Poor coordination led to 3 wasted days in search for MH370, says Wall Street Journal

April 01, 2014

For three days, the search for flight MH370 concentrated on an area 2,500km from Perth but it shifted 1,100km when it was discovered the plane had been flying a shorter distance after burning more fuel than expected. Reuters pic, April 1, 2014.For three days, personnel involved in the search for missing flight MH370 went to an area hundreds of kilometres from where the plane might have crashed in the Indian Ocean, resulting in delays and scrambling to search in a new area.

The Wall Street Journal reported today pinned the fruitless search on lapses in coordination between the countries and companies involved in the search and rescue efforts.

On March 28, acting Transport Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said MH370 was believed to have flown a shorter distance after burning more fuel than expected.

Following the announcement, the search area shifted abruptly about 1,100km from the earlier site in the southern Indian Ocean, following a refined data analysis.

The WSJ reported that the authorities merged two investigative leads from an international team of experts which had been working separately.

The experts had been trying to estimate where naval forces should be looking for wreckage in the southern Indian Ocean.

"One team's calculations of MH370's likely speed and rate of fuel consumption was based on radar data and aircraft-performance modeling," the business paper reported.

"Another team worked separately for several days using satellite data to calculate MH370's like trajectory," people familiar with the matter told WSJ.

It reported the startling lack of coordination raises questions about the flow of information among the many parties involved in the multinational operation.

On March 24, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak announced that Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 was believed to have ended its journey in the middle of the Indian Ocean.

Najib said this was based on data provided by British satellite company Inmarsat and the UK's Air Accidents Investigations Branch.

Authorities then focused all their search efforts on the southern part of the Indian Ocean, stopping searches in the northern corridor.

However, after three days of fruitless searching, the focus of the hunt in the Indian Ocean has been shifted closer to the coast of Australia.

WSJ reported that people familiar with the Malaysian-led probe said it was an evolving process.

"Investigators have shared all the relevant information with Malaysia's international partners," WSJ was informed.

However, Malaysian officials did not feel it was their call to ensure that foreign experts were sharing refined data among themselves.

Former US ambassador to Malaysia James Keith told WSJ that Malaysia did not have the necessary structure for an inter-agency coordination.

"The MH370 crisis has exposed Malaysia's lack of preparation to deal with such a disaster," said Keith, who served as the US ambassador to Malaysia from 2007 to 2010.

WSJ reported that some of the parties involved in the latest analysis were the US National Transport Safety Board and Boeing April 1, 2014.

Timeline of Malaysian Air’s Missing Flight 370

By J. Kyle O’Donnell Mar 28, 2014 2:25 PM GMT+0800
Bloomberg

The disappearance of Malaysian Airline System Bhd. (MAS)’s Flight 370 has galvanized a multinational search, spawned theories ranging from an accident to air piracy and repeatedly dashed hopes that a resolution was at hand.

Below is a timeline of the events that began with the jet’s departure from Kuala Lumpur en route to Beijing:

March 8:

12:41 a.m.: Flight 370 takes off from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 passengers and crew members on board.

1:07 a.m.: Last transmission from the Boeing Co. 777-200ER via an onboard text-and-data messaging system known by the acronym Acars.

1:19 a.m.: Last communication from the cockpit. Initial investigation says copilot said, “alright, good night” as the last words. Plane leaves Malaysian airspace, heading across the Gulf of Thailand toward Vietnam.

1:21 a.m.: Radar transponder is switched off.

1:37 a.m.: Next Acars transmission is due, and never comes.

2:15 a.m.: Malaysian military radar spots an aircraft on the west side of Peninsular Malaysia that isn’t using 

 its transponder. This development won’t be publicly known until about a week later. The radar target is Flight 370, heading away from its planned route.

6:30 a.m.: Flight 370 is scheduled to arrive in Beijing.

7:39 a.m.: China’s Xinhua news agency sends a flash bulletin saying contact had been lost with Flight 370. Chinese passengers make up about two-thirds of the people on board the plane.

8:11 a.m.: Last satellite signal sent from the plane, known as a “handshake,” is detected. This development won’t be known for about a week.

8:19 a.m.: Evidence of a “partial handshake” between the aircraft and the ground station eight minutes after the last complete communication. This information was released March 25.

9:15 a.m.: No response from the aircraft when the ground station sent the next message, indicating the plane was no longer logged on to the network.

Initial search efforts focus on the Gulf of Thailand, where twin oil slicks stir concern that they signal a crash on the plane’s known route. The discovery that two passengers were traveling on stolen passports triggers speculation that terrorism may have been involved.

March 9: Vietnamese searchers find objects in the Gulf of Thailand only to conclude later that they’re unrelated to Flight 370. Representatives for the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, Federal Aviation Administration and Boeing travel to Malaysia to assist with the investigation. Speculation arises that the plane deviated from its route.

March 10: Malaysia expands the search area farther into the South China Sea after a plane alerted Hong Kong air traffic controllers about possible debris. Vietnam searchers look for a suspected window piece that was spotted from the air. The leads prove fruitless. Searchers are unable to locate a yellow inflatable object that a Vietnamese helicopter spotted earlier.

March 11: The search expands east again as suspected debris is found off the coast of Vietnam. One theory evaporates as authorities in Malaysia and Interpol say the passengers with stolen passports probably aren’t associated with terrorism.

March 12: Malaysia says a criminal probe is looking into hijacking and sabotage among other theories. Vietnam says Malaysia hasn’t been cooperative in search and that the flight may have turned west after last signal. News reports surface that the co-pilot had guests in the cockpit in a previous flight.

March 13: Speculation of the crash’s location moves toward the Indian Ocean as evidence mounts that the flight continued away from its route after controllers lost radar contact. The shift in focus follows a brief flurry of optimism for a breakthrough. Chinese satellite images show floating objects between the South China Sea and the Gulf of Thailand, and the Malaysian government says later that they are unrelated to Flight 370.

March 14: The Andaman Sea becomes the latest empty lead in the search. Malaysia looks at the possibility of pilot and crew involvement, while Prime Minister Najib Razak postpones a trip to Qatar and the United Arab Emirates to oversee the hunt.

March 15: Satellite transmissions trace the missing airliner to the Indian Ocean off of Australia. The pilots’ homes are searched, and Najib says new information shows the flight was intentionally diverted.

March 16: Searchers shift their sights to the Indian Ocean on the basis of the satellite-signals evidence, which shows that the plane operated for about seven hours after its last contact with air traffic control.

March 17: Australia leads the search in the Indian Ocean while the law enforcement probe spreads across multiple fronts. Authorities discuss pilot suicide as one possibility, police investigate a flight engineer who was a passenger.

March 18: The disappearance becomes the longest in modern aviation history. The U.S. joins Australia in the Indian Ocean search, scanning the waters across an area 1 1/2 times as big as California.

March 19: The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation joins Malaysia’s inquiry, which now includes a probe of data removed from the pilot’s home flight simulator on Feb. 3. An analysis of the 777’s probable fuel reserves helps narrow the Indian Ocean search area to a patrol zone about the size of Italy, half as big as a day earlier.

March 20: Satellite images of objects off Australia’s west coast spur an air-and-sea search across a remote stretch of the Indian Ocean. The photos were taken on March 16, and patrol craft aren’t able to locate any wreckage.

March 21: A second day of air searches turns up nothing. An analysis of so-called pings from the aircraft by satellite provider Inmarsat Plc (ISAT) concludes that the plane maintained a steady course and speed after radar contact was lost. The assessment is consistent with details suggesting that the plane was commanded, at least initially, from the cockpit and not disabled by an accident.

March 22: As the mystery reaches the two-week mark and a day of air and sea patrols produces nothing more promising than a sighting of a wooden pallet, China announces that scrutiny of satellite scans has revealed a new image of a large structure in the search zone. The photo, captured on March 18, appears to show an object measuring 22 meters by 13 meters floating 120 kilometers to the southwest of those in the March 16 images.

March 23: Malaysian authorities disclose that a French satellite has found radar traces of possible debris, without saying when and where the images were captured. Search efforts off Australia fail to produce a breakthrough as more aircraft join the hunt and ships with specialist equipment begin to arrive.

March 24: Najib, the prime minister, says Malaysia has concluded the flight ended in the Indian Ocean “far from any possible landing sites,” ruling out theories of a detour over Asia or an island landing.

March 25: Families and friends of Chinese passengers protested in front of the Malaysian embassy in Beijing. Malaysian Air and Boeing’s records of MH370’s maintenance and crew are sought by a law firm representing the uncle of one of the passengers as Chicago-based Ribbeck Law Chartered petitioned for information in Illinois state court.

March 26: Satellite images from Airbus Group NV taken on March 23 showed 122 potential objects in the southern Indian Ocean in a 400-square kilometer area, about 2,557 kilometers from Perth. Some were a meter in length, and others were as long as 23 meters, and some appeared to be bright.

March 27: Aircraft searching for the missing Malaysian jet suspended their operations because of bad weather. Thai satellite images taken on March 24 showed more than 300 objects in the southern Indian Ocean, while a Japanese satellite detected about a dozen pieces of possible debris in a March 26 image.

March 28: The three-week hunt for Flight 370 focused on a new area in the Indian Ocean after radar data indicated the plane probably flew a shorter distance than earlier estimated. The new zone is about 1,100 kilometers to the northeast of the previous search location.

Chinese daily blames Malaysia for flight MH370 fallout

March 27, 2014

A relative of a passenger aboard Malaysia Airlines MH370 reacts as she leaves a room after a briefing by the Malaysian government, at the Lido Hotel in Beijing yesterday. New satellite images have revealed more than 100 objects in the southern Indian Ocean that could be debris from a Malaysian jetliner missing for 18 days with 239 people on board, Malaysia's acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said yesterday.
 Reuters pic, March 27, 2014.Malaysia should take most of the blame for the fallout of missing flight MH370 as it has dragged the painful incident for too long, an opinion piece in a leading Chinese daily said today.

English-language Global Times said Putrajaya's approach in handling the aftermath of the tragedy had raised doubts from international watchers.

"This mysterious accident is being followed by the world, as are China's reactions. In the eyes of some Western observers, China is 'doing its best to foster a sense of aggrievement' and 'exploiting international incidents for domestic gain'.

"The grievances of the Chinese people didn't come from nowhere," the article written by Wang Wenwen said.

The article is the latest published by Chinese media which had mostly been critical of Malaysia's handling of the crisis.

Malaysia's Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi last night blamed the Chinese print media for "stoking the anger" of the victims' families, especially those from China.

"The prime minister and acting transport minister have tried their best to resolve this. But, unfortunately, the papers have manipulated this and played up the sentiments until the families, especially those from Beijing, are upset.
"This is an accident which no one wants to see happen," Zahid said when winding up the King's royal address in Parliament.

However, he did not specify whether he was referring to media from China or local Chinese dailies.
The article titled "Don let extreme feelings preempt MH370 findings" said the families of passengers on board the Boeing 777-200ER have the support of the Chinese people, with many expressing doubts over the information released by Malaysia and criticising Putrajaya on China's social media.

When Victor Wong, a Chinese-Malaysian singer well known among the Chinese public, expressed his condolences to the relatives of the victims on his Sina Weibo account, a flurry of comments followed, blaming him for being hypocritical and calling for a boycott of his performances in China, the article said.

It said many Chinese believed that Putrajaya had mishandled the search for the missing aircraft and wanted Beijing to take a tough stance towards Malaysia.

The article said while it was too early to let public opinion lead the way, the future of Beijing-Kuala Lumpur relations will depend to some extent on how the government will act between diplomatic manoeuvring and public opinion.

"The past few years have seen the Chinese government facing increasing pressure from the public in making diplomatic decisions.

"There is a worrying sign that the public mood might be fanned by some opinion leaders at the price of ruining good people-to-people relationship between the two countries," the article said.

The article cited analyses in the foreign media speculating on a strained relationship between China and Malaysia, despite the fact that Malaysia was the first Asean country to establish diplomatic ties with China in 1974 and that Malaysia is China's largest trading partner among Asean countries.

It said China's tourist agencies have also reported a sharp decline in the number of Chinese travellers choosing to visit Malaysia.

Frustrated relatives of Chinese passengers aboard flight MH370 had been demanding answers from Putrajaya.

A briefing by Malaysian officials at Beijing's Lido Hotel yesterday, which lasted for four hours, saw angry relatives deriding Malaysian ambassador, Iskandar Sarudin, and demanding that Putrajaya retract Monday's announcement by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak that the flight had ended in the southern Indian Ocean as there was no firm evidence.

"There is no sign of the plane. So for what reasons are you so ready to confirm that it has crashed?" one man shouted angrily at the Malaysian officials.

"We demand you retract that the plane has crashed into the sea," said another.

The Malaysian officials said the authorities had relied on evidence from the Britain's Air Accidents Investigation Branch and British satellite company Inmarsat, and gave a presentation on the findings to which some family members responded with derision.

"Have you got no other information other than those bloody slides?" said one of the family members present at the session with the officials.

Two-thirds of the 239 people on board the missing aircraft are Chinese citizens.

The showdown at Beijing's Lido Hotel yesterday came a day after scores of emotional family members had descended on the Malaysian embassy, linking arms and voicing their dissatisfaction over the handling of the search for MH370.

Many family members at yesterday's briefing continued to cling to conspiracy theories as well as the hope that the lack of physical evidence might mean their loved ones are still alive.

At one point, a lieutenant general of the Royal Malaysian Air Force told the crowd he had not ruled out any possibility, including hijacking.

"If you have not ruled out any possibility... that includes the possibility that our loved ones are alive, right?" one relative said.

But another relative waved his hand at the officials, shouting: "Our relatives died because they were killed by your country." “ March 27, 2014.