Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak has finally conceded, and not just to get the families of the Chinese victims in particular out of Malaysia, that Flight MH 370 ended up at the bottom of the southern Indian Ocean. The question is why did it take so long to confirm, beyond all reasonable doubt, the most likely location of the aircraft? The authorities knew from Day One, based on RMAF primary radar, that the aircraft made a turn back from the no mans land intersection between Malaysian and Vietnamese air space which it reached after deviating slightly to the right from the flight path. The RMAF Chief was even reported saying on TV on Day One that his men tracked the aircraft to over Pulau Perak, basically a rocky outcrop, in the Straits of Malacca before losing it in the direction of the Andaman Islands in India. The aircraft reportedly climbed at one point over Malaya, during the turn back, to some 45, 000 feet, then somewhere between 26, 000 and the 35, 000 feet cruising height and even as low as 10, 000 and 5,000 feet on the way to Andaman. The turn back and return flight had reportedly been programmed by the on board computer about 12 minutes before the co-pilot made the last communication with Airport Control Tower in Malaysia, “all right, good night.” The two transponders were shut off after that call. pathtroddennot.blogspot/2014/03/latest-photo-taken-inside-mh370.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ThePathLessTrodden+%28The+Path+Less+Trodden%29 claims to show the interior of MH 370 during its Mar 8 flight to Beijing. Despite the confirmed turn back, Malaysia sent the ships and aircraft of so many nations on a wild goose chase in the South China Sea for MH 370. Vietnam became annoyed and briefly suspended the search and rescue mission and China was perplexed by how Malaysia was leading the mission. They saw a lack of leadership, poor management skills and total incompetence. Many of those at Press Conferences could hardly speak English. There was only one non-Malay present. It was as if the non-Malays don’t form 49.6 per cent of the 30 million population. Then we heard Malaysia’s theory that the plane had either flown along a northern arc all the way to Kazakhstan of all places or along a southern arc to the southern Indian Ocean. India quickly pooh poohed the northern corridor theory and stressed that there was no downed aircraft in the Andaman Sea or the Bay of Bengal and that no way would the aircraft have crossed India on the way to Kazakhstan whatever. China wanted to search in the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal and India said NO. “Don’t come poking here under the pretext of looking for the plane,” India politely rebuffed China. By this time Malaysia had no choice but to reluctantly and grudgingly concede that assets had to be shifted to the southern Indian Ocean. It seemed almost as if the Government did not want to find the plane. We know for a fact, despite not recovering any debris, where the plane lies. The question is what happened. Investigators have cleared all those on board except those in the cockpit. The FBI wants to interview the wife of the Pilot. Even so, were all the 12 crew members on board supposed to be on the flight? Cabin crew have a habit of switching rosters. If any Malaysia Airlines staff had any premonitions, it helps! Mechanical and technical problems could be ruled out since the plane managed to keep flying for several hours until it ran out of fuel and then continued gliding, as it was made to do, for the last 100 km before going to a watery grave. There are many 777 in service throughout the world and if MH 370 had problems, the same problems could be detected in these other planes. In any case, Boeing should check the entire fleet of 777 throughout the world. It may help with MH 370. Maintenance was not an issue with the aircraft. Pilot suicide could be ruled out. If the Pilot or the co-pilot wanted to commit suicide, it would have happened in the South China Sea. A 911-style attack on China could be ruled out. If such an attack had been planned; the plane would not have deviated from its flight path but would have continued to Beijing. A 911-style attack in Malaya could be ruled out. If such an attack had been planned, the aircraft would have waited until its return journey from Beijing, MH 371. An aborted 911-style attack on India cannot be ruled out. India has nuclear installations in the south and a space research station in Kerala. However, if India had shot down MH 370 for invading its air space, it would not have made it to the southern Indian Ocean. The ghost plane theory has been proposed i.e. everyone on board died during an emergency on board – electrical malfunction, fire, decompression – which necessitated the turn back. In that case, why no distress signals from the aircraft and no attempts were made to land the plane? Langkawi can take the Boeing 777. The fact that the plane made it from the turn back point to over the Andaman Sea, going up and down to different altitudes, rules out the ghost plane theory. Why the plane decided to turn from Andaman, as it must have done, to the southern Indian Ocean remains a mystery. Did it fly this stretch as a ghost plane and that’s why it didn’t try to land in Perth? Why didn’t the plane land in Andaman, Maldives or Diego Garcia? Did it discover some sort of dangerous cargo on board which it was trying to dump somewhere safe? The Cargo Manifest should show. Why make it to Andaman after the turn back? Why didn’t the RMAF intercept the aircraft, if it didn’t, during the turn back? What did Airport Control Tower do about the aircraft deviating from its flight path up to the turn back point? Did the Tower capture the turn back? Why didn’t Vietnam alert Malaysia when the aircraft did not enter its air space as expected? Whatever happened, the fingers will be pointed at those in the cockpit. Investigators have not cleared them. The pilot erased all his files from a simulator at home. What’s the story here? The bottomline is that families of the Chinese victims on board lost their only child. China has a one child policy which was only dropped recently. For these people left mourning their loss, those on board were their only family. Thirteen other nationalities lost their loved ones too on board MH 370. There can be no closure on MH 370 until those in the cockpit are cleared by investigators and we know for certain what happened in the cockpit. Perhaps families of the victims met the latter in their dreams. This may be an attempt to tell what happened. The possibility of recovering MH 370 from the bottom of the southern Indian Ocean may be mission impossible. The Government of Malaysia probably knows more than what it’s telling. This tragedy will haunt us for a very long time to come.
Posted on: Mon, 24 Mar 2014 21:06:57 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015