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Malaysia aircraft mystery may hinge on “unidentified” radar path Malaysia aircraft mystery may hinge on “unidentified” radar path
(about 1 hour later)
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Government and military officials said the search for a missing Malaysian airliner could hinge on an unidentified radar path that suggested the plane might have inexplicably turned, crossed back across the mainland, and flown over the Malacca Strait, hundreds of miles off its scheduled flight path. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — The search for a Malaysian passenger jet could hinge on a newly divulged radar plot that suggests the plane veered hundreds of miles off course before vanishing.
Gen. Rodzali Daud, Malaysia’s air force chief, told a news conference that an “unidentified plot” was seen on military radar intermittently for around 45 minutes after the plane vanished from civilian air traffic control systems at 1:30 a.m. He said the radar tracking of that plane ended at a point over the sea, 200 miles northwest of Penang island on Malaysia’s west coast. Malaysia’s air force chief, Rodzali Daud, said Wednesday that an “unidentified plot” was seen on military radar intermittently for around 45 minutes after Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 vanished from civilian air traffic control systems at 1:30 a.m on Saturday. He said that radar trail ended at a point over the sea, 200 miles northwest of Penang, on Malaysia’s west coast.
“The last known time was 2:15 a.m.,” he said. “We are trying to corroborate with all other radars.” “It’s a plot. An unidentified plot,” Rodzali said. “I’m not saying it’s MH370.”
On the fifth day of the hunt for the plane, officials said that its transponder, which communicates with air traffic control to identify and locate the aircraft, went dark at 1:30 a.m. while the aircraft was over the Gulf of Thailand. Military radar subsequently picked up a plane crossing the Malaysian peninsula, but have not been able to identify it. Malaysia’s uncertainty about that data largely explains why the five-day search for crash evidence has been so chaotic. Authorities here still don’t know whether the plane crashed soon after 1:30, or instead cut off its transponders and went on a ghost flight across the country and perhaps beyond. For now, the 90-some ships and aircraft involved in the search are split between two bodies of water on opposite sides of the Malaysian peninsula.
“Until today, we are still not sure it is the same aircraft,” Malaysia’s Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein told a news conference. Malaysian authorities have faced mounting criticism about their transparency and their handling of the case, and struggled Wednesday to say why they were only now revealing the military data. A day earlier Malaysian military officials gave a series of conflicting statements about whether the plane had indeed tacked west; this uncertain radar plot likely explains the contradictions.
With India, Japan and Brunei now involved, Hussein said 12 countries were now searching for flight MH370, with 42 ships and 39 aircraft scouring over 27,000 square nautical miles on both sides of the Malaysian peninsula. Malaysia is hoping for United States assistance in determining whether the radar plot is that of MH370. On Wednesday Malaysia shared both its civilian and military data with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board.
Hussein rejected criticism of Malaysia’s coordination of the search, which he said was an “overwhelming” and “unwavering” operation. If the radar data can be confirmed as stemming from MH370, it means that the aircraft traveled across the country essentially unnoticed. Malaysia’s military says it only noticed the recorded data after the fact, not in real time.
“It is only confusion if you want it to be confusion,” he said. “We have made it very clear. We have been very consistent.” The search has turned into one of the most difficult on record for a downed airliner, sparking rumors and conspiracy theories. In the aftermath of a comparable aviation disaster — the 2009 disappearance of an Air France flight over the Atlantic — the first baggage and bodies were found after five days.
Malaysia Airlines said that the plane could have been trying to turn back to Subang, an airport on the northern outskirts of Kuala Lumpur. A senior official at Malaysia’s civil aviation department, requesting anonymity because he was not authorized to speak with the press, said it was possible the jet had tacked westward based on the military’s radar plot, but that the data was not conclusive. Some aviation experts say that even Malaysia’s current search area doesn’t cover enough ground. If the plane indeed tacked west, it would have had enough fuel to make it toward India.
“We need an expert from the FAA in determining whether this information is genuine,” the senior official said, referencing the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration. He said Malaysian authorities were meeting Wednesday to discuss the next steps. “Right now it’s like a murder mystery with no body,” said David Gallo, director of special projects at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, who co-led the search for Air France Flight 447. “They should calculate how far the plane could have gone with the fuel it had and that is the radius for the search. Because that is the realm of possibility, absurd as it sounds.”
Initial search efforts had centered on the Gulf of Thailand, where the plane disappeared from civilian radar shortly after taking off from Kuala Lumpur en route to Beijing, but soon expanded to include the Strait of Malacca and Andaman Sea on the other side of the peninsula. The Malaysia Airlines red-eye flight bound for Beijing disappeared from civilian radar about one hour after take-off, while over the Gulf of Thailand. Both those waters, and the Malacca Strait to the west, are heavily trafficked sea lanes — and they’re also relatively shallow. If the plane traveled farther west, though, it could have ended up in the Andaman Sea or Bay of Bengal, where depths can reach nearly three miles.
“If I was out there with a team, on a boat, working day and night, and then to have someone tell you, ‘Oh, guess what, we don’t think it’s here after all. It might be 500 miles away.’ Wow,” said David Gallo, director of special projects at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, who co-led the successful search for Air France Flight 447, which vanished in 2009 over the Atlantic. “Unless we get the aircraft and the black box, it is unlikely we are able to answer a lot of speculative issues,” Hishammuddin Hussein, Malaysia’s defense minister and acting transport minister, said Wednesday.
The reports that Flight MH370 veered so far off course added a bizarre and confusing new element to a case that has baffled investigators. Some aviation experts said the search might need to be further expanded. Given the fuel it had, the plane could have made it as far as India. With India, Japan and Brunei now involved, Hishammuddin said 12 countries were searching for the plane, with 42 ships and 39 aircraft scouring over 27,000 square nautical miles. Hussein rejected criticism of Malaysia’s coordination of the search, which he said was an “overwhelming” and “unwavering” operation.
In the latest signal of impatience from Beijing, the Chinese military sent two additional aircraft to help with the search Tuesday, and it deployed three more vessels, which are expected to arrive in the area by Wednesday morning, according to state-controlled Xinhua News Agency. Japan also said it would dispatch a disaster relief team. China, which had 153 passengers on board, has been the most vocal critic of Malaysia’s response, and a Wednesday editorial in the Global Times asked whether the Malaysian military “was hiding anything on purpose.”
“We hope Malaysia can face its own shortcomings, and cooperate with China with a more open and candid attitude,” the editorial said.
At a hotel in Beijing, Malaysia’s ambassador to China and several officials from Malaysia’s civil aviation department met with relatives of passengers on the flight. The officials faced a barrage of questions about why they’d struggled to pinpoint the last known location of the aircraft.
“We are here for five days, you see our situation, and we are here only for one thing,” one of the relatives said. “We wait for the information, and we wait for a miracle.”
With a void of information, social media users seized on an Australian report that detailed how two female teenagers, during a 2011 international flight, were invited into the cockpit by the same co-pilot who was on the MH370 flight. That co-pilot, Fariq Abdul Hamid, posed for pictures mid-flight and smoked cigarettes. The women — one of whom supplied photos to the Australian program, “A Current Affair” — stayed in the cockpit from takeoff until landing. Fariq also asked the guests to extend their stay in Kuala Lumpur, so he could take them out on the town.
“Possibly a little sleazy,” one of the women, Jonti Roos, said.
In a statement Malaysia Airlines said it was “shocked by these allegations.”
“We have not been able to confirm the validity of the pictures and videos of the alleged incident,” the airline said. “As you are aware, we are in the midst of a crisis, and we do not want our attention to be diverted.”
The reports that Flight MH370 veered so far off course added a bizarre and confusing new element to a case that has baffled investigators.
In a signal of impatience from Beijing, the Chinese military sent two additional aircraft to help with the search Tuesday, and it deployed three more vessels, which are expected to arrive in the area by Wednesday morning, according to state-controlled Xinhua News Agency. Japan also said it would dispatch a disaster relief team.
Amid the confusion, Vietnam briefly said it was scaling back operations until it received more concrete information from Malaysia. Later, however, it said its search had resumed in full force and would also sweep land areas, news agencies reported.Amid the confusion, Vietnam briefly said it was scaling back operations until it received more concrete information from Malaysia. Later, however, it said its search had resumed in full force and would also sweep land areas, news agencies reported.
Meanwhile, India and Japan have joined the search. India has a significant naval presence in the area, based on its Andaman and Nicobar Islands which lie even further northwest of the Strait of Malacca in the Indian Ocean.
Four days after the plane carrying 227 passengers disappeared, investigators acknowledged that they still were mystified by what happened on board. Malaysian authorities said they continued to look for signs of sabotage or hijacking but also were considering the possibility of psychological or personal problems among the passengers or crew.Four days after the plane carrying 227 passengers disappeared, investigators acknowledged that they still were mystified by what happened on board. Malaysian authorities said they continued to look for signs of sabotage or hijacking but also were considering the possibility of psychological or personal problems among the passengers or crew.
They played down any connection between the plane’s fate and two Iranian passengers who had boarded the aircraft with stolen Austrian and Italian passports.They played down any connection between the plane’s fate and two Iranian passengers who had boarded the aircraft with stolen Austrian and Italian passports.
“The more information we get, the more we are inclined to conclude it is not a terrorist incident,” Ronald Noble, secretary general of the international police agency Interpol, told reporters.“The more information we get, the more we are inclined to conclude it is not a terrorist incident,” Ronald Noble, secretary general of the international police agency Interpol, told reporters.
But in Washington, CIA Director John Brennan said terrorism could not be ruled out, while stressing that authorities have reached no conclusions about what caused the plane’s disappearance.But in Washington, CIA Director John Brennan said terrorism could not be ruled out, while stressing that authorities have reached no conclusions about what caused the plane’s disappearance.
“It’s still a mystery at this point,” Brennan said after delivering a speech in Washington.“It’s still a mystery at this point,” Brennan said after delivering a speech in Washington.
Reuters, citing an unidentified Malaysian military source, said military radar picked up the plane as it crossed the Malaysian peninsula in what were apparently its final minutes of flight. Malaysian media reported that some residents spotted a plane flying low, near the city of Kota Bharu.
If the reports were correct, it was unclear why many authorities didn’t appear aware of the information earlier in the investigation. Authorities have consistently said that Flight MH370’s transponder signal — which communicates with civil aviation radar — abruptly stopped at the time the plane was supposed to be entering Vietnamese air space. But military radar could have continued to track the aircraft.
If the plane dropped from a low altitude into the Malacca Strait, it might explain the lack of a major debris field. Malaysia Airlines said in a statement early Tuesday that the western coast of Malaysia was “now the focus” of the search. But a spokeswoman for the airline later said that the wording was a mistake and that there was no emphasis on any location.
Malaysian civil aviation chief Azharuddin Abdul Rahman said searches were continuing “on both sides” of the peninsula.
The discovery of two passengers with stolen documents had raised alarm that a terrorist attack might have brought down the plane. But authorities said Tuesday that the two Iranians carrying stolen passports — Pouria Nour Mohammad Mehrdad, 19, and Delavar Seyed Mohammad Reza, 29 — did not appear to be linked to any violent group. Both arrived in Malaysia the same day, Feb. 28, officials said.The discovery of two passengers with stolen documents had raised alarm that a terrorist attack might have brought down the plane. But authorities said Tuesday that the two Iranians carrying stolen passports — Pouria Nour Mohammad Mehrdad, 19, and Delavar Seyed Mohammad Reza, 29 — did not appear to be linked to any violent group. Both arrived in Malaysia the same day, Feb. 28, officials said.
At a news conference in Kuala Lumpur, Khalid Abu Bakar, inspector general of Malaysia’s police, said that the 19-year-old was trying to migrate to Germany: His mother had been waiting for him in Frankfurt, then called Malaysian authorities when he did not show up. Interpol identified the other Iranian at a separate news conference, although his reasons for traveling were not immediately clear. While Malaysia might seem an odd stop for Middle Eastern men heading to Europe, it is relatively easy for Iranians to enter the country, and airline tickets to reach the Southeast Asian country are fairly cheap.At a news conference in Kuala Lumpur, Khalid Abu Bakar, inspector general of Malaysia’s police, said that the 19-year-old was trying to migrate to Germany: His mother had been waiting for him in Frankfurt, then called Malaysian authorities when he did not show up. Interpol identified the other Iranian at a separate news conference, although his reasons for traveling were not immediately clear. While Malaysia might seem an odd stop for Middle Eastern men heading to Europe, it is relatively easy for Iranians to enter the country, and airline tickets to reach the Southeast Asian country are fairly cheap.
Khalid said that Malaysia has been examining images of baggage, studying closed-circuit monitors for suspicious behavior at the airport terminal and trying to obtain photos and profiles of the passengers.Khalid said that Malaysia has been examining images of baggage, studying closed-circuit monitors for suspicious behavior at the airport terminal and trying to obtain photos and profiles of the passengers.
Search teams, meanwhile, battled wind and whitecaps while looking for any sign of debris from the plane, especially wreckage containing the crucial cockpit recorders. The instruments usually emit tracking signals for about 30 days.Search teams, meanwhile, battled wind and whitecaps while looking for any sign of debris from the plane, especially wreckage containing the crucial cockpit recorders. The instruments usually emit tracking signals for about 30 days.
The United States is using P-3 Orion surveillance aircraft and helicopters that fly just 500 feet above the water and depend on crews to spot potential debris.The United States is using P-3 Orion surveillance aircraft and helicopters that fly just 500 feet above the water and depend on crews to spot potential debris.
With the surveillance aircraft, “the software that goes with the radar is smart enough to cancel out those waves,” Cmdr. William Marks, a spokesman for the U.S. Navy’s 7th Fleet, said in a phone interview from the Gulf of Thailand. “However, if you’re just using your eyeballs, it is a significant challenge, because the water is not flat any more.”With the surveillance aircraft, “the software that goes with the radar is smart enough to cancel out those waves,” Cmdr. William Marks, a spokesman for the U.S. Navy’s 7th Fleet, said in a phone interview from the Gulf of Thailand. “However, if you’re just using your eyeballs, it is a significant challenge, because the water is not flat any more.”
Denyer reported from Beijing. Jason Rezaian in Tehran; William Branigin, Ashley Halsey and Greg Miller in Washington; and William Wan, Liu Liu, Gu Jinglu and Xu Jing in Beijing contributed to this report.Denyer reported from Beijing. Jason Rezaian in Tehran; William Branigin, Ashley Halsey and Greg Miller in Washington; and William Wan, Liu Liu, Gu Jinglu and Xu Jing in Beijing contributed to this report.
chico.harlan@washpost.comchico.harlan@washpost.com