The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
The search continues
Almost a week after the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, authorities are no closer to determining its fate. Gayle Ritchie explores some of the theories behind a search punctuated by false leads
IT’S ONE of the most perplexing cases in the history of modern aviation. As the international hunt for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 enters its seventh day, mystery over the plane’s whereabouts deepens.
Packed with 239 passengers, the plane vanished from air traffic control screens at 1.31am local time on Saturday, an hour after leaving Kuala Lumpur bound for Beijing and about 35,000 feet above the Gulf of Thailand between Malaysia and southern Vietnam.
From day one, Malaysian officials have made conflicting statements about the investigation, indicating a state of confusion at the highest levels over where the plane might be and adding twists and turns to a saga of errors and misinformation.
Its sudden disappearance led to initial speculation of a catastrophic incident that caused it to disintegrate rapidly. Another possibility is that it continued to fly despite a failure of its electrical systems, which could have knocked out communications, including transponders that enable the plane to be identified by commercial radar.
Authorities have not ruled out any possible cause, including mechanical failure, pilot error, sabotage and terrorism, and they are desperate to find any wreckage or debris to determine what went wrong.
The last message from the cockpit of the Boeing 777, “All right, good night”, seems to indicate all was normal before the jet vanished.
Shortly after that it fell off commercial radar, but military authorities say it might have turned west and flown into the northern stretches of the Strait of Malacca based on unconfirmed traces seen on its air defence radar.
Reports that the phones of passengers were still ringing sparked conspiracy theories and relatives called for experts to try to track the GPS to where stranded passengers may be.
On Wednesday, the Chinese Government published satellite images of what authorities suggested may be wreckage from the plane. The images, taken at around 11am on Sunday, showed “three suspected floating objects” of varying sizes, the largest about 24 metres by 22 metres in the South China Sea between Malaysia and Vietnam, in an area near its intended flightpath. But Malaysian and Vietnamese aviation authorities have flown over the area where the images earlier showed the debris – and both say that no trace of the missing flight was found. The Chinese embassy then revealed that the images were released by mistake and did not show any debris from MH370.
Adding to the mystery, The Wall Street Journal reported that US investigators suspect the plane flew on for four hours once it lost contact with air traffic controllers, based on data from the plane’s engines that are automatically downloaded and transmitted to the ground as part of routine maintenance programmes.
The report, based on two anonymous sources, raises questions as to why the Boeing 777 would have been flying without passive or active contact with the ground, and if anyone would have been in control during that time. US counter-terrorism officials are considering whether a pilot or someone else on board intentionally disabled the jetliner’s transponders to avoid detection and divert it, the report said.
But Malaysia’s defence minister Hishammuddin Hussein yesterday denied the report that engine data from the plane indicated it may have kept flying for four hours. The report claimed the Rolls-Royce engines sent data to the engine manufacturer as part of a maintenance programme. But Mr Hishammuddin insisted both Rolls-Royce and Boeing said the report was wrong.
Dozens of ships and aircraft from 12 nations have been searching the Gulf of Thailand and the strait, but no trace has been found. The search area has grown to 35,800 square miles, which is about the size of Portugal.
Malaysian authorities have come under fire for their handling of the search amid sometimes confusing and conflicting statements, including the time of the plane’s disappearance. Officials had also said that five passengers had checked into the flight but did not board the plane and their luggage had been removed, but later they said this was not true.
Malaysia’s air force chief said on Wednesday that an unidentified object appears on military radar records about 200 miles (320km) northwest of Penang, Malaysia, and experts are analysing the data to determine whether the blip is the missing plane.
Malaysian and international police said two Iranians who boarded the flight with stolen passports had bought tickets to get to Europe, where they hoped to obtain asylum. Their presence on the flight had raised speculation of a possible terrorist link but Interpol Secretary-General Ronald Noble said neither man has a criminal record.
Local media in Malaysia said police had been speaking to the family of the plane’s main pilot, Zaharie Ahmad Shah, to determine whether or not he was encountering any psychological problems. Mr Shah had more than 18,000 hours flying experience.
Malaysia Airlines has said that as a mark of respect to the passengers and crew on board MH370, the MH370 and MH371 flight codes will be retired.
MH370 was used for the Kuala Lumpur-Beijing route and MH371 for a return flight.
The search continues but if all those on board are confirmed dead, it would be the deadliest commercial air accident in 10 years.