The government had previously said that a key satellite communications system had been dismantled some time before the cockpit made final radio contact with air traffic control, and before the plane disappeared from radar contact. That had suggested something suspicious was already under way before that final radio call was made, and that the pilots were either involved in the plot, or acting under duress.
But authorities acknowledged Monday that they don’t know exactly when that data system went dark, making it harder to pinpoint when the apparent act of hijacking or sabotage was initiated.
The new disclosure does not change the criminal nature of the probe into the missing airliner – an investigation that now has countries from Australia to Kazakhstan scouring radar and satellite data for signs of the plan, and deploying sea and air search teams to hunt for evidence of the aircraft. It still appears likely that somebody was trying to cover their tracks as the plane was deliberately flown off-course.
But it does change the balance of probabilities as to who was responsible.
Malaysia Airlines chief executive Ahmad Jauhari Yahya said the automatic communications system made what proved to be a final transmission at 1:07 a.m. on March 8, relaying routine information on the plane’s performance. The next transmission, from the Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System, known as ACARS, was due 30 minutes later, but never arrived, Ahmad said.
“The last ACARS transmission was 1:07. It was supposed to transmit 30 minutes from that, but that transmission did not come through,” he said. “When was it switched off? Any time between then, and 30 minutes later.”
At 1:19 am on March 8, the co-pilot of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, Fariq Abdul Hamid, said “alright, goodnight” to air traffic controllers in Kuala Lumpur, two minutes before the plane disappeared from civilian radar.
In the desperate search for clues, the recording of that final radio contact is being analyzed to see if it could indicate whether everything was normal in the cockpit at the time, said airline chief executive Ahmad.
The new disclosure does not change the criminal nature of the probe but it does change the balance of probabilities
The search for the missing airliner has been plagued by a series of contradictory statements by Malaysian authorities that have frustrated countries in the region and caused anguish for relatives of those on board. They have also fuelled a cottage industry of speculation about what could have happened on board the plane.
Indications that something malign was afoot before the final radio call had led many people to suspect the plane’s captain, Zaharie Ahmad Shah, might be behind the plane’s disappearance – on the flimsy grounds that he had a flight simulator in his home and was reported to have been a supporter of jailed Malaysian opposition politician Anwar Ibrahim.
While the investigation into the disappearance of the airliner has often appeared confused and bungled from the outside, evidence has steadily mounted that the plane’s apparent hijacking – by passengers or crew – was meticulously planned.
The plane’s transponder, a device that identifies and locates the plane for civilian air traffic control, was turned off just as it was leaving Malaysian airspace and entering that of Vietnam. At that point, the plane appeared to turn back towards the Malay peninsula, and fly on for another eight hours without anybody spotting it.
Malaysia said 26 countries were now involved in the effort to locate the Boeing 777 plane, with some actively searching and others being asked to surrender satellite and radar data.
From a regional search a week ago in shallow waters in the vicinity of a presumed crash, the disappearance of Flight 370 has now forced authorities to think along two equally complex tracks The Telegraph reports : how to find a plane that may have wrecked anywhere over tens of thousands of square miles of ocean and land, and how to home in on a theory about who steered it astray and why.
So, today the search again degenerated into confusion.
Meanwhile, The Independent newspaper has learnt that Malaysian authorities are seeking diplomatic permission to investigate a theory that the plane was flown to one of a number of Taliban strongholds on the border of Afghanistan and North West Pakistan.
At least 26 countries are now assisting in the search for the plane, intensifying challenges of co-ordinating ground, sea and aerial efforts. Countries known to be involved include Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan, Burma, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia and Australia, with special assistance regarding satellite data requested from the US, China and France. There have been no reported sightings or concrete leads on the whereabouts of the jet, which vanished from radar screens shortly after it took off in Kuala Lumpur at 00.40am on the morning of 8 March, destination Beijing.
Evidence has steadily mounted that the plane’s apparent hijacking – by passengers or crew – was meticulously planned.
There are few definitive answers and many theories. Much discussion has centred on whether the Boeing 777 was hijacked by terrorists. South-east Asia is home to a number of al-Qa'ida-linked groups, particularly in Indonesia – home to both Jemaah Islamiyah, suspected perpetrators of the Bali and Marriott bombings, and Jamaah Ansharut Tauhid. There were 30 attacks there in 2012 alone.
Moreover, the latest position of the plane puts it on a flight path known as "P628" that links the region to Europe and takes it towards the Middle East.
Then there is the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, an umbrella group wanting a homeland for ethnic Uighurs in China's Xinjiang region and thought to be responsible for the recent Kunming railway station attack in which 29 were killed and 130 injured.
Intelligence officials, however, cite a lack of "chatter" among monitored extremists as making terrorism unlikely, let alone the level of organisation involved in commandeering a plane and flying it undetected. This, experts claim, would involve "something beyond the mission planning for 9/11".
There is also the question of why no one credible has so far demonstrated responsibility. A former FBI assistant director, James Kallstrom, thinks he has the answer. The terrorists, he claimed, want the plane to use as a weapon "for some dastardly deed down the road".
The final confirmed location for MH370 on civilian radar was at 1.21am, but it was spotted less than an hour later on military radar, far to the west of that position. Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak revealed that “ping” signals from the plane was last received at 8.11am.
Large areas of the southern half of Afghanistan are ruled by the Afghan Taliban, while some areas of north-west Pakistan, adjacent to or near to the Afghan border, are controlled by the Pakistani Taliban.
Aviation officials in Pakistan, India and Central Asia as well as Taliban militants said they knew nothing about the whereabouts of a missing Malaysian jetliner on Monday after the search for Flight MH370 extended into their territory.
A spokesman for Malaysian Airlines said: “These are matters for the jurisdiction of those regions and Malaysia’s armed forces and department of civil aviation. In regard to Pakistan and Afghanistan, we cannot explore those theories without permission. We hope to have that soon.”
Malaysia is seeking permission to investigate a theory that the plane was flown to one of a number of Taliban strongholds on the border of Afghanistan and North West Pakistan
If South-east Asia is a centre for terrorism, the Straits of Malacca are one of the world's great piracy hot spots, with three ships robbed this month alone.
A US official has warned that MH370's disappearance may itself be an "act of piracy". The plane itself could be resold for tens of millions of dollars and the passengers ransomed.
A Boeing 777 needs a runway of 3,800 to 5,200 feet to land. All official airports are monitored, but that does not make a landing impossible. There are unofficial ones, not least airstrips created and then abandoned during the Second World War and the Vietnam War.
A third alternative is less dramatic: pilot or passenger suicide.
Such an option may also explain the lack of debris if Flight MH370 went down into the sea. The plane would not have disintegrated before impact, and would have sunk quickly.
ing to narrow the last possible observation of flight MH370 after analysis of satellite data revealed that it was in one of two vast corridors: a northern area stretching from the border of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to northern Thailand; and a southern range stretching from Indonesia to the southern Indian ocean. Twenty-six countries are now involved in the search for the plane, which officials believe was diverted not long after it took off from Kuala Lumpur at 12.41am on 8 March, bound for Beijing
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