Mystery of Missing 777 - Malaysia Air MH370

[Fintan]

https://twitter.com/fintandunne/status/ ... 08/photo/1
Article: http://bit.ly/1dILsfO

When I posted the above on Twitter a couple of days ago,
I expected that the plane would have been found by now.

Then these reports surfaced today:

6:07 PM – 03/11/2014
Did The Missing Plane Turn Off Transponder?
From the NYT:

Mikael Robertsson, the co-founder of Flightradar24, said the transponder
on the jet never sent a signal to that receiver, which means that if the
plane did fly that way, its transponder had either been knocked out of
service by damage or had been shut off.

“We see every aircraft that flies over there, even if it’s very, very low, so
if it flew over there, the transponder was off,” he said.

A pilot can turn off the transponder, Mr. Robertsson said, and the fact that
the last contact from the Malaysia Airlines flight’s transponder came at
roughly the same time that the cockpit crew stopped communicating with
ground controllers by radio suggests that that is what happened, Mr.
Robertsson said. “I guess to me it sounds like they were turned off
deliberately.”

The plane disappeared from Flightradar24’s tracking system at 1:21 a.m.
Saturday while flying at 35,000 feet over the Gulf of Thailand; Malaysia
Airlines has said that the last radio communication with the pilots was at
about 1:30 a.m., but has not given a precise time.

Read more here.

Last updated: 11 March 2014, 16:38 GMT
Missing airliner 'changed course'
The Malaysian military claims it has radar evidence showing that the
missing Boeing 777 plane changed course and made it to the Malacca
Strait.

Local newspaper Berita Harian quoted Malaysian air force chief General
Rodzali Daud as saying radar at a military base had detected the airliner
near Pulau Perak, at the northern approach to the strait. A high-ranking
military official involved in the investigation confirmed the report and also
said the aircraft was believed to be flying low.... http://rlu.ru/MJU

The 777 has two transponders - so a spontaneous failure of both units
which somehow leaves the plane still flying is an extremely remote possibility.

This plane may have been blown up, or more likely shot down
-and the haphazard search and many conflicting reports smell of
a Malayan cover-up possibly leading us away from a debris field.

[Fintan]

Taking a closer look
at the course change:

Malaysia military source says missing jet veered to west
BY NILUKSI KOSWANAGE AND EVELINE DANUBRATA
KUALA LUMPUR Tue Mar 11, 2014 5:40pm EDT

...a senior military officer who has been briefed on investigations told
Reuters the aircraft had made a detour to the west after communications
with civilian authorities ended.

"It changed course after Kota Bharu and took a lower altitude. It made it
into the Malacca Strait," the officer said.

Such a detour would appear to undermine the theory that the aircraft
suffered a sudden, catastrophic mechanical failure, as it would mean the
plane flew at least 500 km (350 miles) after its last contact with air traffic
control.

The plane's transponder and other tracking systems were either shut off or
not functioning around the time that communications with air traffic control
ended. That would have prevented so-called secondary radar used by
civilian authorities from identifying it, but not primary radar used by the
military.

After the comments from the officer, a non-military source familiar with
the investigations said the reported detour was one of several theories
and was being checked.

But a spokesman for the Malaysian prime minister's office said in an
interview with the New York Times that senior military officials told him
there was no evidence the plane recrossed the Malaysian peninsula, only
that it may have tried to turn back.

"As far as they know, except for the air turn-back, there is no new
development," said the spokesman, Tengku Sariffuddin Tengku Ahmad.

So perhaps it's more accurate to say that a military radar picked up a
plane whose location and timing is maybe consistent with the 777.

This is still the last official location:

[Fintan]

Fintan: So perhaps it's more accurate to say that a military radar picked up
a plane whose location and timing is maybe consistent with the 777.

Today, as predicted above, the "maybe", became "maybe not".

And I'm tending to think that there is a whole heap of deliberate
misdirection and red herring and delay and confusion coming from
the Malayan military - with the collusion of some media and of the
civil air authorities.

Malaysian authorities said at a news conference Wednesday that radar
records reviewed in the wake of the plane's disappearance reveal an
unidentified aircraft traveling across the Malay Peninsula and
some 200 miles into the Straits of Malacca.

However, it wasn't clear whether that radar signal represented Malaysia
Airlines Flight 370, Gen. Rodzali Daud, head of the Malaysian Air Force,
said at the news conference.

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/03/12/world ... nes-plane/

[Fintan]

Chinese satellite images may be of Malaysia Airlines plane crash site
THE CANADIAN PRESS MARCH 12, 2014 4:06 PM

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Satellite images on a Chinese government
website show suspected debris from the missing Malaysia Airlines jetliner
floating off the southern tip of Vietnam, near the plane's original flight
path, China's Xinhua News Agency reported Wednesday.

The revelation could provide searchers with a focus that has eluded them
since the plane disappeared with 239 people aboard early Saturday.

The Xinhua report said the images from around 11 a.m. on Sunday appear
to show "three suspected floating objects" of varying sizes, the largest
about 24 metres (79 feet) by 22 metres (72 feet).

The report includes co-ordinates of a location in the sea off the southern
tip of Vietnam and east of Malaysia. The images originally were posted on
a national defence technology website.....

With the passage of time since the satellite images were taken, it is far
from certain that whatever they show would be in the same location now.
http://rlu.ru/MND

That would put the missing plane back in
the original search area near Vietnam.

Here's a full report:

<iframe id="ytplayer" type="text/html" width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/lLnRfszsRb0" frameborder="0"></iframe>

In summary:

1) This satellite location is fully consistent with all
previous data --before the Strait of Malacca diversion.

2) Chinese scientists are using at least 10 satellites in their search, they
think there may be overlap between some oil slicks they have tracked,
and some slicks sampled in an earlier focus on this area of ocean.

3) China probably(lol) has VERY high res pics that are quite definitive.

3) Based on that, it seems to this reporter that China has nailed it.

[kiwikeith]

Also the Kiwi guy working on an oil rig in the South China Sea saw and reported a burning object in the sky about the time the missing Malaysia Airlines flight is believed to have crashed.



http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/asia/98227 ... ect-in-sky

[Fintan]

Nice catch. That eyewitness and the China
satellite debris photos are the best lead
so far on the disappearance.

But can we bet on it?
Maybe not, because:

Malaysian rescue planes early Thursday rushed to a location over the
Gulf of Thailand, roughly halfway between Kuala Lumpur and Ho Chi
Minh City, where a Chinese satellite detected three large floating objects.
However, no sign of the plane or the debris was discovered in the search.

LA Times http://rlu.ru/MP1

And it gets wierder. Much wierder:

777 MAY HAVE BEEN STOLEN, SAY US SOURCES

Here's the skinny from US intel sources:

Citing U.S. national security sources, the Wall Street Journal reported
Thursday that government personnel were pursuing the possibility that
the plane was commandeered “with the intention of using it later for
another purpose.’’

The newspaper also said that data transmitted by an onboard monitoring
system to Rolls-Royce Plc., the engine manufacturer, suggested that the
plane flew for up to five hours in total after its takeoff from Kuala Lumpur
at 12:21 a.m. Saturday morning.

Malaysian officials at a press conference Thursday denied the story and
said the last engine data was transmitted at 1:07 a.m., about 20 minutes
before the aircraft disappeared from civilian radar screens.

"The last transmission of engine data was at 1:07 a.m. It did not go on
longer,’’ said Malaysia Airlines Chief Executive Ahmad Jauhari Yahya,
flatly denying the Wall Street Journal report.

Nevertheless, the Malaysians said they had expanded the search and
rescue operation into India and the surrounding waters, the Bay of Bengal,
Andaman Sea and Arabian Sea.

If in fact the Boeing 777 flew for five hours from Kuala Lumpur, it could
have traveled 2,200 nautical miles, as far as the India-Pakistan border....

LA Times http://rlu.ru/MP1

[kiwikeith]

All the conflicted reporting, isolated assumptions and the Malaysians' clueless press conferences it is hard to believe this is really happening in the age of top secret surveillance technology.

Intentionally or not, there seems some are trying to construct a misadventure narrative. We have had:
Iranians with stolen passports.
Pilots smoking and entertaining women in the cockpit.
Chinese satellite pictures released by accident.
Passenger using flight simulator.

Now White House spokesman Jay Carney saying:

"it's my understanding that based on some new information that's not necessarily conclusive — but new information — an additional search area may be opened in the Indian Ocean".

And then Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Pool, a Pentagon spokesman, saying:

the Defense Department has no reason to believe that the plane crashed in the Indian Ocean. He said US Navy assets participating in the search are being guided by the Malaysian government's investigation. He said he did not know what new information Carney was referring to.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/asia/98267 ... ane-search

Intrigue indeed
"Tom Clancy meets Amelia Earhart"

[Fintan]

Talk about the fog of war!

Well, China is publicly banking on the validity its satellite images,
and says that since Malaysia lacks satellites, authorities there can
hardly claim to be able to analyse such images. Ouch!

Seriously though, there's a good point in there.

Earlier today I reported:

Malaysian rescue planes early Thursday rushed to a location over the
Gulf of Thailand, roughly halfway between Kuala Lumpur and Ho Chi
Minh City, where a Chinese satellite detected three large floating objects.
However, no sign of the plane or the debris was discovered in the search.

LA Times http://rlu.ru/MP1

No sign of the plane, eh?

Well, factor this in:

I've just watched video of a BBC News reporter on board one of those
Malaysian search planes -out scanning the Strait of Malacca for debris.

Using their naked eyes. And binoculars.

In one day, covering 70 square miles. Out of a 27,000 square miles area!

Do I have to explain why China now has its own search planes and
vessels converging on a location some distance down-drift from the place
first identified in its own satellite images? I didn't think so.

Personally, the more the Washington Post, "US intel sources" and certain
Malaysian Air Force officers point us all in a direction thousands of miles
away from the initial point of disappearance -- the more I want to stick
to that very area.

Looks like China is thinking along the same lines.

[Fintan]

Let's step through some key information
which firmed up in the course of Friday:

According to two US officials who spoke to ABC News, the 777's data
reporting system was shut down at 1.07am, while the transponder –
which sends back information to civilian radar regarding performance,
location and altitude – was turned off at 1.21am.

Well, you can say "turned off" - but that's supposition.
All you can say with certainty is "ceased sending data".

So let's pick up the trail of the unidentified 2nd mystery jet:

If the unidentified aircraft picked up on the military radar is indeed
the missing jet, then data suggests the 777 veered westwards, heading
NE of Aceh towards a navigational waypoint used for carriers headed
towards the Middle East.

From there, plot indications show the plane zigzagged towards the Thai
island of Phuket and then, at 2.15am, continued on northwest route P628,
which would lead it towards the Andaman Islands and perhaps onward to
Europe.

If that jet was the 777, that sounds like intentional stealth.

Separately the Wall Street Journal reported that the missing jet had
transmitted its location repeatedly to satellites in the five hours after
its last contact with air traffic control before abruptly shutting off,
according to US military and industrial sources.

After the plane dropped off civilian radar screens, the satellite link
operated in a kind of standby mode for several hours and sought to
establish contact with a satellite or satellites. These transmissions didn't
include data about any of the plane's critical systems, but included detailed
information about the plane's location, speed and bearing.

If this is true, it's a game-changer/
The US has the new last known "ping" location of the 777.

US authorities have since decided to move their search operation towards
the Indian Ocean after an undisclosed suggestion that the plane may have
crashed there. "We have an indication the plane went down in the
Indian Ocean," a senior Pentagon official said.

Just a second. Were'nt we thinking "stealthy escape by hijackers" here?

Will the US officials make their mind up, please.
Can we decide if this plane was being hijacked.... for later use etc.
Or hijacked to be crashed?

Like, why fly a plane for 5 hours -only to then crash it into the Indian Ocean??!
There was plenty of Ocean off Vietnam. Could have crashed it there.

I dunno.
Back in the old days, it was "Fly me to Cuba, or else!"
Now it's like: "Fly this sucker... until we run out of gas!"?

It don't add up.

P.S.
I don't know if it's possible to inject humor
into this tragedy, but it's possibly therapeutic......

[Fintan]

Wow! - what a genius piece of reporting.
Hot. I haven't confirmed this yet.

Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370:
Could Jet's System Have Been Hacked?
By Mary-Ann Russon March 12, 2014 10:52 GMT

A document filed on the US Federal Register website indicates that aircraft
manufacturer Boeing applied to have additional security installed aboard
some of its 777 series of airplanes five months ago to prevent onboard
hacking of critical computer systems.

Boeing said that it was upgrading the 777-200, 777-300 and 777-300ER
series of passenger jet with a new onboard network system.

The concern was that the passenger inflight entertainment system
would be connected to critical systems for managing the safety and
maintenance of the aircraft.

Nah, they didn't have the passenger network and
the plane network -on the same network domain??!

Did they? :

Passenger entertainment systems come with seatback ethernet and USB
ports, which would in theory enable access to a hacker to the critical
computer systems.
OMG!

Boeing asked the Federal Aviation Administration to alter its licence to
allow it to add a "network extension device" to separate the various
systems from each other. That would prevent accidental or delibarate
tampering with the critical system.

"Regulations and current system safety assessment policy and techniques
do not address potential security vulnerabilities, which could be caused by
unauthorised access to aircraft data buses and servers," the document says.

The Federal Aviation Administration approved the licence change and told
Boeing that the new system design had to protect against "unauthorised
sources internal to the airplane" and "prevent inadvertent and malicious
changes to, and all adverse impacts upon, airplane equipment, systems,
networks, or other assets required for safe flight and operations"....

Let me put in a little cautionary caveat here. This Boeing revision request
seems to be a revision to the plans for a planned new upgraded system -
not a patch revision to the existing 777 fleet network architecture.

So we can't 100% infer this vulnerability is in the existing fleet.

BUT, since Boeing failed to catch this until late in the upgrade design
process, then the vulnerability IS almost certain to be in the 777's.

So you could write a 777 virus to take remote control of the whole show.

Then book yourself a comfy seat on a flight. And lock the pilots out of
the system - at the same moment that you cut off the outside world.

Sharp Changes in Altitude and Course After Jet Lost Contact
NYT | 3/14/2014 | MICHAEL FORSYTHE and MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT

SEPANG, Malaysia — Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 experienced significant
changes in altitude after it lost contact with ground control, and altered its
course more than once as if still under the command of a pilot, American
officials and others familiar with the investigation said Friday.

Radar signals recorded by the Malaysian military appear to show the
missing airliner climbing to 45,000 feet, above the approved altitude limit
for a Boeing 777-200, soon after it disappeared from civilian radar and
made a sharp turn to the west, according to a preliminary assessment by
a person familiar with the data....

Phew, took a few minutes to get the feel of the remote controls...
Now, let's see about uploading the autopilot a new destination.......

Hmmmmm... Interesting Senario.

[kiwikeith]

I doubt it would be that simple,
But all things are possible with remote control.

Coincidentially Freescale Semiconductor has confirmed that 20 of its employees were confirmed passengers on Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370.

I've been skimming over a Professional Pilots Rumour Forum that asks some good questions as well as providing some technical answers.

One comment was about the possibility of the plane been taken to Diego Garcia.

http://www.pprune.org/rumours-news/5355 ... t-150.html

http://online.wsj.com/article/PR-CO-201 ... 02237.html

[Bruce'ter]

More grist for the mill.

"HERE IS THE ANSWER: CHINESE ENGINEERES WERE KIDNAPPED SO SECRETS COULD BE EXTRACTED BEFORE THE U.S. KICKED OFF WORLD WAR 3. WE ARE LOOKING AT THE RUN UP TO WORLD WAR 3. EVERYONE KNOWS IT'S COMING, AND NOW WE KNOW THE PENTAGON FEARS CHINA MORE THAN RUSSIA."

From Jim Stone

http://www.jimstonefreelance.com/