Malaysian authorities cede some control in search for missing plane
Malaysian authorities cede some control in search for missing plane
(about 5 hours later)
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Malaysian authorities said Tuesday that they were ceding a bit of control to other countries in the massive and sometimes chaotic hunt for an airliner that vanished 10 days ago, and Thailand said its military radar may have spotted the plane after civilian air traffic control lost contact with it.
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Malaysian officials, faced with mounting frustration over the progress of their investigation of an airliner that disappeared 10 days ago, made an international appeal Tuesday for help in finding it.
In what has become the largest search on record for a missing aircraft, Malaysia has drawn criticism for its delayed and contradictory release of information, as well as for bucking some offers of assistance, including one from a renowned U.S. oceanographic institute.
The search has been bedeviled by scant information and contradictory reports, prompting Chinese Ambassador Huang Huikang on Tuesday to say the Malaysians were “inexperienced and lacking the capacity” to carry out the investigation properly.
But Malaysian officials acknowledged Tuesday for the first time since the plane’s March 8 disappearance that other countries needed to take leading roles in scouring a search grid roughly the size of Australia. Malaysia said it has chopped that grid into 14 sections and negotiated for Indonesia, Australia, China and Kazakhstan to coordinate the efforts in some of those areas.
Malaysia also has been slow to line up help from other countries, including the United States, that have expertise or information that could speed up the search. Although a group of U.S. crash investigators has been in Kuala Lumpur for more than a week, the nation has not accepted assistance from a team at the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office waiting to depart for Malaysia.
In Bangkok, a Thai air force spokesman said that military radar spotted what might have been Flight 370 just as it steered away from its intended path and after it cut off its transponder. But Thailand failed to initially share the information because the Malaysian government did not specially request it, Air Vice Marshal Montol Suchookorn said, according to the Associated Press.
Nor has Malaysia responded to an offer of assistance from a U.S. oceanographic institute, whose expertise in underwater searches helped locate the last major airliner to crash into the sea, Air France Flight 447, which disappeared over the Atlantic in 2009.
Though Montol was not certain that the plane spotted by Thailand was Flight 370, the flight path he described fits with what Malaysian authorities have pieced together from their own radar data. Montol said the plane showed up on Thai radar without any data, including a flight number, and was spotted turning west toward the Strait of Malacca.
But Malaysia is warming to some of these offers, U.S. officials said. A senior law enforcement official said Tuesday that the Malaysian government is starting to cooperate with the FBI and American intelligence agents in the field after a week of rebuffing help.
Thailand’s disclosure, had it come earlier, would have helped Malaysia more quickly ascertain the plane’s path. It potentially would have also helped direct search efforts away from the Gulf of Thailand, whose waters were combed by search crews for seven days, on the theory that the airliner with 239 passengers and crew on board had perhaps crashed at the same time that it disappeared from civilian radar.
“Initially, there was a little bit of fog of war. That has cleared,” the official said. “They had a hard time pulling this together. Every intelligence agency in the world was beating their door down. I think they were overwhelmed and that has settled a little bit.”
The Malaysian decision to cede some control of the search came as investigators looked for anybody aboard Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 with the know-how or motive to take control of the jet and divert it on a path that remains a mystery.
In Bangkok, a Thai air force spokesman said that Thai military radar may have spotted Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370 just as it steered away from its intended path and after its transponder was cut off. But Air Vice Marshal Montol Suchookorn said officials did not share the information because Malaysia did not specifically request it, the Associated Press reported.
Citing U.S. officials, the New York Times reported Monday that the westward turn away from Beijing was carried out through the plane’s computer system, suggesting that whoever steered the Boeing 777 was knowledgeable about its technical aspects.
Had Thailand’s disclosure come earlier, it might have directed the search away from the Gulf of Thailand, which crews combed for seven days on the theory that the airliner, with 239 passengers and crew members on board, had perhaps crashed at the same time that it disappeared from civilian radar March 8. The focus of the search now is farther to the west, in particular the Indian Ocean.
The Chinese ambassador to Malaysia, Huang Huikang, told reporters here Tuesday that Beijing had cleared its 153 citizens of being able to seize the plane, determining that they had no terrorist ties or indications of instability. It was unclear whether Chinese authorities had scrutinized any of the passengers for aviation expertise.
Malaysian Defense Minister Hishammuddin Hussein, speaking at a news conference Tuesday, brushed off criticism that his government has held back information or been slow to follow possible leads. He said Malaysia is cooperating with the FBI and other international law enforcement authorities.
Though the rigor of China’s investigation remains unclear, its statement casts greater scrutiny on others on board, including the Malaysian captain and co-pilot, whose homes have been searched in Kuala Lumpur.
“Our priority has always been to find the aircraft,” he said. “We would not withhold any information that could help. But we also have a responsibility not to release information until it has been verified by the international investigation team.”
In the latest in a string of criticisms levied by Chinese officials, Huang called Malaysian authorities “inexperienced and lacking the capacity” to carry out the investigation properly, according to Chinese state media.
He added, “Over the last two days, we have been recalibrating the search for MH370. It remains a significant diplomatic, technical and logistical challenge.”
Still, by reducing its role slightly, Malaysia has opened a new stage in the search process, where duties are coordinated among groups of countries, not necessarily with requests from Kuala Lumpur.
Hishammuddin asked the United States on Tuesday to scrutinize data from defense satellites and airborne radar. He also requested more U.S. vessels in the Indian Ocean.
Although Malaysian authorities have appealed for help with the underwater search, they have not responded to offers from the U.S. team that found the last major airliner that crashed into the ocean, Air France Flight 447, which disappeared over the Atlantic in 2009.
“The entire search area is now 2.24 million square nautical miles,” he said. “This is an enormous search area. And it is something Malaysia cannot possibly search on its own.”
“We’ve tried every way we can at Woods Hole just to have a conversation with someone in Malaysia,” said Dave Gallo, of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in Massachusetts. “We offered through our State Department, and then we tried to go directly to the Malaysians, and to Boeing. Nothing.”
Search grid defined
Gallo said that if the plane is underwater, searchers first must find some evidence of its location by spotting debris floating on the surface.
Unless floating debris from the aircraft is discovered somewhere in that vast area, it becomes increasing unlikely that the plane will be found, U.S. experts said.
“It’s similar to finding a needle in a haystack, which is doable these days if you have the right tools,” he said. “So knowing that we’re at least looking in the right haystack is important. We don’t want to be looking in the Gulf of Thailand in shallow water and then they say it’s off the coast of Perth in deep water.”
In what has become the largest search on record for an aircraft, Malaysia acknowledged for the first time that other countries needed to take leading roles in scouring a grid about the size of Australia. Malaysia said it has divided that grid into 14 sections and negotiated for Australia, China, Indonesia and Kazakhstan to coordinate efforts in some of those areas.
Five days after the Air France crash, floating debris was located. Using water currents and the final communications from the aircraft, investigators were able to narrow the search area to 40 square miles.
If the plane or wreckage is located, the senior U.S. law enforcement official said, the FBI is ready to dispatch additional teams of agents. They could help with forensic analysis of bodies, debris and other material to help determine what happened. The official said the FBI also is prepared to look into the backgrounds of all the passengers and crew members, but has not been asked by the Malaysian National Police, which is leading the investigation.
Brought into the search after the plane’s locator box stopped sending underwater signals, the team found the Airbus A330 more than 9,000 feet below the surface almost two years after it went down.
“The Malaysians have the lead on this and we stand ready to assist in any way we can,” the official said.
Several countries involved in the search for MH370 — including India and Japan — have been waiting for several days to receive marching orders from Malaysia. Other countries in Asia say there is no way the missing jet could have crossed their airspace — even though Malaysia said satellite analysis indicates it was possible.
At the White House, one senior administration official said cooperation with the Malaysian government is proceeding as smoothly as can be expected given the “unusual” nature of the mystery.
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak called Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday and requested that Pakistani officials play a more aggressive role in searching for the missing flight.
“This is very difficult for any country,” the official said, referring to the Malaysian response. “We’ve provided a lot of technical assistance in particular, and we helped with the new search area.”
According to an official in Sharif’s office, who asked not to be identified because it was a confidential conversation, Najib is calling “different world leaders” to see whether they can offer more assistance in the search or investigation.
At the National Security Council, officials are monitoring the response from the Defense and State departments, the National Transportation Safety Board, and the FBI, and the staff has had “working level” meetings with various agencies. But the effort has been based out of the U.S. Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, the official said. The United States has added a few staff members to assist at the embassy.
“The prime minister of Malaysia asked for help,” the official said. “Prime Minister Nawaz told his counterpart that Pakistan will extend all possible help to Malaysia. We stand with the Malaysian people in this difficult time.”
Citing U.S. officials, the New York Times reported Monday that Flight MH370’s westward turn away from its route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing was programmed into the plane’s computer system, suggesting that whoever steered the Boeing 777 had technical expertise.
In recent days, Pakistani aviation officials have rejected suggestions that the plane could be in Pakistan.
“If this turn point was loaded in on the ground before takeoff, then both pilots would have to agree on that being part of the flight plan, which is unlikely,” said Ron Carr, a retired airline pilot who teaches at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Arizona. “It would be easier and less likely to call attention to a ‘not authorized waypoint’ for it to be loaded [after takeoff] when the course change is to be conducted.”
Muhammad Yousaf, director general of Pakistan’s Civil Aviation Authority, issued a statement late Sunday saying his office had reviewed radar and communications logs and found no evidence that the plane ever entered Pakistani airspace.
Finding Air France Flight 447
Earlier Tuesday, Pakistani leaders had said they did not plan to organize search parties because they consider their review of those data conclusive.
Although Malaysian authorities have appealed for help with the underwater search, they have not responded to offers from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in Massachusetts, which found Air France Flight 447.
Information Minister Pervez Rashid told local journalists from Dawn News that a “Boeing 777 is a big plane” and it could have landed only at airports in Pakistan’s three largest cities of Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad.
“We’ve tried every way we can at Woods Hole just to have a conversation with someone in Malaysia,” said Dave Gallo of Woods Hole. “We offered through our State Department, and then we tried to go directly to the Malaysians and to Boeing. Nothing.”
“The missing Malaysian plane didn’t land in Pakistani territory,” he said. “It’s not like a balloon that you can take out the air and put it in a pocket.”
Gallo said that if the plane is underwater, searchers first must find evidence of its location by spotting debris on the surface.
When asked whether Najib’s call meant that Malaysian authorities suspect that the plane could be in Pakistan, the official said it was only a “general call.”
“It’s similar to finding a needle in a haystack, which is doable these days if you have the right tools,” he said. “So knowing that we’re at least looking in the right haystack is important. We don’t want to be looking in the Gulf of Thailand in shallow water and then they say it’s off the coast of Perth [Australia] in deep water.”
“The prime minister of Malaysia is reaching out to different leaders for help,” the official said.
Five days after the Air France crash, floating debris was located. Using water currents and the final communications from the aircraft, investigators narrowed the search area to 40 square miles.
Based on signals transmitted by the plane and gathered by a satellite above the Indian Ocean, investigators believe the jet ended up somewhere along a giant arc that spans the middle of Asia and into the deepest reaches of the Indian Ocean. Many experts believe the plane’s track was likelier toward the ocean, considering that the area is virtually uncovered by radar and that the plane was not picked up by radar in other areas.
Brought into the search after the plane’s locator box stopped sending underwater signals, the Woods Hole team found the Airbus A330 more than 11,000 feet below the surface, almost two years after it went down.
Because of its remoteness, the search in that expanse of the Indian Ocean is painstaking. Beginning Tuesday, Australia sent a P-3 surveillance aircraft from an air force runway near Perth toward a designated search area. Just to get there took 3 hours, 40 minutes. The plane could not spend much time in the search area because it had to conserve fuel for the return trip.
The longer it takes to find floating evidence of Flight MH370, the more problematic the search becomes. Narrowing the area to scour would allow ships towing sonar sleds on long tethers to focus on that section before the 30-day battery life runs out on an underwater beacon emitting homing signals every second.
Australia said Tuesday that it will take several weeks to search its area thoroughly, even with help coming Wednesday from New Zealand and the United States. That search area — the southernmost potential crash spot for the aircraft — is 230,000 square miles, about the size of Wyoming.
As time passes, floating debris drifts and disperses. Experts can evaluate those patterns based on the time the material has been in the water and pinpoint where to search. If the search narrows from millions of square miles to just a few dozen, it becomes a matter of bringing in the right equipment.
“What we’re doing is producing our best estimate of the most likely place to search,” said John Young, general manager of the emergency response division at the Australian Maritime Safety Authority. “But I would hasten to add it’s far from very precise.”
Ships towing sonar sleds must move at less than two miles an hour or risk breaking the miles-long line that lets their equipment sink thousands of feet below the surface. The better choice is autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) — unmanned mini-submarines that can work near the ocean bottom.
“A needle in a haystack remains a good analogy,” Young added.
“They have the ability of running very precise lines on the sea floor, just like plowing a field or mowing the lawn,” said Gallo, whose team also mapped the remains of the Titanic ocean liner on the bottom of the Atlantic.
Malaysian officials said Tuesday that before takeoff, Flight 370’s computer had been programmed — as is typical in commercial aviation — to fly to Beijing, the intended destination. But Malaysia Airlines chief executive Ahmad Jauhari Yahya said it was “speculative” to suggest that the plane’s diversion from that path had also been programmed.
Gallo said assembling a fleet of AUVs, if a search area can be narrowed, is a challenge.
“Once you are in the aircraft, anything is possible,” he said.
“They are scattered all over the Earth,” he said. “There are a couple of companies that can respond. There are a couple of oceanographic institutes like ourselves that can respond, but no one’s got dozens of vehicles. Everyone’s got one or two, and who knows where they are?”
With the focus switching to Australian waters, the U.S. Navy said that its ship that had been looking for wreckage in the Andaman Sea would pull out of the search.
If that focus comes down to the waters off Perth, he said, that is “one of the most incredibly complicated underwater terrains on the planet.”
If the plane went down in the ocean, U.S. aviation expert Ron Carr said, whether it is found may depend on how it struck the water. He said that if it came in as though it were landing, it would float for a while and then sink, creating a large underwater target for sonar detectors. If it came down hard and broke into pieces, plenty of debris would be floating.
“This place is not only rugged, but it’s unpredictable,” he added. “It can be a high plateau, a deep valley, a mountain slope, so it’s difficult.”
“The third option is the aircraft went under water at a steep angle,” said Carr, who was an Air Force and airline pilot for 39 years before becoming a professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Arizona. “It would accordion down into a smaller size that would make discovery more difficult. A ship or an aircraft would have to be in the right place at the right time, looking in the right spot to see any floating debris, if there was any floating debris left to see.”
Australia said Tuesday that it will take several weeks to search its area, with help coming Wednesday from New Zealand and the United States. That search area — the southernmost potential crash spot for the aircraft — is 230,000 square miles, about the size of Wyoming.
Unlike in the Air France case, the most recent airliner crash in the ocean, there is no clue as to where to search, Carr said.
Halsey reported from Washington. Tim Craig in Islamabad, Pakistan; Annie Gowen in New Delhi; and Ernesto Londoño, Adam M. Goldman, Scott Higham and David Nakamura in Washington contributed to this report.
“As time goes by, I would say it would become more and more difficult to find the [Boeing] 777, and at some point the cost of the search will reach a point that it will be abandoned and the possibility of it never being found obviously goes way up,” he said.
Ahmad, the Malaysia Airlines chief executive, said the automatic communications system made what proved to be a final transmission at 1:07 a.m. March 8, relaying routine information about the plane’s performance. The next transmission, from the Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS), was due 30 minutes later but never arrived, he 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 a.m., the co-pilot of Flight MH370, Fariq Abdul Hamid, said, “All right, good night,” to air-traffic controllers in Kuala Lumpur, two minutes before the plane disappeared from civilian radar, authorities said.
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. On Sunday, defense minister Hishammuddin Hussein had told reporters that the ACARS system was shut down before the “good night” communication, suggesting that the person at the controls was either hiding information or being forced to cover up the irregular situation.
Indications that something malign was occurring before the final radio call had led many people to suspect that the co-pilot or the plane’s captain, Zaharie Ahmad Shah, might have been behind the plane’s disappearance. Zaharie had flown for the airline for 30 years and had not shown any sign of personal trouble recently, friends said.
Hishammuddin said Zaharie and Fariq’s homes were visited March 9 and then searched over the past weekend. Police are examining a flight simulator from Zaharie’s home, he said. But he has warned against jumping to conclusions, saying that the pilot and co-pilot had not asked to fly together that day.
Evidence has steadily mounted that the plane’s diversion — by passengers or crew members — was meticulously planned.
The plane’s transponder, a device that identifies and locates the airliner 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 toward the Malay Peninsula, flying on for as long as seven hours without being spotted.
Steven B. Wallace, a former head of investigations at the Federal Aviation Administration, said he is confident that the mystery will be solved. But “I’m slightly less confident than I was on the day this investigation began,” he said. “This is the modern jet transport era, and this is a state-of-the-art aircraft. Jet airliners have never disappeared. We’ve never seen anything like this.”
Tim Craig in Islamabad, Annie Gowen in New Delhi and Ernesto Londoño and Ashley Halsey in Washington contributed to this report.
