MH370 – still a puzzle
‘Unlawful interference’ possible, but real cause still unconfirmed
Did ‘unlawful interference’ by a third party cause Flight MH370 to disappear ... or did the air traffic controllers fail to follow the rule book? These scenarios and more were listed in the extensive 449-page report on the lost flight. However, the next of kin are not happy and want the search to continue.
PUTRAJAYA: The team investigating the safety aspects of MH370 has concluded that they are unable to determine the real cause of the disappearance of the plane but did not rule out the possibility that “unlawful interference” by a third party had caused the incident.
The Malaysian International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) Annex 13 Safety Investigation Team, which released its 449page report after a four-year wait, also allayed concerns that their findings were final.
Chief investigator Datuk Kok Soo Chon said the team had analysed the pilot and first officer of the fateful MH370 plane on many aspects and found no abnormalities.
However, evidence such as the aircraft turn back, which was done manually, no malfunction and that the transponder was switched off “irresistibly” suggested unlawful interference, said Kok.
“Based on all that, we dare not exclude unlawful interference,” he told a media briefing held at the Transport Ministry yesterday.
Flight MH370, which was travelling from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, vanished on March 8, 2014, with 227 passengers and 12 crew on board.
The disappearance of the aircraft has been dubbed one of the greatest aviation mysteries of all time.
The report also quelled concerns over the pilot’s possible role in the missing plane.
“We analysed the pilot and first officer on many aspects including behavioural, psychological, social and also their medical history. There were two psychiatrists in the team and they even viewed footages of the pilot and first officer before the flight.
“They concluded that there were no behavioural signs of social isolation, change in habits or interest, self-neglect, drug or alcohol abuse of the pilot-in-command and flight officer,” said the report.
Kok told the media that background checks were also done on the crew and passengers of MH370 and all were given “a
clean bill of health”.
He said the Boeing 777 was fitted with four emergency locator transmitters (ELTs) and the search team could not detect any signals from the plane’s ELTs.
“ELTs do not work if submerged under water, if cables are broken or its antenna is damaged,” he said.
Kok said there was nothing unusual about MH370’s ELTs not working and pointed out that in 170 air incidents recorded by the ICAO over the past 30 years, only 39 cases of signals from ELTs were detected.
On the aircraft underwater locator beacons, he said that although the battery for the equipment had expired in 2012, it could still function for a few days.
On the report, Kok pointed out that his team was only responsible to conduct the safety investigation while the judicial probe, as well as the search for the missing, was conducted by other authorities.
“This is not the final report. It would be
presumptuous of us to say the wreckage is found when there are no victims. There must be a closure,” he said.
Earlier, the team held a briefing to the Malaysian next of kin. A similar session will be held in Beijing on Aug 3.
Kok explained that the report could not be released earlier as the search for the missing plane was ongoing.
“After the tripartite search ended, Ocean Infinity conducted a search. When this stopped in May, it gave us two months to prepare the report and here it is today,” he said.
Kok said he was unaware of claims that the next of kin were given 48 hours’ notice to attend the briefing as the team had no communication with them and neither did they call for a press conference as these matters were dealt with by different teams.
On the fate of the team, he said that with the release of the report, its members had agreed to offer termination of their contract within a month from now.