[Kharon]

Yea Gods; if ever anyone wanted to know just how mired Australia is in bureaucratic mud and parliamentary foolishness, don't bother to read complex legal stupidity; just listen and watch the fool on the TV threatening to shoot two Yorkshire terrorists, imported by a movie star from the deep within the dark, sinister US of A.  Pathetic, but a good example of why this country is becoming a joke.  Reality – many would put that fool to sleep before harming a small dog.  I will never watch the news again, lest I see and hear more of the depths to which Australia is descending.  


Word fail – endit..........

[Peetwo]

"K" you'll be pleased to know that Johnny Depp's dogs "Boo" & "Pistol" have safely left the country for home...

Ps I do love the Pirates of the Caribbean spoof poohtube video..

On another possibly (somewhat) MH370 related story..   Overnight the local MSM  carried several versions of this story (Courtesy of SMH - Simply Marvellous Horse-pooh):

Airlines sceptical commercial planes can be 'hacked'


Date May 18, 2015 - 12:05AM

Security researcher, Chris Roberts, told FBI agents that he'd hijacked an aircraft's thrust management computer and briefly altered its course. Photo: Fox News

{Murky} Figures  in the Australian aviation industry are sceptical whether it is possible to 'hack in' to the cockpit of a plane, after an American man allegedly told the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) he had taken control of a plane's engines with his laptop.

US security researcher Chris Roberts had accessed the controls of up to 20 planes over three years by connecting his computer to the control panel for the in-flight entertainment system, an FBI warrant says.

Once inside the plane's system, the document says, he was able to access information from the cockpit on three models of Boeing aircraft and the Airbus A320, and in one case sent a command to the engine's thruster that caused the plane to move sideways.
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Last month Roberts' computers were seized and he was escorted off a United Airlines flight after he posted a tweet suggesting he could cause passenger oxygen masks to drop. 

But despite Roberts' assurances his only motivation in researching vulnerabilities in aircrafts was to improve security, Australian aviators have doubts the "hack" he detailed to the FBI works.

The Civil Aviation Safety Authority, a government agency which oversees the safety of Australian aircraft, said the prospect of remotely controlling a plane was "unrealistic".

"I've never heard of anything like this in Australia," said the agency's manager of corporate communications, Peter Gibson.

"Frankly the story seems a little unrealistic, but without comprehensive checking [it is] hard to say."

Any remedy to the purported security flaw was the responsibility of plane manufacturers, not local authorities, Mr Gibson said.

"These are issues that would be addressed by the manufacturers of the aircraft – Boeing and Airbus – in conjunction with the aviation regulators that first certified the aircraft – the FAA and EASA."

Steve Jackson, Qantas Group head of security, facilitation and resilience, said the airline had "extremely stringent" measures in places that were "more than enough" to stop someone hacking in.

"Like everything we do, safety and security are our top priorities," Mr Jackson said.

"The Qantas Group has extremely stringent security measures in place which are continually reviewed as part of normal business practice – these are measures that are more than enough to mitigate any attempt at remote interference with aircraft systems.

"The Qantas Group complies with, and in many cases exceeds, all regulatory requirements and manufacturers' recommendations when it comes to the safety and security of our fleet."

Budget airline Tigerair Australia does not have in-flight entertainment equipment, so the airline would not comment on the hacking specifically, but said they also had high standards of security.

"Tigerair Australia has strict and comprehensive procedures in place to ensure the highest levels of safety and security in-flight are maintained at all times," a spokeswoman said.
Virgin Australia has been contacted for comment.

{Comment: I see PG - Fort Fumble's (CASA) 20+ year GWM resident mouthpiece - who is also apparently an aviation cyber-security expert..  - is finally getting some air time again...hmm wonder if he is listed for the chop?? - Gobbles??} 

Must be a slow news day...

MTF...P2

  

[Gobbledock]

P2, Monsignor Gibson is the GWM book keeper, a sort of Soldier. An important role when it comes to assassinating aviation, but not the leading role. Those privileges are held as follows;

- The Consigliere. These people come and go, as with Herr Skull, Byron, and others. Normally it's a short term role, pays well, but ends up with a Colombian necktie and much blood being spilt. Not a long term career move.

- Then you have the underboss. They are cunning, often undermining the Consigliere. The Underboss are periodically removed, such as with Captain Sentinel. They too usually end up with a horse head in their bed, but their longevity normally extends well beyond  the Consigliere. 

- Below the Underboss is the Caporegime. Again, often he is a wily individual who plays many different angles within the GWM. He usually has a high I.Q and high opinion of himself, specialises in taking out his own senior members without getting so much as a drop of blood on his smooth hands. He is often identified by his broad rimmed glasses, intellectual beard and post graduate qualifications.

- The Soldiers. These people take in many forms and perform many roles. They complete the ensemble of orgainsiation crooks and shonks, and they too enjoy willingly performing assassination duties while at the same time blending in with the rest of society.

But to answer P2's question, I believe currently there are no outstanding orders out there for the scalp of the PG Soldier to be taken. Now that doesn't mean that this loyal soldier won't be taken out at a moments notice, but currently there doesn't appear to be a bounty on his beard!

Footnote: I would have loved to have stomped on 'Boo' and 'pistol'. They are poor excuses for dogs and are nothing short of glorified toilet brushes. But I am curious however. Have CAsA ramped Captain Sparrow's personal set of wings? Were any civil aviation regulations for carrying unrestrained toilet brushes onboard breached? I mean CAsA do like to concern themselves with such horrible non-conformances. Were the toilet brushes on the manifest? Potential weight and balance issues? Were the mongrels loose in the flight deck? Had this been a GA operator or regional airline I am certain CAsA would have been sending a Friday 1659 fax, wouldn't they?

"Safe horse heads for all"

ADDENDUM: I have been asked if the role of a ''Lookleft' has a spot within a GWM style organisation. The answer is emphatically 'no'. A 'Lookleft' is more of a footstool position and a position as an informant. You see 'Looklefts' are wannabe's, they want to play with the big kids but aren't made of the right material, they are weak and spineless and are often short of a chromosome or three, so they turn informant, dob on the other kids, hide behind the bushes and throw rocks. They do however make great anchors for offshore fishing boats, and they have been known to accidentally fall into woodchip machines and end up spread across your garden. Personally I see that as being the best possible use for a Lookleft, but I wouldn't rule out using the Lookleft as floor paper in the bird aviary or just good old rooster booster spread across the vege garden.

[Kharon]

Oh Boy, Oh boy: another media lunch encounter imminent.

I can see it all now; the smiling, beardless wonder of accident reports, greeting the unspeakable master of spin, fairy tales and purveyor of unholy relics as the witless cub reporter from some rag or other simpers; while the fiendish ex paparazizi camera clown dances and weaves to get "the" shot.  They'll have the doors barred though, just in case the world media get wind of this summit level spaghetti lunch.  For today the master of underwater black box retrieval meets the man who sunk it.  

Not that 'trade secrets' will be on the menu; not today.  They are going to enlighten the world with their great collective knowledge on the mysteries of 'hacking' into aircraft systems, both being world renown leaders in the subject.  Wonder how this came to be?  Well....

You see Be-a-Cur's Mum found a black beret (from WW1) in an old trunk, stored in the garage and since he learned to do 'emails' (there was a worry in her mind for a while, she wondered if all was well as he never seemed to get any she-mails).  She is convinced he is a webmaster and the doyen of the "Black Hats", so the beret was given to make him look like a cyber wizard.  

Now the other fellah – his Mum was always concerned about his nose growing every time he spoke; well, not too much she could do about that, but weight gain and face furniture helped disguise this as time went by; but, it was the horns which had her beat.  Now one day a gypsy traveller pulled up in the drive way, wanting directions and offering to read the tea leaves as payment. This being too good an offer to refuse, tea was made and tea leaves were read and the horns were discussed.   Regrettably said the soothsayer, they are a permanent fixture; but the gypsy suggested that a hat and a life in the public service, in one of the less salutary departments would assist; as most working there also had horns and quite often, noses which grew.  It was an enjoyable afternoon, but the gypsy left her large floppy black hat behind, which was taken as a faery gift; and, has been used ever since to hide the unfortunate 'impediment'.

So here we have two of the best and brightest of the Black hat squad meeting our hapless cub reporter who thinks, that because the boys wear black hats and prefer Italian cuisine that they are 'the' two government appointed experts on hacking high tech systems.  She thinks she has a story.  Well, she does – in a way.......

Yorkies rule – OK.  

[Peetwo]

MH370 - The trouble with clickbait in information vacuum??

In amongst the hilarity of Commodore Barnacle Joyce's "Canine Calamity" capers & discussing our resident aviation safety doyens next  SMH luncheon...


 

{Footnote 1 for kharon... }

...I totally forgot to sort the wheat from the chaff of the Wired article which the SMH used to generate the bollocks story above. Fortunately Ben Sandilands - the best aviation tendentious blogger of them all - has brought me back to TAWS... :

More evidence of MH370 causing mass inattention, gullibility in society

Ben Sandilands | May 18, 2015 2:46PM |


A hacking symposium. Could such fun make MH370 disappear?

OK. I’ll crack. After more than a day of pestering by nut jobs, conspiracy theorists and even that rarest of species, other reporters in paid employment, about the guy who hacked the movies menu in a jet to make it fly sideways, I’ll offer a considered review of the claims.

They are rubbish.

The headline on the Wired story that is causing allusions to computer hacking being to blame for the loss of missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 says:Feds Say That Banned Researcher Commandeered a plane

The headline isn’t supported by anything in the story, and even its star of the moment , computer hacker security researcher Chris Roberts of Denver, doesn’t claimed to have ‘commandeered’ an airliner.

Indeed none of the things Mr Roberts claims to have done are nailed down to a specific flight, and his narrative is allowed by Wired to wander in an undetermined manner between what might have been simulations, what might have been real events, and what might have been a discernible external input affected the thrust setting of an engine in an unnamed type of jet for an unnamed airline.

A charitable view of Mr Roberts’ amazing history of illegally tampering with airliner systems while in flight (using screwdrivers and clamps on the underseat IFE boxes) is that he has spent six years failing to prove that a computer hacker can ‘commandeer’ an airliner.

Sure, anyone who has been the victim of underseat entertainment system boxes, placed perfectly to punish passengers for not paying for business or first class seats, might feel that attacking them with sharp implements was entirely reasonable behavior.

But there is no proof, despite the misleading headline, that Mr Roberts has demonstrated a transfer of control from the cockpit to a passenger armed with screwdrivers, alligator clips and a connection to a laptop. Mr Roberts seems to be saying he maybe guilty of shooting his mouth off to an FBI agent, including special agent Mark Hurley, as recounted in the story that started the current excitement.

Or Mr Roberts just wants notoriety. The actual quotations in the Wired story are confusing. Mr Roberts is quoted as saying rather strong things, but then backing down when pressed.

The alarming thing about the requests for a view about Mr Roberts claims is that none of those who called Plane Talking had actually read it in full. It’s not the best story Wired has ever published. It’s downright mediocre.

It’s bad enough when our phones and computers try to guess what we would have said before we complete a word,  but now we live in a time when people don’t even read a story before knowing what it says, except that they don’t.

However, there is a fairly wide body of suspicion that MH370′s systems were ‘hacked’, not by someone in a seat, but standing up in the insecure electronics and electric bay that is accessed through a floor hatch immediately behind the cockpit on 777s.

The actual YouTubes of how to do this seem to get pulled down as fast as they pop up somewhere else, but if you are determined, you will find them.  The purpose of that physical intervention has been surmised, widely, to have been done by someone intimately familiar with 777 systems, allowing the blacking out of seat back entertainment systems so that any passengers who were awake on the red-eye from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on 8 March 2014 could no longer see the map showing the flight’s progress along its intended path across the Gulf of Thailand, Vietnam and then up the east coast of China toward its destination.

That intervention was, it is suggested, also intended to fully disable the ACARS or automated status reporting system on board the Boeing 777-200ER, but failed to prevent its basic standby pinging of a communication satellite  at various intervals.

The last such sets of pings initiated by MH370 came seven hours 39 minute after lift off, from a place where the geosynchronous Inmarsat satellite parked over the west Indian Ocean above the equator, had to be about 40 degrees above the horizon.

Those signals came just when the claimed fuel load of the flight would have been exhausted, causing the jet to spiral down to impact, it is further claimed, with the surface of the south Indian Ocean some 1600-1800 kms SW of Perth.

Yet with so many variables, and so many issues as to the reliability of this bit of data or that, the final sea bed location of MH370 is elusive.

Into this dark and imprecise riddle fly the conspiracy theories, and numerous stories that could be termed click bait.

Just like this story, which to use a marine food chain analogy, is click bait that feeds on click bait.

 Excellent stuff Ben..    All back on track now - although you would have to admit the other Aunty's 'Canine Calamity' was absolutely hilarious..

MTF hopefully with an update to the Pinocchio & Beaker (SMH) Press club luncheon - topic of discussion Cyber Security in Aviation...P2    

Footnote 1: "K" you might be interested to know the mugshot for Pinocchio (PG) was extracted from this brief presser... :

   

[FelineNut]

MH370 - Wow, just Wow! Another Pet Rock in the Idiot Box of Rocks

  In the chain of events and crazy theories even with the ones that appear on the surface legit with all the pet rocks everyone has in the MH370 Colossal Screw-up, this guy Chris Roberts, in my opinion, has reached the list making the Top 5 of Idiots in History in this era of aviation and security.  

You all know I don't pull any punches and I will not here either on this issue.

This guy first and foremost knows better to openly violate Federal and International Security laws by the unauthorized attempt alone for simply the tampering of anything on an aircraft being from the toilet seat to even the dung that you yourself may have dumped in a latrine on an aircraft. You don't even attempt to wiggle your worm or shake the dew off your lily without a violation occurring. Seriously, you don't screw with the plane or its components at all. He claims to be a security specialist ignored by the FBI. What?

Secondly, The media report cites and post an FBI warrant as supporting evidence that the event occurred? Hello, the warrant is nothing more than what Idiot Roberts told them he had done. Remember, they didn't do anything he says? Yes they did, The FBI began an investigation and was looking into the issues to validate or invalidate what he claimed and at the same time was monitoring his Idiotic actions because he was so determined to show he was right and isn't he [Became] the security threat to aviation for self glory and arrogance of his own idiotic claim. The warrant is nothing more than cause to seize his equipment from his own violations of law that he performed in the investigation that he took upon himself to pursue. Just because you don't see the FBI doing something doesn't mean they have not taken action or even a look into the information. Idiot he is and what he has done and claims is even more idiotic.

Thirdly, lets look at what he suggest starting with overwriting the code. So he claims he got in with a [default] password that was the same on all systems and aircraft in the settings for each system he accessed of the IFE (In-flight Entertainment System). Hello, its the IFE not the avionics and is for one is separated with a [physical] firewall with early claims of a software firewall in 2008 and the added security was installed because of possibility for tampering with the IFE alone like he just did separate from the FMC and avionics. Even with the software firewall he can NOT do what he claims.

Let me explain in simple terms for those who recall ROM and RAM memory. In order to access the FMC and Input Data or commands, the Pilot is immediately prompted to enter a password perpetually and in a timed session with I/O to be successful. Keep in mind, the option re-write code is not an option because it's stamped into the circuit board itself as ROM. ROM is READ-ONLY Memory NOT Random Access Memory being RAM. So thats out the door and there is No cross-over that he suggest as it is isolated from the IFE.

As for the claim that on one (1) flight, just one and only one since he was not able to duplicate the claimed action, that Roberts claims he moved the plane "lateral" being side-ways and at the same time increased ALT (altitude). Huh?

Okay, this guy is really eating is own dung now. The a/c (aircraft) flew lateral which would shift the flight path slightly off position and the planned course in-flight as well as increased ALT so says the Idiot Roberts and nobody noticed. WTF is wrong with this guy?

For the above event to have happened, not only would the entire system have to be rewired the ATC (Air Traffic Control) system along with the reporting Data inbound and outbound would have to be manipulated Entirely. Lets not forget the Radar system would still catch it, especially with an increase in ALT that was not reported planned or otherwise authorized. This guy [is] obsessed as well as nuts!

The bells and whistles would have triggered each and every event and stage in ROM code operations for all redundant systems alerting every event to the pilot and the ATC of the actions.

Finally, What was this freak looking at or think he was manipulating. I am just speculating here on what he may have seen as a possibility without control of any a/c operations. Well keep in mind he accessed the IFE and claims to have rewritten some code. Okay, so he uploaded a code string into the IFE which also is an output function of Moving Map Display if equipped in the a/c. The IFE may not have the display in the a/c but he plugged into the IFE.

The IFE Moving Map Display is nothing more than a similar function of the ADS-B/C and Mode-S Data that is Logged on and Logged off on the P/T/C-channel and sent outbound via R-channel to the ATC and reporting systems in flight tracking such as the FlightRadar24; RadarBox24; or Flight Aware ect. as the Moving map Display reports the same operations than anyone can monitor in-flight via wi-fi or at home which is usually delayed 5 minutes minimum for security.

Okay, the a/c moved "lateral" being sideways and increased ALT at the same time. In the viewing of the Moving Map Display or Data from FlightRadar24 ect., When the delayed Data hits the path catching up with the trail in the mapping display and if viewing the path depending on the resolution, the a/c if an ALT change occurred then the delayed stream will offset the Flight Path as if the a/c jogged to the left or right depending on whether it climbed or descended. Therefore, the display appears the image in track at that moment to have sidestepped "lateral" in movement. Of course, that jackass doesn't know this occurs in viewing and operations. BTW, what code did he over-write and upload, a video game stream to give himself some IFE In-flight entertainment? What a dumbass!

I have a Pet-Rock too ;-)> so do most of you as we are in this box of rocks. Mine is attached as an image file. ;-)>

Have a good week with this freak everyone!

Toot-toot!

Mine

il_340x270_372814661_fusd.jpg Size: 31.37 KB  Downloads: 1

The rest of the crew

S5Oyi.jpg Size: 44.82 KB  Downloads: 1

[Gobbledock]

What can I say?? Here I am just mopping up a meal of tiger prawns (smeared in garlic sauce), porterhouse steak, potato bake and homemade coleslaw with a bottle of Brown Brothers Patricia Noble Riesling (a nice sweet white) and the feckin name Chris Roberts shows up on Auntypru!!!! Puke....C'mon guys, I am about to hoe into desert - fresh home baked cherry cheesecake, and you tendentiously blog about Roberts!!! FFS, the guy is about as legitimate as Geoffery Thomas, Beaker and Barnacle Joyce all rolled into one steaming heap of elephant dung!

So, I am not an avionics engineer by trade, however I have an extremely gifted associate with over 40 years of aviation electronics, aviation software, and aviation hardware experience, this is a guy that has seen it, built it, fixed it and shagged it - anything electronic. He assures me, and by default the rest of the world, that Roberts is so full of shit on this issue that pooh emanates from his eyeballs. Nup, it's a load of complete baloney. This guy should be given an injection of lithium and locked up in a nut house with the keys thrown away. He should also be arrested for tampering with an aircraft considering his outlandish claims. You can't even remove a feckin overhead lightbulb if you aren't authorised to do so, it's a federal offence and carries more time in the big house than if you tampered with Grannies Hyundai.

My vote for 'Knob of the month' is sitting even between Roberts, Lookleft, Beaker and Barnacle Joyce. There really isn't much in this months race my friends. Now, I fear that Beaker will be on TV soon as our tautological fame seeking beardless wonder boy has been absent from the screen for a week or two.

"Safe rocks for all"

[Peetwo]

While you were sleeping, Ben Sandilands - who is once again jet-setting North - put out a (above average length for Ben) post that summarises part one of the MH370 7th arc SIO search, while again questioning the veracity of the Malaysian narrative in regards to the first hours, days & weeks of the mysterious disappearance of MH370:

MH370 search part 2 nears end but is the answer in KL not Indian Ocean

Ben Sandilands | May 24, 2015 8:12PM |

What needs to be kept in mind as the second phase of the search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 enters its final days?

The issue that seems to tower above all is that the government of Malaysia hit the ground lying on 8 March 2014, even before the Boeing 777-200ER and the 239 people it carried had exhausted the fuel it was carrying for its red-eye early morning run from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

That question has often been asked here.

Malaysia urged the search partners to continue looking as far away as western central Asia, and the South China sea, when it knew the jet had been abruptly diverting westwards from its last reported location over the Gulf of Thailand in the gap between its being handed over from Malaysia’s air traffic control zone to that of Vietnam.

The Malaysia Government has not had the fortitude or decency to explain its duplicity, whether that was through fear, ignorance, incompetence or a determination to hide a truth known to itself.

Our government has not had the guts to publicly query this either. Do we have to wait a few decades for the release of the Cabinet papers? Or will it just blather on about everything but the core questions as to what Malaysia knew, and why it so willfully mislead the next of kin of the dead, and the rest of the world.

The US knew within a week of the flight disappearing that it had crashed into the Indian Ocean west to south-west of Perth. It said so through its White House spokesperson, possibly through frustration with the narrative being inconsistently peddled by Kuala Lumpur.

But did the US know this from its own observations from satellites or shipping, or was it across the realization in the Inmarsat company in the UK, that ‘pings’ from the flight to its satellite indicated it had turned south sometime after recrossing Malaysia and flying to oblivion in the Indian Ocean about seven hours 40 minutes after takeoff?

If you could see depth not light this is what typical terrain in the first priority search zone would look like.



These and many other questions dog the search for the jet, which is supposed to complete its deep sea scanning of a priority zone of 60,000 square kilometers by the end of this month, and then, barring a last minute discovery, move into a similarly sized second best priority zone surrounding the current area of prime interest.

To understand something of the constant concerns that a massive cover up is being perpetrated over the loss of MH370 consider the sequence of events.

The initial search, in Australia’s designated oceanic search and rescue zone, was aerial, and involved aircraft from many countries, soon supported by shipping, particularly from China, Malaysia, the US and Australia, as well as a cameo appearance by a British nuclear submarine which for some reason or other was in the vicinity and then vanished from the news within days.

The sea surface search was largely targeted by estimates as to how far floating wreckage would have moved from likely impact points and strongly guided by satellite imagery indicating what might have been debris from the jet.

No sooner had radar satellite imagery recorded objects solid and floating that the search was pulled in what seemed like undue haste to the NE of that area, even though aircraft had also made some unresolved sightings of objects.

Malaysia was then, as it is now, the party calling the shots as to search priorities.  Australia manages the search, and acts on the direction its gets, as well as trying to make sense of all of the other expert advice its gets and its own efforts to nail down the most probable places to find the hard, sunk evidence, like undercarriage parts, engines and sections of torn fuselage.

That first phase of the search looks quite odd with the passing of time, although as more shipping became available, the focus was naturally on picking up any acoustic pings that should have been emitted by the 777’s black boxes from the sea floor for at least a month.

Acting on the world leading skills of the Australian Navy’s acoustic analysis laboratory in Jervis Bay,  the head of the search effort Angus Houston and the Prime Minister Tony Abbott, made what with hindsight proved to be recklessly optimistic assertions that Australia had found the plane.

Those acoustic signals were not from MH370. Nor were those detected some distance from the Australian discovery, by a vessel from China.

This lead to the current and soon to end second stage of the oceanic search for MH370.  This involved a 200,000 square kilometres bathymetric survey of the otherwise mostly uncharted sea floor, which is places in more than 6000 metres deep.

Once it’s obstacles and depths were known with precision the 60,000 square kilometres which were thought most likely to contain the heavy part of the wreckage were then imaged with towed sonar scanning platforms.

These were backed up by a large autonomous underwater vessel that could resolve in fine detail anything the looked suspiciously like parts of MH370 to the scanners.  Concerns that MH370 may have been scanned but not recognized where allayed by the recent discovery of a what looks like a 19th century shipwreck in the search zone at a depth of almost 4000 metres.

But the southern Indian Ocean is a massive place, and the calculations and assertions used to predict just what path MH370 flew before it ran out of fuel have not yet produced the goods.

It is possible that parts of the floating wreckage might also remain undiscovered along the southern Australian coastline, or over in Chile, or western Africa, or one day Cornwall.
The solid wreckage should include the flight recorders, and recoverable personal devices like mobile phones that may include images of whatever it was that happened in the cabin.

However that emphasis on finding the remains of MH370 takes the narrative away from the extraordinary events that took place in the airline and in government on the morning of its disappearance.

Malaysia Airlines exhibited incredible indifference to the loss of one of its airliners. Instead of hitting the phones until its fingers bled ringing every kampong, every ship, and calling every other aircraft that might have seen something or helped speed the search, it was next to useless.

It didn’t exhibit any depth of care or compassion its statements.

The lies about what the Malaysia Air Force saw, or didn’t see, and the confused state of the accounts as to exactly what the airline meant when it started making excuses to the Vietnam ATC system as to the path it argued MH370 had flown up over Cambodia instead reflects exceedingly poorly on the humanity and competency of its management, and the authorities it worked with.

The behaviour of the airline and its government and its relevant aviation and defence authorities are reason to believe that answers as to what happened to MH370 might be more readily found in Kuala Lumpur, than in the pitch black depths of the southern Indian Ocean.

  
People may not be aware but Simon Gunson has a page on his website devoted to the subject of MH370 debris (or lack there of): Home - MH370 Debris they say never existed. From that page Gunson made some observations that very much support the contention of the PT article (above): 

...Instead of conspiracy theories speculating about the cause of MH370's loss, the real conspiracy is about Malaysia's cover-up to misdirect search efforts. It is not a story of mere incompetence. There is a deliberate effort to mislead. The press media in Malaysia owned and controlled by the Governing UMNO Party has recklessly disseminated false and misleading conjecture including conspiracy theories as part of a PR spin disinformation operation.

Commentators wrongly claim that there were never any debris, but there were and this site aims to record that fact so that conspiracy theorists are unable to distort the facts with incorrect statements...

 
IMO some of Gunson's theories in regards to MH370 are contentious but the debris (or lack there of) drift modelling/analysis etc. is not. For mine it is the major elephant in the room that questions the whole veracity of the ATSB SIO search. (Footnote #1)

Also last week David Learmount (on his new blog) put out a post titled - MH370: all they have to do is look in the right place. A rather obvious statement I would have thought..  

However what really piqued my interest with the Learmount post was this bit...

"..The ATSB called Hardy to meet them in Canberra on 15 May, and the plan was that he was to visit the survey ships in Fremantle on 20 May. This will all have happened by now. The ATSB have demanded that Hardy not disclose any discussions, although I can’t see what purpose secrecy would serve. Perhaps they just want to control the release of information themselves..

..It will just be interesting to see how close the MH370 wreck is to Hardy’s refined predictions, which he will have been sharing with the ATSB.." - Hmm..that's a bit arrogant DL..(typical Pom  )

Why does the secret squirrel bollocks not surprise me...   Learmount is right, Dolan and his overseeing Mandarin have much to control & potentially obfuscate..FFS!

As for calling up Hardy?? - Grasping at straws or - based on other intel - a higher than most probability??

MTF...P2

#1. I see that P7 has posted on - Australia, ATSB and MH 370 - in reference to the JRCC's custom debris drift modelling (the NWM) program, which I will indeed be contributing to very soon..

[Gobbledock]

Go Ben!!!! Very succinct point;

Our government has not had the guts to publicly query this either. Do we have to wait a few decades for the release of the Cabinet papers?

The steaming pile that this investigation has turned into is gathering more flies by the day. I've said it before an will say it again that either China or the Yanks, or both, know exactly where the aircraft came down (when I say exactly I mean within a reasonably accurate search grid). The spy satellite technology is second to none and the 'birds' would have known where the plane came down. Furthermore, if there was a Nuke Sub within a few thousand nautical miles, and I would say there are more than one traversing those very waters, it would have also detected the impact sound. So the Governments can play with themselves all they want to, but not the entire world is asleep at the wheel and they should stop insulting our intelligence.

As for Ben's work, it is excellent. Perhaps Ben should be the one sitting at a board table, basking in glory and accolades and mi mi mi-ing in front of a giant glass of water, because Beaker is as useful as a Carboard cutout! Wait a minute, I forgot, he is a Carboard cutout.........on second thoughts, can we pull those TRIM files to see what they contain???



"Unsafe sky cover-ups for all"

[Peetwo]

Go Ben!!!! Very succinct point;

Our government has not had the guts to publicly query this either. Do we have to wait a few decades for the release of the Cabinet papers?

The steaming pile that this investigation has turned into is gathering more flies by the day. I've said it before an will say it again that either China or the Yanks, or both, know exactly where the aircraft came down (when I say exactly I mean within a reasonably accurate search grid). The spy satellite technology is second to none and the 'birds' would have known where the plane came down. Furthermore, if there was a Nuke Sub within a few thousand nautical miles, and I would say there are more than one traversing those very waters, it would have also detected the impact sound. So the Governments can play with themselves all they want to, but not the entire world is asleep at the wheel and they should stop insulting our intelligence.

As for Ben's work, it is excellent. Perhaps Ben should be the one sitting at a board table, basking in glory and accolades and mi mi mi-ing in front of a giant glass of water, because Beaker is as useful as a Carboard cutout! Wait a minute, I forgot, he is a Carboard cutout.........on second thoughts, can we pull those TRIM files to see what they contain???

"Unsafe sky cover-ups for all"

you make me laugh Gobbles, on the subject of Beaker - I see the MMSM managed to get yet another pearl of wisdom from the super sleuth commissioner in the latest update on MH370   

MH370 recovery set to leave aircraft on sea floor  

Media Speculation Over Flight MH370 Runs Rampant5:29

• Play video
  

STILL MISSING. Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 disappeared on March 8, 2014, on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. Source: Getty Source: Getty Images 
 
MOST of the wreckage of MH370 will be left on the ocean floor when it is eventually found by searchers.  

Despite the complete absence of any debris being found, search organisers are well advanced in the process of contracting a company to undertake the recovery operation.
But it seems almost certain any effort will focus simply on components required for the investigation, such as the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder.



TOUGH GOING. Fugro Discovery experiencing bad weather in the search for MH370. Picture: by ABIS Chris Beerens, RAN. Source: Supplied 


An Australian Transport Safety Bureau spokesman said plans for recovery activities in the event the aircraft was found, were agreed to by Ministers from Malaysia, Australia and China at a meeting last month.

“The plans are not a public document at present,” said the spokesman.
“However it is not expected that it would be necessary to recover the entire aircraft but rather selected components.”

Shortlist assembled

He said a short list of suppliers had been identified from the request for expression of interest process for the recovery operation.

WHAT HAPPENED? The theories about MH370’s disappearance
“The formal contracting of services for recovery will only occur if and when MH370 is positively identified,” the spokesman said.



DISCOVERY. The search for MH370 has so far uncovered an uncharted shipwreck but not the missing aircraft. Pic: ATSB via Getty Images Source: Getty Images 

It is not clear if the recovery will include the bodies of the 239 people on board, including six Australians.

The Malaysia Airlines flight disappeared on March 8 last year, on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

MH370: New ‘credible theory’ where plane went down

The lack of floating debris from the aircraft has been described as “not unusual” by ATSB Commissioner Martin Dolan, who said any flotsam was now likely in the middle of the Indian Ocean, or on the sea floor.

Winter stand-down

The search effort in the Southern Indian Ocean has been scaled down considerably for the winter months when bad weather will hamper the use of sensitive sonar equipment.
However crews have already moved out of the initial 60,000 square kilometre “priority area” into the expanded zone covering a total of 120,000 square kilometres of seabed.

MH 370 The theories

FOR 12 months, the world has waited and wondered about the fate of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370 and the 239 onboard - a mystery so out of step with modern day technology no-one has been able to find it nor work out what happened.

Freak Fire
Sabotage
It Landed
Shot Down
Controls Hacked
Wild Weather
Pilot Suicide
Terrorists
Expert's View

Disclaimer: The plane in this interactive is for illustrative purposes only.

“Expert advice is that the highest probability of locating the aircraft is within the 120,000 square kilometre search area,” said the ATSB’s latest operational update.
“Beyond that, it is not possible to refine the search area to one of greater likelihood.”

To date the search operation has cost around $60 million with Australia and Malaysia jointly footing the bill.

Each country is expected to stump up another $50 million for the expanded search, and any recovery.

In case you missed it Gobbles here was the Beaker quote...

"..The lack of floating debris from the aircraft has been described as “not unusual” by ATSB Commissioner Martin Dolan, who said any flotsam was now likely in the middle of the Indian Ocean, or on the sea floor.."

So there you go (Simon Gunson et.al), there is the answer for the total lack of MH370 flotsam - from our resident ATSB search guru - it is in the middle of the Indian Ocean or sunk...FFS!

MTF...P2

[Minnie Banister]

I do hope, so very much that they get this poor man to somewhere where he can be cared for properly. It's the stress of it all and the rotten media will not leave hime alone; always hounding the poor dear.

Perhaps I'll call his Mum; or Karen, yes, she would love to see to him. He looks like he needs a good seeing to.

[Gobbledock]

Solid work Beaker. Some of the most nauseating pony pooh I ever thought imaginable;

"..The lack of floating debris from the aircraft has been described as “not unusual” by ATSB Commissioner Martin Dolan, who said any flotsam was now likely in the middle of the Indian Ocean, or on the sea floor.."

And this my friends is stated by the king Muppet, the man put in charge of this entirely shambolic clusterf#ck. The only thing floating is the brown matter that rolls off his tongue and down his on/off beard! Sorry, did I hear somebody ask 'what specific skill set Beaker has that enables him to lead such a high level investigation'? Ok, here is his work history for those who aren't aware, such as the entire world!! As follows;

Beaker has worked as a Commonwealth public servant for 30 years. Prior to the ATSB, he was Chief Executive Officer of Comcare, with responsibility for the occupational health and safety and workers' compensation of Commonwealth employees. Prior to this and several other roles including flogging off airport assets to land developers, Beaker had undertaken various corporate management roles in the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry. He started his public service career in 1980 with AusAid.

So folks, there you have it. He has nothing in common with being a world class accident investigator or understanding the first thing about such activities. Nope, just a career bureaucrat sponging of the taxpayer while living the life of a King. I hope the families of the MH370 victims are aware of all this, and if not they ought to be. If they research the words 'Pelair' and 'Karen Casey' they might get wind of the ride they are in for. It ain't pretty. But hey, at least one of his methodologies hasn't changed - just leave the wreck laying at the bottom of the ocean. Look after the pennies and they will take care of the pounds, so to speak....

[Peetwo]

Solid work Beaker. Some of the most nauseating pony pooh I ever thought imaginable;

"..The lack of floating debris from the aircraft has been described as “not unusual” by ATSB Commissioner Martin Dolan, who said any flotsam was now likely in the middle of the Indian Ocean, or on the sea floor.."

And this my friends is stated by the king Muppet, the man put in charge of this entirely shambolic clusterf#ck. The only thing floating is the brown matter that rolls off his tongue and down his on/off beard! Sorry, did I hear somebody ask 'what specific skill set Beaker has that enables him to lead such a high level investigation'? Ok, here is his work history for those who aren't aware, such as the entire world!! As follows;

Beaker has worked as a Commonwealth public servant for 30 years. Prior to the ATSB, he was Chief Executive Officer of Comcare, with responsibility for the occupational health and safety and workers' compensation of Commonwealth employees. Prior to this and several other roles including flogging off airport assets to land developers, Beaker had undertaken various corporate management roles in the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry. He started his public service career in 1980 with AusAid.

So folks, there you have it. He has nothing in common with being a world class accident investigator or understanding the first thing about such activities. Nope, just a career bureaucrat sponging of the taxpayer while living the life of a King. I hope the families of the MH370 victims are aware of all this, and if not they ought to be. If they research the words 'Pelair' and 'Karen Casey' they might get wind of the ride they are in for. It ain't pretty. But hey, at least one of his methodologies hasn't changed - just leave the wreck laying at the bottom of the ocean. Look after the pennies and they will take care of the pounds, so to speak....

Right Muppet for the job.

The Muppet's CV speaks volumes about the former Minister for non-aviation Albo & the Murky Mandarins' cynical decision to appoint Beaker as CC of the bureau. I am reliably informed that there was at least one candidate on the shortlist that was far superior in credentials & experience than the Muppet AAI wannabe.

The trouble is that candidate would not have been prepared to be the miniscule's handmaiden and agree to betray the good principles of AAI enshrined in ICAO Annex 13. From the PelAir cover-up - if nothing else - Beaker now has a proven track record (more than 5 years) as a consummate, psychopathic liar. Some would say he is indeed the perfect Muppet for the job of obfuscating the MH370 SIO search??-

The latest Ben Sandiland's post on MH370 perhaps further highlights why it is that the Beaker led ATSB got the MH370 SIO search gig over any other agency/government department (e.g. AMSA or Defence Dept):

MH370 non-recovery of remains, and other clues, has to be a joke

Ben Sandilands | May 26, 2015 11:30PM |


Prayers and anger over MH370. Don't the authorities understand this is about people?

The ground work is being laid for what appears to be the ultimate betrayal of the next of kin of those lost on Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, the non recovery of bodies and other potentially vital clues.

After beginning to work hints into the search progress reports about how the wreckage, if found, will only be recovered if possible, more concise stories are appearing saying most of the Boeing 777-200ER will be left on the floor of the south Indian Ocean.
Who do the Malaysians think they are kidding? Apart from lying about what they knew early about this baffling accident, it seems like there is a determined move underway to avoid recovering any personal smart phones or tablets on which important evidence as to what took place on board might have been recorded.

It’s one thing too for the Australian government to suppress elsewhere evidence of alleged corrupt behaviour involving senior Malaysia figures over a business deal involving an Australian enterprise, and  another to risk being made a party to a cover up of the truth about this air disaster.

How grubby does the Australian government want this to get?

When the wreckage of Air France flight AF447 was found almost two years after it crashed in the mid Atlantic in 2009 not just the flight data recorders were recovered, but large chunks of wreckage including the identifiable remains of 104 passengers  to add to the 50 that had been retrieved in the days after the crash from the ocean surface.
The wreckage was found on an abyssal plain at  depth of 3980 metres. That sad operation brought closure to many of the next of kin of the 228 people killed in that appalling accident.

But important though the recovery of bodies and personal effects of the victims of MH370 would be, the limited ambit of a future recovery operation seems inherently not just to hurt the next of kin, but remove any risk that phone or computer SIM or memory chips will contain crucial information.

The Malaysian authorities and government, and the Australian managed sea bed search effort, simply cannot be allowed to shut down the discovery of such evidence.
The fact that such stories about a limited recovery are being placed more widely in the media and woven into the official narratives implies a determination to avoid the truth becoming known, whatever it might be.

If the authorities don’t like the inferences being drawn about a cover up, they ought to reflect on the statements they have been making, and commit fully to a future recovery operation that is as comprehensive as it is possible to be, as well as totally transparent.

At the moment, it all reeks of a softening up exercise for an announcement of a much awaited discovery of the major sunk pieces of wreckage from MH370.

 
No comment required...

MTF...P2
 

[Peetwo]

Off the wires in recent days there was many MSM versions of this News.com story...

Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 search is the most expensive mission in aviation history  

• by: MATT YOUNG
  
• From: news.com.au
  
• 21 hours ago May 29, 2015 1:51PM
  

A Fugro autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) launched from the Australian-contracted survey ship M/V Fugro Discovery scans the ocean floor for the missing flight. Source: Supplied

“I’M not an Australian taxpayer, but if I was, I would be very mad to see money being spent like that.”  

Experts have raised concerns over the handling of the Australian-led search mission of Flight MH370, now the most expensive mission in aviation history.
News Corp’s National Aviation Writer Robyn Ironside reports that “to date, about $60 million has been spent on the search with Australia and Malaysia splitting the cost.
“Both countries have committed another $50 million towards the search effort, and recovery — should the aircraft be found.”

MH370: The Unending Search26:11

• Play video
  

But the search has become so bogged in politics, experts believe the devices used to scour the ocean floor are unsuitable for the task at hand, with claims Dutch company Fugro NV is using inappropriate technology for the deep underwater terrain and inexperienced personnel for hunting man-made objects is hindering plans to keep the project going.

Two Fugro ships scan the ocean floor using a process called “mowing the lawn”, which involves travelling up and down 2.4km wide strips of sea pulling sonar equipment with it.
It is this technique that provides images from the deep sea.



The remains of this shipwreck was detected using technology scoured by Fugro. Source: Getty Images 

The third Fugro ship, used to scan gaps left by the other two ships, was pulled from the mission earlier this month due to deteriorating weather conditions.

Fugro, contracted by the Australian government to operate the search over a 60,000km zone, has rejected the claims their search is ineffective, and they are using the wrong equipment, saying their gear is rigorously tested.

But that denial hasn’t stopped further questions.

“Fugro is a big company but they don’t have any experience in this kind of search and it’s really a very specialised job,” Paul-Henry Nargeolet, hired by France’s air investigation agency BEA to head up the search and recovery efforts of Air France Flight AF447 in 2009, told Reuters.

“This is a big job. I’m not an Australian taxpayer, but if I was, I would be very mad to see money being spent like that.”



Previous searches have found objects on the ocean floor, but not the missing plane. Source: Supplied 

Since the plane disappeared from radar during a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8 last year, along with its 239 passengers and crew, it has become one of the modern world’s greatest unsolved mysteries.

While search and rescue teams have scoured 48,000 square kilometres of the southern Indian Ocean, not a trace of evidence has been found.

“It makes no sense to be using fine scale tools to cover a massive area; it is like mowing an entire wheat field with a household lawnmower,” Rob McCallum, a vice-president at Williamson & Associates — a company who bid for the MH370 search contract — told Reuters.



A previous map indicating the MH370 search area. Source: Supplied 

Earlier this month, Australia, Malaysia and China agreed to widen the search area, to 120,000 sq km. It is unclear whether all teams involved will take part in the extended search area.

And now, as companies begin to pull major resources from the mission, the question over Australia’s input into the multi-million dollar project remains.

The Joint Agency Coordination Centre (JACC), established by the Australian government to coordinate the search, confirmed the mission’s best search vessel, the Go Phoenix, armed with the most sought after deep sea search equipment, will pull out of the operation in a matter of weeks.



Humaam Dhonmamk, 17, looked up from his families backyard and points to where he saw a large plane fly low not far from his home on the tiny island of Kudahuvadhoo in the southern Maldives. Source: News Corp Australia 

Meanwhile, industry insiders agree it will be difficult to find the plane, with three agencies who were denied the initial MH370 contract all detailing their concerns to Australian authorities, Reuters reports.

They believe unless the vessels pass directly over the plane, the ship’s radars will be unable to locate it.

“I have serious concerns that the MH370 search operation may not be able to convincingly demonstrate that 100 per cent sea floor coverage is being achieved,” Mike Williamson, founder and president of Williamson & Associates told Reuters, who questioned the data being released by Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB).
Australia took over the search mission in March 2014, three weeks after the flight’s disappearance.

The search area was determined after satellite data revealed where the plane was most likely to have crashed, after veering off course six hours before running out of fuel and crashing into the southern Indian Ocean.

MH 370 The theories
FOR 12 months, the world has waited and wondered about the fate of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370 and the 239 onboard - a mystery so out of step with modern day technology no-one has been able to find it nor work out what happened.
Freak Fire
Sabotage
It Landed
Shot Down
Controls Hacked
Wild Weather
Pilot Suicide
Terrorists
Expert's View



MH370 search vessel Go Phoenix being resupplied in Fremantle to continue the search for the missing plane.. Source: Supplied   

Hmm...wonder how long it is before the Muppet again leaks to the Press?
[*]Simply Marvellous Horse-pooh - Beaker the media magnet.

[*]
[*]MTF...P2

Ps MIA Q/ Where the hell is Chris Manning??


Pps This is the sort of headline that Tony Abbott, Farmer Truss & his minion Beaker will be looking forward to from now on:

[*] 
[url=https://twitter.com/Thefinnigans/status/604228460530114561/photo/1][/url]

[Gobbledock]

I might have to read that again!!

[Peetwo]

This is the sort of headlines that Tony Abbott, Farmer Truss & his minion Beaker will be looking forward to from now on:




[*] 
[/url]

[*]

Tendentious blogger (Beaker defined) Ben Sandilands is back on Oz terra firma and firmly back in the saddle...

Malaysia Airlines briefing fails to answer key questions
[url=http://blogs.crikey.com.au/planetalking/author/bensandilands/]Ben Sandilands | Jun 01, 2015 8:54PM




This next of kin of a person who vanished with MH370 wants answers, not a new image
No matter how carefully today’s restructuring briefing by Malaysia Airlines is gone over, there is much that remains uncertain.

Including its future naming and branding, the full extent of route and frequency changes, and the changes that will come to the fleet.

Anyone sensitive to the misery and anger that the loss of MH370 caused might have had their gag reflex tested.

Talking about new flat beds here, and improved club rooms there is seriously inappropriate when the fundamentals as to how and why 239 people died on 8 March 2014 in the disappearance of a 777 on its way between Kuala Lumpur and Beijing remain not just unknown but subject to an incoherent and inconsistent narrative by Malaysia’s authorities.

It is true the new management under chief executive Christoph Mueller has to say something. It is true he has to restructure the carrier. And it is reassuring to hear that the Australian routes are very important to the new Malaysia Airlines that will be ready to transcend the current ‘technically bankrupt’  version by September.

But let’s cut the guff about how good it will be until that rotten nasty deep seated stench of a baffling disaster is dispelled by some much needed candid, consistent and verifiable disclosures about MH370 in particular.

This is said without wishing to diminish or forget the loss of 298 lives aboard MH17, four months later than MH370,  under such brutal circumstances as a mid air explosion by a missile deliberately fired with a view to destroying an aircraft in Ukraine airspace, even if it is shown that a civilian airliner wasn’t intended to be the target of hostilities in that country.

Why should those who need to fly between Malaysia and Australia even begin to trust the new MH when we can’t even get our heads around the enormity of what has happened since early last year?

Until that happens, nothing that purports to be a national carrier taking over the role of Malaysia Airlines can escape from the past.

We don’t want clap trap about flat beds, nor lounges, nor other promises of a new beginning, until we have some truth about the past.

[*]

I also thought the comment from Allan Moyes was particularly poignant...

Allan Moyes
Posted June 2, 2015 at 7:34 am | Permalink

I quite agree with what you say and can’t see a “restructuring” doing anything to improve the fortunes of Malaysia Airlines, whatever it is to be called and wherever it might cut routes. I certainly wouldn’t fly them again no matter if they call themselves Safest Airlines, nor will I be visiting Malaysia, for a variety of reasons.

What is it with airlines that they think a change of name, a touch of paint etc will magically make unpalatable truths disappear? Germanwings is another one about to be rebranded (although I think this might have been in the pipeline before the unfortunate circumstances there).

"The Malaysian government stinks higher than any of their aircraft can fly and Australia bends its knee rather than telling them to PO out of Australian airspace until they provide answers. Of course, there would be unfortunate circumstances in that situation as the relevant authorities here might have to disclose what they know (or don’t know).

Reading stories, not just on this forum, is quickly making me lose confidence in airline safety in this country. Unfortunately there aren’t too many ships sailing to the US or Europe on a regular basis these days unless you want a “party” cruise at some considerable cost and time.

[*]
Well said Allan....

Tick tock miniscule Truss, tick tock indeed...

MTF...P2

[Peetwo]

Latest MH370 SIO operational update 

Operational Update


At the request of the Malaysian Government, Australia has accepted responsibility for the search for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) is leading the underwater search for MH370 in the southern Indian Ocean.

Joint Agency Coordination Centre

MH370 Operational Search Update

3 June 2015

This operational report has been developed to provide regular updates on the progress of the search effort for MH370. Our work will continue to be thorough and methodical, so sometimes weekly progress may seem slow.  Please be assured that work is continuing and is aimed at finding MH370 as quickly as possible.

Key developments this week

• Fugro Equator arrived back in the search area on 29 May and recommenced search operations.
  
• On 30 May, foul weather forced all three search vessels – GO Phoenix, Fugro Equator and Fugro Discovery - to retrieve their towfish, as the conditions prevented safe search operations. Search operations have not yet recommenced.
  
• Fugro Equator is using the hiatus to conduct bathymetric survey operations, mapping additional areas of the seafloor which may be incorporated into the search.
  
• The ATSB released a statement affirming the capabilities of the search operation. 
  
  

Underwater search

As announced in April, the search area has been expanded beyond an original 60,000 square kilometre search area to enable up to 120,000 square kilometres to be searched if required. In the absence of credible new information that leads to the identification of a specific location of the aircraft, Governments have agreed that there will be no further expansion of the search area.

Search operations have been modified and Fugro vessels have undergone winterisation to enable continuous search operations during winter, as well as to ensure that the required area is searched as quickly and effectively as possible. Over coming weeks, search operations will be focused in the south to take advantage of the last of the better weather in that area prior to the expected onset of continuous poor weather during winter. Safety of the search crews, as always, remains a priority and vessels and equipment utilised will vary to reflect operational needs, particularly during winter months.

Upon completion of the current swing, the current contract with Phoenix International will expire and GO Phoenix will cease search operations and transit to Singapore. This will occur near the end of June.

More than 50,000 square kilometres of the seafloor have been searched so far.

Click map to enlarge

[i]Click map to enlarge[/i]
 
The Search Strategy Working Group continues to review evidence associated with MH370 which may result in further refinement of, or prioritisation within, the search area.
In the event the aircraft is found and accessible, Australia, Malaysia and the People’s Republic of China have agreed to plans for recovery activities including securing all the evidence necessary for the accident investigation.

Weather
Conditions in the search area are currently rough, with average wave heights of over six metres. The weather is projected to deteriorate further over the coming days, with expected maximum wave heights reaching up to 12 metres before conditions improve. Search operations will continue through the winter months, but pauses are anticipated.

GO Phoenix experiences rough sea conditions in the southern Indian Ocean. The two blue shipping containers on the deck serve as portable workspaces, in which members of the search team conduct towfish operations and maintenance.


Source: Hydrospheric Solutions Inc, image by Ryan Galloway & Joshua Phillips.
 
GO Phoenix experiences rough sea conditions in the southern Indian Ocean. The two blue shipping containers on the deck serve as portable workspaces, in which members of the search team conduct towfish operations and maintenance.


Source: Hydrospheric Solutions Inc, image by Ryan Galloway & Joshua Phillips.
 

Check out those Go Phoenix pics all awash...not much fun..


MTF...P2

[Peetwo]

Latest MH370 SIO operational update 

Operational Update


At the request of the Malaysian Government, Australia has accepted responsibility for the search for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) is leading the underwater search for MH370 in the southern Indian Ocean.

Joint Agency Coordination Centre

MH370 Operational Search Update

3 June 2015

This operational report has been developed to provide regular updates on the progress of the search effort for MH370. Our work will continue to be thorough and methodical, so sometimes weekly progress may seem slow.  Please be assured that work is continuing and is aimed at finding MH370 as quickly as possible.

Key developments this week

• Fugro Equator arrived back in the search area on 29 May and recommenced search operations.
  
• On 30 May, foul weather forced all three search vessels – GO Phoenix, Fugro Equator and Fugro Discovery - to retrieve their towfish, as the conditions prevented safe search operations. Search operations have not yet recommenced.
  
• Fugro Equator is using the hiatus to conduct bathymetric survey operations, mapping additional areas of the seafloor which may be incorporated into the search.
  
• The ATSB released a statement affirming the capabilities of the search operation. 
  
  

Underwater search

As announced in April, the search area has been expanded beyond an original 60,000 square kilometre search area to enable up to 120,000 square kilometres to be searched if required. In the absence of credible new information that leads to the identification of a specific location of the aircraft, Governments have agreed that there will be no further expansion of the search area.

Search operations have been modified and Fugro vessels have undergone winterisation to enable continuous search operations during winter, as well as to ensure that the required area is searched as quickly and effectively as possible. Over coming weeks, search operations will be focused in the south to take advantage of the last of the better weather in that area prior to the expected onset of continuous poor weather during winter. Safety of the search crews, as always, remains a priority and vessels and equipment utilised will vary to reflect operational needs, particularly during winter months.

Upon completion of the current swing, the current contract with Phoenix International will expire and GO Phoenix will cease search operations and transit to Singapore. This will occur near the end of June.

More than 50,000 square kilometres of the seafloor have been searched so far.

Click map to enlarge

[i]Click map to enlarge[/i]
 
The Search Strategy Working Group continues to review evidence associated with MH370 which may result in further refinement of, or prioritisation within, the search area.
In the event the aircraft is found and accessible, Australia, Malaysia and the People’s Republic of China have agreed to plans for recovery activities including securing all the evidence necessary for the accident investigation.

Weather
Conditions in the search area are currently rough, with average wave heights of over six metres. The weather is projected to deteriorate further over the coming days, with expected maximum wave heights reaching up to 12 metres before conditions improve. Search operations will continue through the winter months, but pauses are anticipated.

GO Phoenix experiences rough sea conditions in the southern Indian Ocean. The two blue shipping containers on the deck serve as portable workspaces, in which members of the search team conduct towfish operations and maintenance.


Source: Hydrospheric Solutions Inc, image by Ryan Galloway & Joshua Phillips.
 
GO Phoenix experiences rough sea conditions in the southern Indian Ocean. The two blue shipping containers on the deck serve as portable workspaces, in which members of the search team conduct towfish operations and maintenance.


Source: Hydrospheric Solutions Inc, image by Ryan Galloway & Joshua Phillips.
 

Check out those Go Phoenix pics all awash...not much fun..

Also from the New Strait Times Online today:

MH370: Search will not be expanded further, says Australia

SYDNEY: The hunt for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 will not be expanded beyond its current search area unless there are specific new leads, Australian officials said today.

In April, more than a year after the plane vanished en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 mostly Chinese people on board, Malaysia, Australia and China announced that the search zone would double in size.

This boosted the area of the remote southern Indian Ocean being scoured by three specialist vessels to 120,000 square kilometres (46,300 square miles).

But it will not be expanded any further, the Australian-led Joint Agency Coordination Centre (JACC) said in an update.

“In the absence of credible new information that leads to the identification of a specific location of the aircraft, governments have agreed that there will be no further expansion of the search area,” it said.

The hunt for the aircraft, which disappeared on March 8 last year, has been a complex undertaking, with Australia initially concentrating on a remote 60,000 square kilometre area of the ocean far off its west coast.

The zone was determined by analysing data from satellite signals which indicate the plane went down in the Indian Ocean after mysteriously diverting.

More than 50,000 square kilometres of the seafloor have been scoured so far with no trace of the jet, JACC said, and with the onset of winter and poor weather the operation is slowing down.

The deep underwater search, using sonar equipment after the ocean floor was closely mapped last year, is currently suspended with waves reaching up to 12 metres (39 feet), although ships remain on the scene.

It will continue once conditions improve but be scaled back with one of the vessels, GO Phoenix, ceasing operations and returning to Singapore near the end of June.

A fourth vessel previously involved in the search, Fugro Supporter, was withdrawn in May amid the worsening conditions.

“Safety of the search crews, as always, remains a priority and vessels and equipment utilised will vary to reflect operational needs, particularly during winter months,” JACC said.

“Search operations will continue through the winter months, but pauses are anticipated.”--AFP

Australia’s Joint Agency Coordination Centre say search for missing MH370 will no be extended beyond its current search area unless there are specific new leads. File pic.

Australia’s Joint Agency Coordination Centre say search for missing MH370 will no be extended beyond its current search area unless there are specific new leads. File pic.

& from Planetalking...

MH370 search fleet to be halved as hopes of success fade

Ben Sandilands | Jun 03, 2015 4:45PM |


Why the crew working tow fish from GO Phoenix don't often step onto the deck for a break

The original four ship sea floor search fleet looking for the wreckage of missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 is about to be halved to two.

The latest search update found on the JACC and ATSB sites strikes a much more resigned tone that the cautiously optimistic commentary that came from the meeting between Malaysia, China and Australia in April at which it was agreed to double the search zone area if nothing was found by the end of May.

The imminent withdrawal of GO Phoenix at the end of its current contract means the task of using deep sea towed side scanning sonar devices will fall to two Fugro Discovery company vessels, and with bad southern winter weather taken into account and 50,000 square kilometres out of an enlarged 120,000 square kilometres area left to be searched, progress will be very slow.

Unless of course, the wreckage is at last found.

The latest bulletin segues into the bad news, burying the message that if nothing is found within the enlarged area, then it’s all over.

In the absence of credible new information that leads to the identification of a specific location of the aircraft, Governments have agreed that there will be no further expansion of the search area.

Amid all of the briefings that were captured by media reports in April during the tripartite search effort discussions, it was never put that bluntly.

The photo at the top of the page does however illustrate how bad the conditions in the enlarged search zone are expected to be during the southern hemisphere winter.  Those two blue shipping containers house the workplaces used for conducting and maintaining the tow fish operations from the wave battered deck of soon to withdraw GO Phoenix.

 
MTF...P2

[Peetwo]

MH370 search fleet to be halved as hopes of success fade

Ben Sandilands | Jun 03, 2015 4:45PM |


Why the crew working tow fish from GO Phoenix don't often step onto the deck for a break

The original four ship sea floor search fleet looking for the wreckage of missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 is about to be halved to two.

The latest search update found on the JACC and ATSB sites strikes a much more resigned tone that the cautiously optimistic commentary that came from the meeting between Malaysia, China and Australia in April at which it was agreed to double the search zone area if nothing was found by the end of May.

The imminent withdrawal of GO Phoenix at the end of its current contract means the task of using deep sea towed side scanning sonar devices will fall to two Fugro Discovery company vessels, and with bad southern winter weather taken into account and 50,000 square kilometres out of an enlarged 120,000 square kilometres area left to be searched, progress will be very slow.

Unless of course, the wreckage is at last found.

The latest bulletin segues into the bad news, burying the message that if nothing is found within the enlarged area, then it’s all over.

In the absence of credible new information that leads to the identification of a specific location of the aircraft, Governments have agreed that there will be no further expansion of the search area.

Amid all of the briefings that were captured by media reports in April during the tripartite search effort discussions, it was never put that bluntly.

The photo at the top of the page does however illustrate how bad the conditions in the enlarged search zone are expected to be during the southern hemisphere winter.  Those two blue shipping containers house the workplaces used for conducting and maintaining the tow fish operations from the wave battered deck of soon to withdraw GO Phoenix.

 

I thought these comments from Anton on Ben's blog post (above) was worth regurgitating... :

[*] Anton Szautner
Posted June 4, 2015 at 1:56 pm | Permalink
I would never have thought it possible that a disaster of this magnitude – yes, involving lives lost – could ever be topped by such extraordinarily evil secret-keeping and feigned competence on the part of the players in the aftermath.

It boggles any attempt at comprehension.

One may confidently assume that the people responsible for the various aspects of this debacle will never rest easy to the end of their days; to these, we might suggest they might as well come clean, the sooner the better.

If not, they can try it (and us) the hard way and attempt to keep their back ends covered. The entire world will continue to watch and be constantly ready to remind the principals involved that truth has a nasty and robust habit of hatching out into the bright glare of public examination, whether anyone likes it or not.

In the end, the effort required to keep things under wraps becomes a measure not of strategic cleverness, but of abject stupidity…and entry into the hallowed halls of history of a despicable flavor of character only honesty can ever hope to clean.

[*] Anton Szautner
Posted June 4, 2015 at 2:00 pm | Permalink
Ditto Simon Gunson: “The truth is there was no credible investigation.”

[*]
I hate to say it but there was a few of us on here who predicted this outcome when it was announced that the Dolan led ATSB had been put in charge of the MH370 SIO deep sea underwater search -  e.g:

P7 - "..As slowly, but inevitably, the world arrives at the same conclusion..  How is the world to view an ATSB with a track record like Australia's? when credibility is all.   I will not mention the politicians who believed, categorically, that the ATSB under Dolan could solve the puzzle.."

Sheikh - "...Beaker certainly does not fit the bill. He's not capable of investigating a coffee spill on the flight deck, yet alone a fatal prang! ICAO WHERE ARE YOU? DO YOU HAVE FAITH IN THE ATSB???? I don't, nor does any qualified accident investigator world wide. I've spoken to the heads of the NTSB and FAA and they are literally rolling around the floor in laughter every time our clown Beaker opens his mouth..."
MTF...P2  

[Peetwo]

In recent days there has been many regurgitated versions of this story (courtesy of the Huffington Post):

MH370 Malaysia Airlines Flight: Mystery Of Missing Debris Explained By Mathematicians

Huffington Post UK  |  By Sara C Nelson
Posted: 09/06/2015 11:37 BST Updated: 10/06/2015 10:59 BST

A team of academics has come up with a series of complex mathematical formulas in a bid to unravel the mysterious disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.


The Beijing-bound Boeing 777 disappeared from radar with all 239 souls on board on 8 March last year, an hour into its departure from Kuala Lumpur.

It is largely assumed to have crashed into the Indian Ocean but no wreckage has been found and this month investigators announced they will not expand the search zone for the missing aircraft.
[/url]

The team puts the aircraft's 'nose-dive' entry into the water at a pitch angle of −90◦

Theories abound as to what happened to the plane and now experts have created a mathematical model which they believe explains just why no debris has ever been located.

The team, comprising members from Texas A&M, Penn State, Virginia Tech, MIT and the Qatar Environment and Energy Research Institute, was led by Dr Goong Chen and presented its findings in the April 2015 edition of Notices of the American Mathematical Society.

It created five simulation models detailing the various ways the aircraft may have landed in the Indian Ocean [a “water entry problem"].

Among the simulations was a “smooth gliding water entry” as occurred in the case of US Airways Flight 1549, which was landed on the Hudson River by Captain Chelsey Sullenberger in 1999 with no loss of life.

Chesley Sullenberger's safe landing of Flight 1549 in the Hudson River made him a worldwide hero

This was discounted as having occurred with MH370, as “ditching a large airplane on the open Indian Ocean generally would involve waves of height several meters or more, easily causing breakup and the leak of debris.”

The study surmised the most likely scenario was that of a “nose-dive water-entry or a water-entry with a steep pitch angle”.

This theory also surmises that the steep angle is likely to have contributed to preserving the aircraft's fuselage.


It puts the pitch angle of the approaching plane at −90◦, with an angle of approach at 93◦ and assumes the ocean current flows from left to right at a velocity of 2m/sec.



The report adds: “Then, once the aircraft enters the water, the current gradually drives the aircraft towards the 5 o’clock direction. Eventually this could cause it to fall on the ocean floor belly up.”

“If an aircraft stalls in a climb, or if any control surfaces—ailerons, rudder, or stabilizers— malfunction, or if it runs out of fuel and the autopilot stops working (while the pilots are incapacitated or if the action is deliberate), it can fall into a steep nose-dive or even vertical drop."


Upon entry into the water:

“ …The wings and tail would be torn away and the fuselage could reach a depth of 30 meters or 40 meters within seconds, then sink without resurfacing. Wing pieces and other heavy debris would descend soon afterward. Whether buoyant debris from the passenger cabin—things like foam seat cushions, seatback tables and plastic drinking water bottles—would bob up to the surface would depend on whether the fuselage ruptured on impact, and how bad the damage was. 'It may have gone in almost complete somehow, and not left much on the surface,” said Jason Middleton, an aviation professor at Australia’s University of New South Wales.…' This may well offer a powerful clue as to why, so frustratingly, none of the debris of MH370 has been found so far.”

While the team’s research puts this as the most compelling explanation, it concedes: “The mystery of the final moments of MH370 is likely to remain until someday when its black box is found and decoded.”

You can read the full mathematical analysis [url=http://www.ams.org/notices/201504/rnoti-p330.pdf]here.

Inevitably the presented theory has been reviewed and discounted by many who are more than qualified to comment, examples:

[*] Victor Iannello ‏@RadiantPhysics Jun 9
Here's why the recent paper by Chen et al. cannot be used to justify the lack of floating debris for #MH370. pic.twitter.com/IrGTs67ZXH

[*]..or maybe just a little bit more embellished.. ..there is this from Julian Bray:

Is the academic mathematics of missing MH 370, a new clue or adding confusion to its demise?





Julian Bray writes: Returning to the tragic mystery of MH370... It is said that some mathematicians have now worked out why MH370 seemingly crashed and vanished without trace. The team led by mathematician Goong Chen from Texas A&M University in Qatar, "used applied mathematics and computational fluid dynamics to conduct numerical simulations on the RAAD Supercomputer of a Boeing 777 plunging into the ocean".  


The boffins claim their numbers suggest the aircraft dived straight down into the ocean, and at very high speed, it would according to their modelling have drilled itself deep into the seabed.

Silt and the fast flowing undercurrents would then have covered the aircraft leaving no trace. Any debris being trapped and sucked down with the pencil like projectile. Well that is as far as it goes, and to the casual observer, a possibility. But it is just another suggestion, and brings us no closer to figuring it all out. Working behind the scenes, helped by the regional resources of a major media group, several ideas have been tested and some interesting sightings and ideas followed up.

Most of the sightings have however been confirmed as upturned boats or even a whale. Nothing repeat nothing has been found so far.

But back to our mathematicians, this is why it won't work. ....

Leaving aside pages of calculus, they forget that even if the aircraft is dropping out of the sky nose first there is the matter of windshear, sideways gusts of air, and underwater - we'll call it watershear - these elements alone will always deflect and buffet the falling object.

We can prove it with a simple piece of schoolboy science. We need a filled 25 gallon water butt and 6 inch nail suspended dead centre over the open ends of the water butt. The objective is for the nail point down to hit the bottom of the water butt - dead centre ie no deviation. It won't happen, there will always be an element of deviation.

Transpose this to the ocean, scale up the falling object to airframe size, add wings, possibly a tail section unless that has parted company with the falling object and repeat.

On the way down, first windshear then as it hits sea level the object will deflect, even if the wings detach. The deviation may well cause the whole structure to glide sideways or spiral down. There also a slight possibility, a Hudson River style landing/ditching might have been a factor.

The argument goes the falling plane on autopilot levels off at speed, and skims, possibly bounces a few times over the water, then powers on over a deserted narrow beach/sand bar and  possibly scythes neatly into, and underneath a fast growing verdant jungle canopy overhead. Where the whole structure come to rest. Like a magicians magic trick, it vanishes.....

All on board may well have by this time expired. Possibly starved of oxygen by faulty cabin pressurisation or by the phenomenon of  contaminated 'bleed air' being fed from the jet engines into the cabin air system?

The aircraft having run on autopilot and effectively burned off all fuel reserves, would not automatically burst into flames as the accelerant would already be spent and the fumes left not sufficient to ignite.

This process also suggests the engines had shut down, and in the final long glide would in effect cool down, so no risk of ignition from that source.

But what about the satellite skip transmissions? It could be another aircraft innocently shadowing MH 370 then turning off creating a false trail. Remember that Inmarsat had not secured a contract with this airline, although the basic kit is fitted to all aircraft of this type.

JULIAN BRAY +44(0)1733 345581, Journalist, Broadcaster, Aviation Security & Operations Expert, Travel / Maritime & Cruise Industry, EQUITY, NUJ, Broadcast COOBE ISDN ++44 (0)1733 345020 (DUAL CODEC) SKYPE: JULIAN.BRAY.UK e&oe Cell: 07944 217476 or iPhone 0743 530 3145 www.aviationcomment.com   # # # VENDOR 10476453 http://feeds.feedburner.com/BraysDuckhouseBlog  

[*]

 Hmm...er okay no comment..

Moving on, I see that Sir Tim has popped up again, with some further commentary on the ATSB MH370 SIO deep sea search:

MH370 Search Is A ‘Goose Chase’ That Will End This Year, Emirates CEO Tim Clark Says





The CEO of one of the world’s largest airlines has claimed that the search for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 is a “goose chase” which will be called off later this year.

Tim Clark, president of Dubai-based Emirates Airlines, made the comments to the Sydney Morning Herald while at an airline industry conference in Miami on Tuesday. Comparing the hunt for MH370 to the search for Amelia Earhart, Clark asserted that it will end later this year, after funding expires and the missing plane still hasn’t been found.

“I think it is only a question of time before the search is abandoned,” he said. “Do we have solutions? Do we have explanations? Cause? Reasons? No. It has sent us down a goose chase. It will be an Amelia Earhart repetition.”

The search for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 has been ongoing since the plane disappeared during a trip between Kuala Lumpur and Beijing on March 8, 2014, carrying 239 people. As the Inquisitr previously reported, the search for MH370 is being conducted in the Southern Ocean off the shores of Western Australia. Though the search area was doubled in April to 120,000 square kilometers, the governments of Australia, Malaysia, and China have agreed that it will not be expanded further if no trace of MH370 is found.

On Wednesday, the Australia Transportation Safety Bureau issued an operational update on the search for MH370, as NBC News reports. The agency related that one of the specialized search vessels had been damaged by giant waves, and asserted that severe weather conditions were hampering operations.

Clark has been outspoken in the past regarding the loss of MH370, publicly calling for new systems that prevent airplane transponders from being turned off. He has also questioned why MH370 was not tracked for a longer period of time by military radar, a stance that has led to him receiving numerous letters from the families of victims, as well as conspiracy theorists and interested parties who assert that the satellite tracking data regarding MH370 is flawed.

“I’m not going to say anything about what I think happened,” Clark asserted. “It remains an unresolved mystery. Somebody knows more about this than they are prepared to say. That is all I’m going to say.”

Despite his reference to the search as a “goose chase,” Clark also pointed out that he feels sympathetic to the families who lost loved ones aboard MH370, noting that they cannot move on without closure.

[*]
 
MTF..P2

Romeo And Juliet Act 2, scene 4, 67–73

Mercutio:

Come between us, good Benvolio, my wits faints.

Romeo:
Swits and spurs, swits and spurs, or I'll cry a match.

Mercutio:
Nay, if our wits run the wild-goose chase, I am done; for

thou hast more of the wild goose in one of thy wits than, I am

sure, I have in my whole five.