The search for Mh370 MAY end. If the Black Box is found it is in everyone's interest the custodian is someone we can trust, someone competent, someone who can communicate well, someone who is neutral and not a stakeholder. Recovery, data extraction and analysis should be above board and should not be compromised by having the clueless in the same room.
Hope the Boxes will be recovered.
Jubilation fades away with pinger signals in search for MH370
April 09, 2014
Three days after the announcement of what was hailed as the "most promising lead" in the month-long search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, a US Navy commander indicated that such optimism was temporary.
"As hours pass, our optimism is fading away, ever so slightly," CNN quoted Commander William Marks of the US 7th Fleet as saying.
On Monday, Angus Houston, who heads the Joint Agency Coordination Centre which oversees the massive search operation in Perth, hinted at a possible breakthrough following two instances of pinger signals detected by Australian navy vessel Ocean Shield, one of which lasted two hours 20 minutes.
This followed two earlier detections by Chinese vessel, Haixun 01.
"Clearly this is the most promising lead, and probably in the search so far, it is probably the best information that we have had," Angus had said.
But the signals have since either stopped or could not be detected, prompting fears that the batteries to power the black box's locator beacons could have run out.
The aircraft's black box has a battery life of about 30 days, and it has been 33 days since the disappearance of flight MH370 on March 8, en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur.
However, CNN quoted Retired Lt Col Michael Kay of the Australian Air Force as saying that the batteries could operate up to 40 days.
Search is now narrowed to a 29,000-square-mile zone some 1,400 miles northwest of Perth, as compared to the nearly 3 million miles of sea and land search for the plane in the early days.
New Zealand air force personnel Kevin McEvoy told CNN that the main focus of the search now centred around the site where Ocean Shield detected the signals on Saturday.
CNN also reported that air and seaborne traffic was being limited in an attempt by searchers not to roil the waters any further, so that the signals could be detected clearly.
The ever elusive debris of the plane, despite the "promising lead", has led CNN aviation analyst Miles O'Brien to doubt if the signals heard were indeed that of MH370's flight recorders.
"It's either the most extraordinary event, or those pings weren't real," O'Brien said. "It's somewhat befuddling." – April 9, 2014.
Beliau sangat profesional dan agak mengejutkan bagaimana beliau dapat bertahan sehingga ke hari ini biarpun menanggung beban yang berat untuk negara. Sehingga kini, setiap kali persidangan mengenai MH370 beliau akan menemani Hishammuddin untuk berdepan dengan media. Ahmad Jauhari merupakan CEO MAS, Dia begitu profesional, sangat tenang dan konsisten sepanjang masa. Sama-sama kita menyokong beliau dalam mengharungi cabaran sebesar ini.
I believe we are searching in the right area, but we need to visually identify aircraft wreckage before we can confirm with certainty that this is the final resting place of MH370 - Marshal Angus Houston (MH370 Search Coordinator)
Late last week Ocean Shield detected two signals consistent with transmissions from a flight data recorder and a cockpit voice recorder. The first signal continued for two hours, while the second was just 13 minutes.
Based on Perth time, the first was found on Saturday, April 5 at 4.45pm, the second was heard on Saturday, April 5 at 9.27pm, the third was detected on Tuesday, April 8 at 4.27pm and the fourth was heard on Tuesday, April 8 at 10.17pm.
Three days after the announcement of what was hailed as the "most promising lead" in the month-long search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, a US Navy commander indicated that such optimism was temporary.
"As hours pass, our optimism is fading away, ever so slightly," CNN quoted Commander William Marks of the US 7th Fleet as saying.Color
MH370 search chief hopeful of finding wreckage within ‘days’
April 9, 2014UPDATED: April 09, 2014 12:05 pm
Angus Houston (left), a retired air chief marshal and head of the Australian agency coordinating the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, remains hopeful that Flight MH370 wreckage would be found.
PERTH, April 9 — The Australian heading the search for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 said today he hoped wreckage from the plane would now be found within days.
“Hopefully with lots of transmissions we'll have a tight, small area and hopefully in a matter of days we'll be able to find something on the bottom that might confirm that this is the last resting place of MH370,” Angus Houston told reporters.
So far four transmissions have been detected by the Australian ship Ocean Shield, which is using US Navy equipment to try to pick up signals emitted by the plane's black box recorders.
“I believe we are searching in the right area,” Houston said, after revealing that expert analysis of the first two signals indicated they were consistent which those from flight data recorders.
He said once the work searching for the sounds in the water was completed, and there was no hope of hearing any more, an autonomous underwater vehicle would be sent down to have a look.
“I'm not going to confirm anything until someone lays eyes on the wreckage,” he said.
“We need to make hay while the sun shines. We need all the data we can,” he said, in reference to the weakening black box battery. — AFP
Thick silt could keep MH370 hidden in Indian Ocean, say Aussie officials
BY JOSEPH SIPALANApril 9, 2014UPDATED: April 09, 2014 01:24 pm
KUALA LUMPUR, April 9 — Thick siltation at the bottom of the Indian Ocean could keep the wreckage of flight MH370 well out of sight, Australian officials said today, as efforts intensify to narrow down the search area prior to deployment of a deep sea submersible to find the missing plane.
Retired Air Marshal Angus Houston, who helms the Joint Agency Coordination Centre (JACC) in charge of the search, said experts believe the siltation could be “tens of metres thick”, adding to the difficulty of the search that could reach over 4 kilometres deep.
“The silt will complicate that search... it is a very difficult environment. The more effort we put in location, the more certainty we will have to find something at the bottom,” he told a press conference broadcast live out of Perth, Australia by CNN.
Australian Navy commodore Peter Leavy explained that few details are known of the actual topography of the ocean floor in the current search area.
If true that there is significant siltation at the bottom of the search area, visual search efforts could be greatly impaired as the wreckage or any debris could easily end up sinking into the muck, he said.
The Australian navy chief added that siltation could diffuse any signal transmitted by a black box, making it weaker and more difficult to detect compared to a rockbed ocean floor which would reflect the transmission.
Leavy, however, noted that evidence of siltation at the floor of the southern Indian Ocean was based on research carried out at a location some 180 kilometres off the current search area.
“It has been said that we know more about the surface of the moon than we do about the bottom of the ocean, and in this case that rings true,” he said.
Houston said the siltation only emphasises the need for the Ocean Shield, from which a towed ping locater is deployed, to continue to scour the area where four transmissions believed to be from the black box were received from deep in the southern Indian Ocean.
Updated: Wed, 09 Apr 2014 00:54:28 GMT | By The Malaysian Insider : Malaysia
I just want to know the truth of what happened to MH370, says Hishammuddin
Malaysia is not giving up the search for flight MH370 and will address long-term legal issues involving the missing aircraft and its passengers, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein (pic) said yesterday, although it has been more than a month since the aircraft disappeared.
The acting transport minister said in a media interview published by The Straits Times that it did not matter whether the black box, if found, should be analysed and investigated by Malaysia or Australia.
"Personally, I just want to find out the truth. I want to know what happened to MH370. Doesn't matter how or who or where… but at the end of the day, the world is not so simple and (there are) so many different countries involved," Hishammuddin told reporters.
He said that the Attorney General was already studying issues related to claims by families of the passengers onboard, autopsies and jurisdiction over the black box.
Hishammuddin added that money is the least of his concerns, despite the search being billed as one of the most expensive searches in aviation history with the involvement of manpower and assets from 26 countries.
"Cost-wise, I don't see that as something that has been a hindrance until this moment," he was quoted as saying in the report.
I jugak sangat respect DS Hisaham, Jauhari MAS, Dato Azharuddin DCA tu , walaupun tu mmg dah tugas tapi mereka buat dgn sepenuh hati .... , siap dato dca pada awalnya dgn serabainya
Secrecy below the surface – Western intelligence and the MH370 ‘ping’
The search for MH370 is entering overdrive. Following apparent "ping" detections by a Chinese vessel on Friday and Saturday – no trace of which could be found at the time of writing – the Royal Navy has sent a research vessel, HMS Echo, into the narrowing search area.
But Echo is not the only Royal Navy asset in the area. Last Monday, HMS Tireless, a Trafalgar-class British attack submarine, arrived in the southern Indian Ocean. Her mission – find MH370’s Black Box.
She’s out there right now. Lurking below the waves. Few people, however, have realised why this is so significant.
Tireless isn’t just any submarine. Instead, albeit an older boat, Tireless possesses some extraordinary sensor platforms – perhaps even the 2076 sonar system (which is being introduced to the Trafalgar class complement). This explains why the UK has been so quiet about the deployment – they don’t want to attract other listening ears into the area.
And that’s because 2076 isn’t just any sonar. In fact, it’s one of the UK's most advanced and classified programmes. Complementing integrated active-passive detection capabilities, 2076 provides highly developed imagery processors – offering sonar technicians the ability to "see" what they hear. Of course, the key question is whether or not Tireless has already been fitted with 2076. And here, as so often when talking about MH370, we can only estimate probabilities.
Still, the available information is compelling. For a start, we know that Tireless was homeported in February 2013 and on exercise in UK waters during June, July and September 2013. Again, it’s presumption, but it’s plausible that Tireless was fitted with 2076 and running sea trials during this period.
More specific to the latest news, it’s noteworthy that Tireless arrived on station about two weeks following the Australian Prime Minister’s release of satellite imagery of suspected wreckage. After all, those images were far inferior to the product of US spy satellites. And let’s be clear, under the "five eyes" agreements, it’s almost certain that the US would have provided better imagery to the Australians before their announcement. In turn, this strongly implies that the Australians were confident their finding was significant – they knew more than they let on.
And then there’s the specific strategic importance of HMS Echo’s arrival at the signal site. In the deep waters of the southern Indian Ocean, detection is no easy game – along with exceptional equipment, it also requires exceptional human skill. As a corollary, Echo’s arrival would allow for a classified surface to sub-surface interaction dynamic. The Royal Navy isn’t exactly keen to share its sonar capabilities with China.
Regardless, a month after MH370 went missing, this is no longer just about finding a plane. In equal measure, it’s about minimising exposure to present and potential future adversaries. In short, the UK is looking for MH370. They just don't want us to know how.
PS: If MH370 was deliberately diverted around Indonesian airspace (see below), it makes the concern of terrorism far greater. It will certainly raise concerns on the part of Australian intelligence over a potential 9/11 style attack.
Post time 9-4-2014 01:53 PM
. Terutama waktu bersendirian
