UPDATE [6.32pm]: Salient points from press conference at 5.30pm:
- Last words from cockpit - ‘Alright, good night’ was said by the co-pilot.
- Last ACARS transmission at 1.07am. Next signal due 30 minutes later but did not happen. ACARS could have been switched off between this time.
- Plane was carrying three to four tonnes of mangosteen in cargo, no hazardous cargo.
- On a news report that plane flew at 5,000 feet to avoid radar, MAS says ‘it did not come from us’.
- Pilots flew as assigned by roster, no swap.
- Two Malaysian ships and a helicopter have been deployed.
- MAS now on ‘code tango’ - a heightened security code that looks at all possible security shortcomings.
- Defence and Acting Transport minister Hishammuddin Hussein denied that Malaysia was not working closely with the FBI, saying he has been working with them ‘since day one’.
- Why only two corridors? Calculations done based on minimum and maximum speed of plane. On the northern corridor plane could have reached laos at minimum speed or the edge of the caspian sea at maximum speed.
On the southern corridor, plane could have reached east of Sumatra at minimum speed and south of the Indian Ocean at maximum speed.
DCA chief: Six handshakes (pings) were received by geo satellite on top of Indian Ocean. Only information available is the time of the pings, but no coordinates.
- Last words from cockpit - ‘Alright, good night’ was said by the co-pilot.
- Last ACARS transmission at 1.07am. Next signal due 30 minutes later but did not happen. ACARS could have been switched off between this time.
- Plane was carrying three to four tonnes of mangosteen in cargo, no hazardous cargo.
- On a news report that plane flew at 5,000 feet to avoid radar, MAS says ‘it did not come from us’.
- Pilots flew as assigned by roster, no swap.
- Two Malaysian ships and a helicopter have been deployed.
- MAS now on ‘code tango’ - a heightened security code that looks at all possible security shortcomings.
- Defence and Acting Transport minister Hishammuddin Hussein denied that Malaysia was not working closely with the FBI, saying he has been working with them ‘since day one’.
- Why only two corridors? Calculations done based on minimum and maximum speed of plane. On the northern corridor plane could have reached laos at minimum speed or the edge of the caspian sea at maximum speed.
On the southern corridor, plane could have reached east of Sumatra at minimum speed and south of the Indian Ocean at maximum speed.
DCA chief: Six handshakes (pings) were received by geo satellite on top of Indian Ocean. Only information available is the time of the pings, but no coordinates.
UPDATE [2.44pm]: Highlights from a press statement by the Transport Ministry this afternoon:
- The Royal Malaysian Navy and the Royal Malaysian Air Force have deployed their assets to the southern corridor (Indonesia to southern Indian ocean).
- The Foreign Affairs Ministry has sent diplomatic notes to all countries along the northern and southern corridors requesting for: 1) Radar and satellite information
2) Land, sea and aerial search operations
3) Search and rescue action plans for relevant countries
4) Details of any information required from Malaysia
- Police are investigating crew and passengers of MH370 as well as all ground staff handling the aircraft; cops have re-assembled simulator taken from pilot's home.
- French investigators have arrived to share their knowledge from the search for Air France flight 447, which crashed in 2009.
- Countries involved in search and rescue are: Malaysia, Australia, Bangladesh, Brunei, China, France, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Myanmar, New Zealand, Pakistan, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, Turkmenistan, UAE, UK, US, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam.
- The Royal Malaysian Navy and the Royal Malaysian Air Force have deployed their assets to the southern corridor (Indonesia to southern Indian ocean).
- The Foreign Affairs Ministry has sent diplomatic notes to all countries along the northern and southern corridors requesting for: 1) Radar and satellite information
2) Land, sea and aerial search operations
3) Search and rescue action plans for relevant countries
4) Details of any information required from Malaysia
- Police are investigating crew and passengers of MH370 as well as all ground staff handling the aircraft; cops have re-assembled simulator taken from pilot's home.
- French investigators have arrived to share their knowledge from the search for Air France flight 447, which crashed in 2009.
- Countries involved in search and rescue are: Malaysia, Australia, Bangladesh, Brunei, China, France, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Myanmar, New Zealand, Pakistan, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, Turkmenistan, UAE, UK, US, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam.
Read the full statement here.
UPDATE [1.57pm]: Police are investigating a flight engineer who was among the passengers on the missing MH370 plane, as they focus on the pilots and anyone else on board who had technical flying knowledge. Full story.
UPDATE [12.50pm]: The last words from the cockpit of missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 - "all right, good night" - were uttered after someone on board had already begun disabling one of the plane's automatic tracking systems, a senior Malaysian official said. Read it here.
UPDATE [10.49am]: The New Straits Times reported that the Boeing 777-200ER dropped 5,000 feet (1,500m) to evade commercial radar detection. Full report.
UPDATE [1.57pm]: Police are investigating a flight engineer who was among the passengers on the missing MH370 plane, as they focus on the pilots and anyone else on board who had technical flying knowledge. Full story.
UPDATE [12.50pm]: The last words from the cockpit of missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 - "all right, good night" - were uttered after someone on board had already begun disabling one of the plane's automatic tracking systems, a senior Malaysian official said. Read it here.
UPDATE [10.49am]: The New Straits Times reported that the Boeing 777-200ER dropped 5,000 feet (1,500m) to evade commercial radar detection. Full report.
Source: Yahoo News
0 comments:
Post a Comment