UPDATE [6:14pm]: Acting Transport Minister Hishamuddin Hussein and other officials just concluded a press conference with the media. It was an intense affair, with the media far more aggressive than they had been before.
Here are some highlights from what transpired:
Q: Will search and rescue ops now move to search and recovery ops?
A: Search and rescue will continue. We still have hope.
Q: There is a lack of transparency and communication. What is Malaysia hiding?
A: What we are going through is unprecedented, not easy coordinating with so many countries, so many vessels (and such a) vast area. We will never give up hope, we owe this to the families.
Q: Did the aircraft turn back?
A: There is a 'possible' turnback. Why 'possible'? Because we are trying to corroborate with all radars, including civil radars. We have been very consistent in what we have been saying in the last few days. The target disappeared at 1:30 in the morning. Primary radar didn’t pick it up at that point in time. Defence primary radar was analyzed same day. Indication of possibility of air turn back. That’s why search was conducted in Straits of Malacca.
The last plot was at 02:15, 200miles northwest of penang. But doesn’t give identification of aircraft. Full story here.
Q: You don’t seem to know what's going on. This is utter confusion.
A: I don’t think so. It’s only confusion if you want to see it as confusion.
Q: What about Boeing 777 warnings about fuselage? Are you confident about structural integrity?
A: The aircraft is airworthy.
Q: This specific plane?
A: Have to check. But this (that all aircraft be airworthy) is a policy.
Q: What about the conflicting information on the five passengers?
A: The five passengers were on board. No baggage offloaded. Those that booked that didn’t arrive were replaced from reserve (standby) list. Four didn’t turn up. Standby passengers replaced four that didn’t turn up.
On the search of unidentified aircraft, here's what they had to say:
A: The military sat down to think of areas to expand the search. We were baffled that there were no distress signals. So we decided that we should review if our air defense radar tracked this aircraft. When we looked at teh recordings, we looked at if there was a possibility the aircraft turned back. We're not sure if same aircraft, but it's in same area. We didn't track it in real time. we saw recording of data.
Q: How long with search and rescue last?
A: We won’t stop operations until we find the aircraft.
Q: Why didn't fighter jets intercept the UFO?
A: To radar operators, it is a trail of a civilian aircraft going north and not classified as hostile.
Q: What about allegations that co-pilot allowed passengers into cockpit in previous flight?
A: It is against company policy. We are against any acts which will compromise the safety of the aircraft.
UPDATE [5.30pm]: A Malaysian minister blamed the media for a series of conflicting statements attributed to government officials. Read.
A: Search and rescue will continue. We still have hope.
Q: There is a lack of transparency and communication. What is Malaysia hiding?
A: What we are going through is unprecedented, not easy coordinating with so many countries, so many vessels (and such a) vast area. We will never give up hope, we owe this to the families.
Q: Did the aircraft turn back?
A: There is a 'possible' turnback. Why 'possible'? Because we are trying to corroborate with all radars, including civil radars. We have been very consistent in what we have been saying in the last few days. The target disappeared at 1:30 in the morning. Primary radar didn’t pick it up at that point in time. Defence primary radar was analyzed same day. Indication of possibility of air turn back. That’s why search was conducted in Straits of Malacca.
The last plot was at 02:15, 200miles northwest of penang. But doesn’t give identification of aircraft. Full story here.
Q: You don’t seem to know what's going on. This is utter confusion.
A: I don’t think so. It’s only confusion if you want to see it as confusion.
Q: What about Boeing 777 warnings about fuselage? Are you confident about structural integrity?
A: The aircraft is airworthy.
Q: This specific plane?
A: Have to check. But this (that all aircraft be airworthy) is a policy.
Q: What about the conflicting information on the five passengers?
A: The five passengers were on board. No baggage offloaded. Those that booked that didn’t arrive were replaced from reserve (standby) list. Four didn’t turn up. Standby passengers replaced four that didn’t turn up.
On the search of unidentified aircraft, here's what they had to say:
A: The military sat down to think of areas to expand the search. We were baffled that there were no distress signals. So we decided that we should review if our air defense radar tracked this aircraft. When we looked at teh recordings, we looked at if there was a possibility the aircraft turned back. We're not sure if same aircraft, but it's in same area. We didn't track it in real time. we saw recording of data.
Q: How long with search and rescue last?
A: We won’t stop operations until we find the aircraft.
Q: Why didn't fighter jets intercept the UFO?
A: To radar operators, it is a trail of a civilian aircraft going north and not classified as hostile.
Q: What about allegations that co-pilot allowed passengers into cockpit in previous flight?
A: It is against company policy. We are against any acts which will compromise the safety of the aircraft.
UPDATE [5.30pm]: A Malaysian minister blamed the media for a series of conflicting statements attributed to government officials. Read.
UPDATE [3.25pm]: Bloomberg reported that MAS had opted out of a Boeing's Airplane Health Management programme which would have allowed Boeing to mine data and help airlines detect mechanical faults early. Read it here.
UPDATE [2.39pm]: A senior Malaysia Airlines' executive said that the airline has "no reason to believe" that any actions by the crew caused the disappearance of a jetliner. Read it.
UPDATE [12.50pm]: Frustrated researchers have pointed out that China missed a golden opportunity to exploit the capability of its satellites in the search for flight MH370. Full story.
UPDATE [11.21am]: The search for MH370 has been expanded into the Andaman Sea, hundreds of kilometres to the northwest of the original search radius. Read it here.
UPDATE [10.20am]: Vietnam is scaling back the search for MH370 in Vietnam waters. Its deputy transport minister said they have plans to search with a few flights today but have suspended other activities. Read it here.
UPDATE [9.45am]: Malaysia's air force chief has denied saying military radar had tracked the lost passenger jet turning back and flying to the Straits of Malacca. The statement had been reported by a local Malay-language daily. Read it.
Meanwhile, the Indian navy has joined in the search and rescue operations, activating the navy satellite Rukmini or GSAT-7 to pick up any clue that may lead to the missing aircraft. Read it here.
UPDATE [7.18am]: The missing Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200ER sent at least two bursts of technical data back to the airline before it disappeared, according to the New Scientist magazine. However, MAS has not revealed if it has learnt anything from the data. Full story here.
Malaysians have slowly grown angry over discrepancies about passengers, offloaded baggage and concealed information about its last known position. Full story here.
UPDATE [4.59am]: DigitalGlobe, the company that invited the public to help locate MH370 as a crowdsourcing initiative, has seen unprecedented traffic, which overloaded its servers. They sent out a tweet asking volunteers to return later as they have new imagery collections to be searched. Full story here.
UPDATE [1:42am]: The two mystery passengers which boarded the MH370 on stolen passports are most likely migrants looking for a new home, rather than terrorists with an agenda. Full story here.
Malaysia Airlines said it was shocked by allegations aired in an Australian news programme regarding the questionable behaviour of the co-pilot on its missing passenger jet. They are unable to verify the validity of the claims, and do not want to divert their attention away from search and rescue operations. Full story here.
Source: yahoo News
0 comments:
Post a Comment