By Jawad Akram
With the release of official report of MH370 Mystery, last week, nothing conclusive came except the dark night, for the families of 239 aboard, further drags on with no end in sight. It just stated a theory of manual manipulation of controls and turning around the airplane. No proof or evidence was presented to support this assumption. It seemed just a desperate attempt to close case of the biggest unsolved mystery of aviation history. Besides mystery, it is also the biggest trauma of aviation history for the families of 239 aboard.
Conspiracy theories abound regarding that doomed Boeing 777 jet which vanished on that fateful night, 8th March 2014. Albeit, vanishing of MH370 sparked biggest under water search of aviation history to locate it, but it couldn’t get the whereabouts of resting place of ill-fated plane.
Rather than putting aside the case of MH370, some new investigations are direly needed to go on lines which have not been followed yet. I believe, weightage should be given to the Islanders of Maldives who claim to have witnessed a giant airplane flying low in their area on the morning of 8th March 2014. MH370 also disappeared on the same night. May be proven debris of MH370 washed up off coasts of African Countries have come from areas around Maldives.
This time, Malaysian government should contact or convince some firm like Ocean Infinity on terms ‘No Find, no Fee’ to conduct under water search and examine ocean floor around Maldives. An extensive under water search has already been conducted in other suspected areas. Now a new search should be around Maldives.
Further, countries lying within the range of estimated maximum travelling area of MH370 should come forward and jointly share the ranges of their nearby military radars to map maximum stealthy areas within the suspected trajectories of MH370 where airplanes couldn’t be plotted on radars. These areas should be searched with the most sophisticated machinery.
I fear, second suggestion of spotting stealthy spots would not be practicable. It could be possible only if neighboring countries show highest levels of goodwill for humanity.
The resignation of 60 years old Malaysian Aviation Chief Azharuddin Abdul Rahman appears to be the just an expression of seriousness in this matter. It’s totally unconvincing to use the old tactic of making someone scapegoat. It will never lower the severity of pain suffered by the families of those who vanished that night.
Officials responsible for not scrambling fighter jets to intercept the unknown airplane overflying Penang, later identified MH370, should be convicted for this criminal negligence which led to the one of the biggest disasters of aviation history. In 2005, Helios Airways Flight HCY 522 met almost similar fate when its cabins depressurized. Pilots got incapacitated due to hypoxia. Plane went on flying for almost two hours on auto-pilot. Two Greek F-16s were scrambled. They couldn’t help them but they observed the cockpit closely and followed the trajectory of airplane which ultimately dived into a gorge in mountains of Grammatiko, Greece, when all fuel was consumed and engines died. If fighter jets were scrambled in case of MH370 then surely world would have come to know early what had happened to MH370.
Moreover Malaysian Military officials caused wastage of one week by hiding the information that military radar had plotted the airplane for almost one hour after it disappeared from the secondary radar of Air Traffic Controllers in Malaysia. Investigators wasted one crucial initial week in searching plane in wrong area, South China Sea. Later from the data of Military Radar, it was revealed that Boeing had actually turned back and flown over Penang.
Besides military officials, Air Traffic Controllers should also be convicted for delaying emergency procedures. The biggest error they committed was that they alerted Air Force very late, but Air Force did much bigger mistake by not scrambling jets to investigate the matter.
Malaysian authorities must not show leniency towards the negligent staff either from military or from civil. They must hear the sighs of innocent children waiting for their parents aboard MH370. They must think of tears shed in these more than four years. Dear ones can’t be brought back but taking disasters seriously may prevent such accidents in future to keep many people away from oceans of tears.
The writer is Defense and Aviation Analyst. He has done Master’s in International Relations. He lives in Islamabad, Pakistan and can be reached at jawad5677@gmail.com
Indian Periodical
Indian Periodical
I have been saying for 4.5 years they need to be looking near the Maldives. Why on earth refuse to investigate the only concrete evidence in existence, that of eye witnesses, while chasing red herrings in the Southern Indian Ocean. Was this deliberate? Why have some people received death threats for attempting to help? Also in the area slightly South of the Maldives some oceanographer detected an explosion which he said could only have been an underwater volcano or a plane crashing. No volcano is known to have erupted hence what are we left with? He even had the exact coordinates. Authorities also ignored this like everything else pointing to the most like resting place. Somebody does not want this aircraft found for some reason.
Yes…..you are right……they must already have searched Maldives area.
There are plenty of reasons to criticize the Report. But the lead-off statement in this article is 100% wrong. In fact, it is total BS. I refer to the statement: “No proof or evidence was presented to support this assumption [of a turn back at IGARI].” First, it is not an assumption at all. It is a fact proven by multiple lines of evidence, analysis, simulations and scrutiny by outside investigators. It is a false statement for the sole purpose of setting up the alternative theory about the Maldives, which has been proven impossible by multiple lines of evidence by dozens of people inside the investigation and many independent professionals working on the MH370 story. It is a shame that ignorant journalists keep this nonsense alive.
At IGARI fuel remaining 41500 kg, fuel consumption in cruise at 35000ft 140kg per minute, with a decrease in altitude fuel consumption goes up to around 150 to 155 kg per minute, at IGARI MH370 would only have had enough fuel for a further 4 Hours 45 Minutes, which would have been just enough fuel to reach the Maldives, the area already searched in the SIO is 6 Hours 30 Minutes from IGARI which is impossible, A Boeing 777 has a Glide Ratio of 25:1. Then we have Australia’s Missile Defence System which can pick up airborne foreign objects as far as the Solomon Islands, yet nothing was picked up on that fatefull night was the Australian Missile Defence System not working or was it that MH370 did not enter that air space.