News Contact lost with 777-200ER of Malaysia Airlines

[Castor]

Some experts continue to maintain that the pings detected were not from MH370:

Underwater scientists say 'pings' picked up by a US locater were not from the missing Malaysian Airlines craft as announced by Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott.Acoustic experts told The Courier Mail they were likely from a man-made source because they were too far apart and at the wrong frequency.

"As soon as I saw the frequency and the distance between the pings I knew it couldn't be the aircraft pinger," one of the scientists, who did not wish to be named, said.

The underwater drone Bleufin-21 will continue scouring the Indian Ocean next week near to where the pings were detected over a month ago.The experts said a failure so far to find any trace of the jetliner supports their claims.

They also said the 33.3 kilohertz frequency of the signal was very different to the 37.5 kilohertz generated by underwater acoustic beacons. The signals were also detected days apart.

Scientists said detailed analysis of the signals had not been undertaken when Mr Abbott made the announcement in China on April 11.The Australian Prime Minister said at the time: "We are confident that we know the position of the black box flight recorder to within some kilometres."The Joint Agency Coordination Centre said the signals were "believed to be" consistent with the Flight Data Recorder.Agency head Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston said the signals were still being looked at to ensure nothing had been missed.

An archaeologist earlier claimed the pings may have come from satellite tracking devices on marine animals.

 

[Urwumpe]

Some experts continue to maintain that the pings detected were not from MH370:

Scientists, who wish to be not named, when making a statement within their exact field of expertise, are VERY dubious to me - such opinions are then very likely not scientific and not done by people who have any solid scientific foundation in the topic.

That the frequency is much lower when received than what it was when emitted is a natural phenomena in water. It is why doppler sounding is much harder in water than by using radio waves.

That is why the pattern of the ping is also important.

Also, the same source can be picked up pretty far apart, depending on local conditions - it is also no mystery, we know such phenomena since ASDIC. Especially the many underwater cliffs in that region are pretty well suited for causing complex sound fields.

We will find the aircraft there. There is just a very big region which we need to examine.

 

[garyw]

Scientists, who wish to be not named, when making a statement within their exact field of expertise, are VERY dubious to me - such opinions are then very likely not scientific and not done by people who have any solid scientific foundation in the topic.

Absolutely right. Plus this was in the Daily Mirror, a "newspaper" known for finding people to claim to be experts in anything if it sells a juicy story.

 

[Urwumpe]

The government of Malaysia has released the satellite data as PDF. Anybody here interested in some verification?

http://www.dca.gov.my/mainpage/MH370 Data Communication Logs.pdf

 

[garyw]

The government of Malaysia has released the satellite data as PDF. Anybody here interested in some verification?

http://www.dca.gov.my/mainpage/MH370 Data Communication Logs.pdf

I had a look at that this morning and my first thought was "it's very sparse". I was expecting to see the angle that the satellite received the data since that was a huge point that Inmarsat were making but it's not in there.

 

[Urwumpe]

I had a look at that this morning and my first thought was "it's very sparse". I was expecting to see the angle that the satellite received the data since that was a huge point that Inmarsat were making but it's not in there.

Its actually there. Its in the round-trip time. If you start at a known location, you can calculate the change in distance to the satellite that way, but only as pseudo range with a huge error margin.

 

[ISProgram]

Well, look at that. The MH370 investigators have now ruled out the area they've been searching. I'm not entirely surprised.

 

[garyw]

Well, look at that. The MH370 investigators have now ruled out the area they've been searching. I'm not entirely surprised.

Press release from the Australians, looks like they want to keep investigating Southern Indian Ocean.

Media Release
29 May 2014—pm

Yesterday afternoon, Bluefin-21 completed its last mission searching the remaining areas in the vicinity of the acoustic signals detected in early April by the Towed Pinger Locator deployed from ADV Ocean Shield, within its depth operating limits.

The data collected on yesterday's mission has been analysed. As a result, the Joint Agency Coordination Centre can advise that no signs of aircraft debris have been found by the Autonomous Underwater Vehicle since it joined the search effort.

Since Bluefin-21 has been involved in the search, it has scoured over 850 square kilometres of the ocean floor looking for signs of the missing aircraft.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) has advised that the search in the vicinity of the acoustic detections can now be considered complete and in its professional judgement, the area can now be discounted as the final resting place of MH370.

Ocean Shield departed the search area last night and is expected to arrive at Fleet Base West on Saturday.

As advised by the Australian Deputy Prime Minister on 5 May 2014, the search for MH370 continues and now involves three major stages:

reviewing all existing information and analysis to define a search zone of up to 60,000 square kilometres along the arc in the southern Indian Ocean;
conducting a bathymetric survey to map the sea floor in the defined search area; and
acquiring the specialist services required for a comprehensive search of the sea floor in that area.
The expert satellite working group continues to review and refine complex analyses of radar and satellite data and aircraft performance data to determine where the aircraft most likely entered the water. The findings of the review will be made public in due course.

The Chinese survey ship Zhu Kezhen has already begun conducting the bathymetric survey—or mapping of the ocean floor—of the areas provided by the ATSB. Its operations are being supported by the Chinese ship Haixun 01 and Malaysian vessel Bunga Mas 6 which are assisting with transporting the survey data to Fremantle weekly for further processing by Geoscience Australia. A contracted survey vessel will join the Zhu Kezhen in June.

The bathymetric survey is expected to take about three months. Knowing the seafloor terrain is crucial to enabling the subsequent underwater search.

The underwater search will aim to locate the aircraft and any evidence (such as aircraft debris and flight recorders) to assist with the Malaysian investigation of the disappearance of MH370.

It is anticipated that this component of the search will begin in August and take up to 12 months.

The ATSB will shortly release a formal request for tender to source the capability to undertake the underwater search. A single prime contractor will be chosen to bring together and manage the expertise, equipment and vessels to carry out the search.

The request for tender will be done via AusTender, the Australian Government Tender System: www.tenders.gov.au

Source: http://www.jacc.gov.au/media/releases/2014/may/mr048.aspx

 

[movieman]

Press release from the Australians, looks like they want to keep investigating Southern Indian Ocean.

Yeah, looks like they're going to search around the entire southern arc given by the satellite calculations, starting in the most likely areas. Now the ULBs have died, that's probably the only way they're going to find it.

I thought the ULB detection was pretty suspicious, as it seemed far too close to the final arc when the aircraft was still flying. The arc itself has error bounds of a few kilometres, and the aircraft would probably fly a few more before it hit the sea.

 

[Castor]

Malaysia vows to track down MH370:

Malaysia vowed to hunt Flight MH370 missing with “renewed vigour”, even as two authors of a yet to be released book on the plane sensationally claimed that its disappearance was “deliberate” and “calculated”.

“It has been 100 days since MH370 went missing. More than 14 weeks have passed since the Malaysian Government first coordinated the search operations for the missing plane. This search effort is unprecedented in sheer scale and complexity involving 26 countries at its peak,” Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said.
“Indeed, as the search transitions to a more challenging phase, we reaffirm our commitment with renewed vigour to locate the missing MH370,” he said in a statement to mark the 100 days of the plane’s disappearance.

Mr. Hishamuddin hoped that Malaysia will be credited for doing its best under “near-impossible” circumstances and history will judge it favourably for that.

“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.

 

[Castor]

Captain Zaharie Shah is now the 'chief suspect' in the MH370 investigation:

Captain Zaharie Shah, 53, reportedly used his home simulator to practice take-off and landings in remote locations, including some airstrips in the southern Indian Ocean.Investigators have now managed to obtain the files - which had been deleted before they swept the machine.

After more than 170 interviews, detectives determined that Captain Shah was the most likely culprit if the plane - which went missing on March 8 with 239 people on board - was lost due to human intervention.

The father-of-three was found to have no social or work-related future plans, unlike the rest of the crew including his co-pilot. The newspaper has also stated that police were told of rumors that the captain was experiencing tensions at home with his partner and family members, however this was denied by friends and family who continue to defend him.

Varying testimonials from his family members alluding to the pilot displaying erratic behavior a few weeks before the missing flight, as well as rumors that he has been recently estranged from his wife and family, have been both revealed and later consistently denied.

 

[Evil_Onyx]

Captain Zaharie Shah, 53, reportedly used his home simulator to practice take-off and landings in remote locations, including some airstrips in the southern Indian Ocean.Investigators have now managed to obtain the files - which had been deleted before they swept the machine.

So who here has tried to land a 747 on a carrier and other silly things in FSX or X-plane.

After more than 170 interviews, detectives determined that Captain Shah was the most likely culprit if the plane - which went missing on March 8 with 239 people on board - was lost due to human intervention.

The father-of-three was found to have no social or work-related future plans, unlike the rest of the crew including his co-pilot. The newspaper has also stated that police were told of rumors that the captain was experiencing tensions at home with his partner and family members, however this was denied by friends and family who continue to defend him.

Varying testimonials from his family members alluding to the pilot displaying erratic behavior a few weeks before the missing flight, as well as rumors that he has been recently estranged from his wife and family, have been both revealed and later consistently denied.

Its interesting but I think the source you are quoting needs to make some more effort to get facts, which in the case of MH370 are few and far between.

 

[Urwumpe]

So who here has tried to land a 747 on a carrier and other silly things in FSX or X-plane.

*Raises hand*

 

[ADSWNJ]

*Raises hand*

Guilty too. Barrel rolling a 747, trying to fly an Airbus under London bridge, etc.

 

[astrosammy]

*raises hand*

*shows video evidence* (at 03:48)

 

[MaverickSawyer]

So who here has tried to land a 747 on a carrier and other silly things in FSX or X-plane.

More accurately, who hasn't tried to land planes in areas that they're not meant to go?

 

[Urwumpe]

More accurately, who hasn't tried to land planes in areas that they're not meant to go?

And what is a better place to try that, than inside a simulator, where you can't harm somebody.

 

[Quick_Nick]

But he had no social or work plans. Are you telling me that there are people who just fly simulations of unusual flights all day, have no social life, and don't know where they're headed in their career?? Oh wait...

 

[Fabri91]

So who here has tried to land a 747 on a carrier and other silly things in FSX or X-plane.

Well, I sure hope no-one tries to land an A-10 on the Admiral Kuznetsov which just happens to be lined up with a Nimitz-class carrier...

 

[garyw]

But he had no social or work plans. Are you telling me that there are people who just fly simulations of unusual flights all day, have no social life, and don't know where they're headed in their career?? Oh wait...

I think in this instance his lack of social commitments was more than you'd expect, for example, one piece of evidence that Gameel Al-Batouti didn't commit suicide was that he'd arranged to meet his son in Egypt and had bought two tyres in the US for his son.
It seems that in this case Zaharie Shah seems to have had no such plans on landing in Beijing and even beyond that has zero plans, social or otherwise. Add to this his strong political ties and it does start to raise some flags.

Of course, all of this is speculation and I don't think we'll ever know the truth. I still think that when they find the debris they'll find a perfectly valid set of FDR data up until fuel exhaustion and they'll find an utterly blank CVR.