[Peetwo]

Wow have had a read of the MH370 interim report released last Sunday...   

FACTUAL INFORMATION - SAFETY INVESTIGATION FOR MH370

Still reviewing/absorbing but to say it is a big read (yawn) would be an understatement!! However when you consider there is 377 pages of radio transcripts the remaining 204 pages becomes somewhat more manageable but is there anything that really stands out (besides the ELT expired battery) that we didn't already know? Well first impressions are not really, but I do get a gut feeling that it is more about what the authors don't tell us that is far more important than what they do regurgitate verbatim??

Perhaps one of the more insightful articles covering the MH370 SAR/investigation a year down the track is the one from Clive Irving - FLIGHT 370 DID NOT DISAPPEAR.  Like all such articles it is still devoid of some critical facts but does make some pertinent observations and draws attention - that sits like a woolly Mammoth at the back of the room - to the many failings, the lack of transparency & the bizarre information vacuum & the sometimes strange conduct by various authorities & governments that are involved (in particular the Malaysian government) in the MH370 tragic mystery.

From - AN INVISIBLE PLANE AND AN INVISIBLE INVESTIGATION:

It was also pointed out to me that the foul play theory – either by the pilots or intruders - would conveniently serve industry interests far more than the discovery of a technical emergency or an operational failure for which there would be considerable legal liabilities.

 
“There are many interests here, and they don’t all necessarily align with 100 percent full and candid disclosure at an early date,” a very experienced accident investigator cautioned. “In fact, the motivation for full and candid disclosure by all parties hardly ever occurs in serious accidents, for some very important financial, political, liability and social reasons.”

     
"a cut from Occam's Razor":

"WHICH HYPOTHESIS MAKES THE FEWEST ASSUMPTIONS: THAT SOMEONE DELIBERATELY DISCONNECTED THE TRANSPONDER AND ACARS, OR THAT THEY WERE DISABLED BY AN ELECTRICAL FAILURE OR FIRE?"

From - A DIALOG WITH THE DEAF:

"IT SEEMS ABSURD TO STILL BE DEPENDENT ON A PRINCIPLE DATING FROM THE 1950s THAT ALL THE DATA REQUIRED BY CRASH INVESTIGATORS SHOULD GO DOWN WITH THE AIRPLANE."

Note: The bit that I found most disturbing and IMO simply unacceptable was this...

The IATA’s Aircraft Tracking Task Force, formed after Flight 370 was lost, and an industry team formed by the ICAO, together finally came up with this masterpiece of fudge in January: “The group will ask ICAO to debate and finalize the concept of operations as a first step in creating new global standards…” 

Observe the classic and contradictory code words: “ask” “debate” “concept” and “first step.” 

Dive into the fine print and it emerges that it would not be until 2025 that all the systems required to provide a state-of-the-art tracking system would be in place and “fully compliant.”

However for mine the most pertinent part of the Irving offering comes in the last five paragraphs and brings my post full cycle i.e. to the woolly Mammoth steadily gaining weight at the back of the room... :

...As the 777 flew west above the Straits of Malacca it passed through overlapping radar zones operated by Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. There was a lack of coordination between civilian and military radars – Thai military radar had indeed picked up the flight but did not report this until 10 days later. There was no coherent and practiced system to swing into action in an emergency and no playbook to give priority to search and rescue operations.

 
There cannot be variations in airline safety regimes according to who runs a country or how. These days everybody wants to fly everywhere. There needs to be an international standard of safety that passengers can trust is being enforced consistently, no matter on what continent. That standard has to include, as well as the airlines, the management of airports and airspace and all the background support services like airport security, maintenance checks and crew recruitment, training and regular proficiency testing of pilots.
 
And then there is the issue of the investigation. Nobody I have spoken to in the industry is happy with the way this is going. The protocols for the conduct of an investigation seem far from clear. To be sure, there is no precedent in the history of commercial aviation for the task facing the investigation into Flight 370, combining such a great loss of life with the absence of any physical evidence for this long. As one expert said to me: “We will not know what happened here to a high probability until and unless we get real and conclusive data from actual key parts of the aircraft.”
 
Not having that data is no justification for the continued lack of transparency from the investigation – after a year we should really be told, at the very least, where the primary focus of the investigation is headed. This transparency should reflect the strong public interest in understanding what has so far emerged and the implications for future passenger safety. In the absence of reliable information this has been fertile ground for speculation and conspiracy theories, all of which damages public confidence in air travel.
 
The parties to the investigation include Boeing, Rolls Royce, Malaysia Airlines and Malaysian police and regulators as well as investigative teams from the U.S., Europe, Asia and Australia. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau has restricted itself to regular technical reports on the underwater search and the science behind the choice of search area. After over-optimistic statements by the Australian prime minister and other Australian officials, the drift toward foot-in- -mouth disease was halted. None of these parties is talking or, it would seem, is aware of the outrage of their silence...

In the words of former Careflight Flight Nurse Karen Casey - a victim of our government(s) repeated denial that the PelAir cover-up indicates systemic safety issues within our aviation safety agencies...

"Just stop the BS & tell the truth!"

{For the PelAir cover-up story refer to AuntyPru blog series - Whodunnit & why? e.g.  #Whodunnit & Why : Chapter 3.5 – In the eyes of the investigator & TOE }

MTF..P2