on board.
Hourly pings sent by the plane were received by Inmarsat's spacecraft, leading scientists to calculate its likely path.
Australian naval vessel Ocean Shield was dispatched to investigate, but before reaching the likely site, began to detect a signal that it believed was coming from the plane's black box, Inmarsat told the BBC programme.
Two months were spent searching 850 sq km of sea bed north west of Perth, but the source of the "pings" was not found and a submersible robot found no evidence of the airliner.
"It was by no means an unrealistic location but it was further to the north east than our area of highest probability," Chris Ashton at Inmarsat told Horizon.
Experts from the satellite firm modelled the most likely flight path using the hourly pings and assuming a speed and heading consistent with the plane being flown by autopilot.
"We can identify a path that matches exactly with all those frequency measurements and with the timing measurements and lands on the final arc at a particular location, which then gives us a sort of a hotspot area on the final arc where we believe the most likely area is," explained Ashton.
After coming under criticism from relatives over the futile search, Malaysia's civil aviation authority and Inmarsat last month decided to release the raw data.
However, its complexity has led to few independent conclusions being drawn about the likely crash site.
Malaysian Selamat Umar, whose son Mohamad Khairul Amri was on the ill-fated jetliner, questioned the motives behind the data release.
"I am not convinced at all by the data," he said. Why are they releasing it now? Before when we asked for it, they did not want to release it. What can we do with it now?
"I think they could have made some changes to the data," Selamat, 60, added.
Book claims truth
Just as the mystery that surrounds the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH 370 was fading into distant memory, a new book is set to enflame passions and arguments that support a conspiracy theory.
The book, authored by a pilot and journalist from New Zealand, claims to show readers that the tragedy was no accident.
According to a report on stuff.co.nz Ewan Wilson, a commercial pilot and journalist Geoff Taylor, said: "For the first time we present a detailed analysis of the flight, the incredible route it took, and who we believe was in charge of the aircraft as it plunged into the Indian Ocean." 
The book, called ‘Good Night Malaysian 370: The Truth behind the loss of Flight 370’ will shock readers, the report said. 
The authors use a process of investigative elimination that removes all possible scenarios, except one.
'Will not rest'
Malaysia's government pledged on Monday that it "will not rest" until missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 is found, as it marked the 100th day since the plane vanished on March 8 with 239 passengers and crew.
"100 days after MH370 went missing, its loss remains a painful void in the hearts of all Malaysians and those around the world. We cannot and will not rest until MH370 is found," Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said.
In a statement, Hishammuddin also promised that Malaysia "cannot and will not abandon" the families of the missing passengers, some of whom have sharply criticised the Malaysian government's handling of the mystery.
The Boeing 777 inexplicably disappeared en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. No trace of it has been found despite an extensive Australian-led search effort deep in the Indian Ocean, where it is believed to have gone down.
Hishammuddin also offered Malaysia's thanks to Australia, China, the United States and fellow Southeast Asian countries for their assistance in the search.
Malaysian Airlines CEO Ahmad Jauhari Yahya issued a separate statement pledging similar resolve in finding the plane, calling the period since March 8 "the longest and most painful 100 days in Malaysia Airlines' history."
Anguished relatives of MH370 passengers have accused Malaysia's government of a bumbling and chaotic response to the crisis and covering up what happened to the plane.
Malaysia denies it is withholding information but has remained tight-lipped over investigations that it has launched into the mystery and given no timetable for when the findings of those probes will be released.
Promo of 'missing plane' film at Cannes... Click here
The director of a movie based on the Malaysian Airlines plane disappearance says he rushed the trailer of the project so he could bring it to the Cannes Film Festival.
"I was seeing the festival calendars and I could not miss Cannes. And so I told my team to make a trailer immediately," said Rupesh Paul of his planned film, "The Vanishing Act."
It wasn't until he arrived at the festival that he faced questions over the timing of the film's promotion and whether he was being sensitive to the families of the missing passengers.
"These things came in to my thoughts only after I came here," said Paul, also a producer, in an interview on Saturday. "From the very first interview I was only asked about this fact that we did not even think of much when we were pitching this in India. Nobody asked this question in India actually. When we came to Europe this was the only question I faced."
The 35-year-old director says he never thought his actions might upset anyone but insists "that nobody will be hurt (by) this movie."
"Why should I gain out of somebody's pain?" said Paul.
The trailer for "The Vanishing Act" shows two crew members kissing as a third looks at them angrily. It's something the director says will not be included in the main feature.
"This trailer was not even meant to get released on the Internet online," said Paul. "It was meant to show some investors and producers that the movie will be dramatic and thrilling. Somehow it got released, we had to give it to many people, it got out of my hands. And there is no love triangle in this movie at all and there is no romance in this movie."
A handgun is also featured in the movie, but Paul said it isn't what it seems.
"Everyone that has flown once on even a small flight will definitely understand that it is impossible to carry a gun inside, whatever you do," he said. "So it's impossible, but there is a weapon in the story."
The director is keeping tight-lipped about his theory on how the plane disappeared and what will be shown in the film. He said that although he "cannot reveal the climax, it will not be a tragic climax."
The trailer, which also shows commotion and horror on the plane, has garnered more than 300,000 views on YouTube.
Paul is aiming for a September release.
Source: http://www.emirates247.com

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