[Peetwo]

DOI archive entry: 22/09/16 - ATSB Debris (preliminary) analysis No. 4.

Via ATSB website:

Debris Report 4 (22 September 2016)
Published: 22 September 2016
Debris examination – update No. 4
Preliminary examination of two items of debris recovered near Sainte Luce, Madagascar

Introduction
Two items of fibreglass-honeycomb composite debris were recovered near Sainte Luce on the south-east coast of Madagascar, having reportedly washed ashore in February 2016. They were hand-delivered to the Australian Transport Safety Bureau on 12 September 2016. The items were initially reported in the media as being burnt.

This document summarises the ATSB’s preliminary examination of the items for any evidence of exposure to heat or fire.

Examination
No manufacturing identifiers, such as a part numbers or serial numbers were present on either item, that may have provided direct clues as to their origin. At the time of writing, the items had not been identified and work in this respect is ongoing.

A dark grey colouration was present on a significant proportion of both sides of each item (Figures 1, 2 and 3). Detailed examination of these areas showed that the colour related exclusively to a translucent resin that had been applied to those surfaces (Figure 4).

A cross section through the panel showed a clear delineation between the dark resin and the other surface coatings without any evidence of gradual transition. The lighter grey surface areas resulted from a thinner film of the same resin applied over an off-white background. Figure 5 shows the cross section directly and Figure 6 shows the same section at an oblique angle. This confirmed that the dark colour of the coating was an inherent property of the resin, and not the result of exposure to heat or fire.

Despite no evidence of overall gross heat damage, two small (<10mm) marks on one side of the larger item and one on the reverse side were identified as damage resulting from localised heating (Figures 2 and 3). A burnt odour emanating from the large item was isolated to these discrete areas. The origin and age of these marks was not apparent. However, it was considered that burning odours would generally dissipate after an extended period of environmental exposure, including salt water immersion, as expected for items originating from 9M-MRO.

Figure 1: Smaller composite panel[/url][url=http://www.atsb.gov.au/media/5771511/rid18-small-part.jpg]
Source: ATSB
Figure 2: Larger composite panel showing discrete area of heat damage
Source: ATSB
Figure 3: Reverse side of larger composite panel showing discrete areas of heat damage

Source: ATSB
Figure 4: Close-up of applied coatings
Source: ATSB
Figure 5: Cross-section through composite skin, showing surface colouration through thickness
Source: ATSB
Figure 6: Higher magnification image of Figure 5, showing clear delineation between layers
Source: ATSB

Summary
The following findings were made during a preliminary examination of two items of composite debris, recovered near Sainte Luce, Madagascar. At the time of writing, work is ongoing to determine the origin of the items, specifically, whether they originated from a Boeing 777 aircraft.

1. The dark grey colouration on the outer surfaces of the items related to an applied resin and was not the result of exposure to heat or fire.
   
2. Three small marks on the larger item were indicative of localised heating. The age and origin of these marks was not apparent.
   

Download PDF of the Debris report 4
 
Ongoing work:
Any further evidence that becomes available, and may be relevant to refining the search area,will be considered.
 
 
 
Overview

At 1722 Coordinated Universal Time on 7 March 2014, Boeing 777-200ER aircraft, registered 9M-MRO and operating as Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, disappeared from air traffic control radar and a search was commenced by Malaysian authorities. The aircraft had taken off from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on a scheduled passenger service to Beijing, China with 227 passengers and 12 crew on board.

Under Annex 13 to the Convention on International Civil Aviation Aircraft Accident and Incident Investigation (Annex 13) Malaysia, as the country of registration, has investigative responsibility for the accident.

On 31 March 2014, the Malaysian Government accepted the Government of Australia’s offer to take the lead in the search and recovery operation in the southern Indian Ocean in support of the Malaysian accident investigation. This assistance and expertise will be provided through the accredited representative mechanism of Annex 13.

In accordance with paragraphs 5.23 and 5.24 of Annex 13, on 1 April 2014, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) appointed an accredited representative and a number of advisors to the accredited representative (ATSB investigators). These investigators’ work will be undertaken as part of an External Investigation under the provisions of the Australian Transport Safety Investigation Act 2003.

The Malaysian Ministry of Transport is responsible for and will administer the release of all investigation reports into this accident. Information on the investigation is available from the following websites:

• www.mh370.gov.my
  
• mh370.mot.gov.my
  

Any enquiries in respect of the ongoing investigation should, in the first instance, be directed to:

Malaysian Annex 13 Safety Investigation Team
Email: MH370SafetyInvestigation@mot.gov.my
 
General details 

Date: 07 Mar 2014
 
Investigation status:
Active
 
Time: 1722 UTC
 
Investigation type: External Investigation
 
Location   (show map): Southern Indian Ocean
 
Occurrence type: Missing aircraft
 
State: International
 
Occurrence class: Technical
 
Release date:
24 May 2016
 
Occurrence category:
Technical Analysis
 
Report status: Pending
 
Highest injury level: Fatal
 
Expected completion:Nov 2016
 
 
Aircraft details

Aircraft model: 777-200ER
 
Aircraft registration: 9M-MRO
 
Operator: Malaysian Airlines
 
Type of operation: Air Transport High Capacity
 
Sector: Jet
 
Departure point: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Destination: Beijing, China
 
 
 

&.. the presser from miniscule Dazzling Dazza where it seems this time he has got his lines down Pat ... :

Examination of suspected MH370 debris
Media Release
DC123/2016
22 September 2016


Debris recovered from near Sainte Luce on the south-east coast of Madagascar suspected to be from Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 has not been able to be linked to the missing aircraft.

Minister for Infrastructure and Transport Darren Chester said Blaine Gibson had provided the two items of fibreglass-honeycomb composite debris to the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) on 12 September 2016.

“With the agreement of the Government of Malaysia, the ATSB examined the items but found no manufacturing identifiers such as part numbers or serial numbers that provided clues as to the items' origins,” Mr Chester said.

“At this stage it is not possible to determine whether the debris is from MH370 or indeed even a Boeing 777.

“What is known is that contrary to speculation there is no evidence the item was exposed to heat or fire.

“Further work will be undertaken in an attempt to determine the origin of the items, specifically whether they originated from a Boeing 777 aircraft.

“The search for MH370 is continuing and we remain hopeful the aircraft will be located.”

Ministers from Malaysia, the People's Republic of China and Australia agreed at a tripartite meeting on 22 July 2016 that the search for MH370 will be suspended on completion of the 120,000 square kilometre high priority search area unless credible new evidence about the specific location of the aircraft emerges.

Next a couple of article links summarising the ATSB findings so far.

1st from PT: ATSB unable to link 'burnt' objects to MH370 

[i]..While the ATSB continues to investigate these objects, its findings so far undermine rather comprehensively, any view that these amount to evidence of an onboard fire on MH370...[/i]

 Next from the AP via the  New York Times:

MH370 Investigators Cast Doubt on Catastrophic Fire Evidence
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS SEPT. 22, 2016, 2:12 A.M. E.D.T.

CANBERRA, Australia — Accident investigators on Thursday cast doubt on the possibility that blackened debris found on Madagascar is evidence of a catastrophic fire aboard the missing Malaysian airliner that went down more than two years ago.

Wreckage hunter Blaine Gibson hand-delivered five pieces of debris last week to officials at the Australian Transport Safety Bureau who are searching for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.
The bureau said in a statement Thursday that investigators had yet to determine whether the pieces were from the Boeing 777 that is thought to have plunged into the Indian Ocean with 239 people on board southwest of Australia on March 8, 2014.

But a preliminary examination found that two fiberglass-honeycomb pieces were not burnt, but had been discolored by a reaction in resin that had not been caused by exposure to fire or heat, the statement said.

There were three small areas of heat damage on one of the pieces which created a burnt odor. However, that odor suggested the heat damage was recent, it said.

"It was considered that burning odors would generally dissipate after an extended period of environmental exposure, including salt water immersion, as expected for items originating from" the missing plane, the statement said.

Continue reading the main story

Gibson has collected 14 pieces of debris potentially from the missing plane, including a triangular panel stenciled "no step" that he found in Mozambique in February. Officials say that panel was almost certainly a horizontal stabilizer from a Flight 370 wing.

Gibson had said the darkened surfaces of the latest debris could be evidence that a fire ended the flight far from its scheduled route from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Beijing. But he conceded he had no idea when the apparent heat damaged had occurred.

A sonar search of 120,000 square kilometers (46,000 square miles) of seabed which is calculated to be the most likely crash site in the southern Indian Ocean is almost complete without any trace of the plane being found.

While on recent MSM reporting, I note 'that man Higgins' in maybe a sign he is getting bored with chucking rocks on the ATSB chook-house, has come from a different tack in the Oz coverage on MH370...  

Chinese MH370 search vessel ‘not looking but spying’



The Australian
12:00AM September 23, 2016
@EanHiggins

The Chinese government ship tasked with hunting for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 has done little searching but has probably used the opportunity to spy on Australian military activity, ­according to security experts.

Its captain and crew are also likely to have used interaction with Australian and international experts to acquire knowledge of advanced Western underwater search techniques and equipment, and tested out submarine tracking technology.

As revealed by The Australian earlier this month, the Chinese search and rescue vessel Dong Hai Jiu 101 has hardly performed any actual search operations in the seven months since it first came to Fremantle.

The federal government’s Joint Agency Co-ordinating Centre, which guides the strategy for the MH370 search, this week again refused to say how many days the Dong Hai Jiu 101 had conducted search operations.

GRAPHIC: The hunt for MH370

But an analysis by The Australian of weekly operational bulletins on the search put out by the JACC has determined that the vessel’s sonar imaging “towfish” has in fact been in the water looking for the downed aircraft between only 17 to 30 days.

The Dong Hai Jiu 101 has spent most of the time in or just off Fremantle for one stated reason or another, or on “weather standby” in the southern Indian Ocean or “north of the search area”.

It gave up attempting to search altogether in early August, when the JACC reported the ship would “remain at anchor off Fremantle until weather conditions improve”.

The Dong Hai Jiu 101 is a major component of China’s $20 million contribution to the $180m effort to find the Boeing 777, which disappeared on a scheduled flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014 with 239 people on board, ending up in the southern Indian Ocean, according to satellite tracking data.

In April, Transport Minister Darren Chester joined the Chinese Consul-General in Perth, Lei Kezhong, on a visit to the ship.

“On behalf of the Australian government, I thanked the Chinese government for its contribution and the captain and crew for their efforts in the search for MH370,” Mr Chester said in a press release at the time.

Leading security experts told The Australian that as a Chinese government vessel, as a matter of course the Dong Hai Jiu 101 would be monitoring Australian and ­allied military activity.

Western Australia is home to the Australian submarine base near Perth at HMAS Stirling; the Special Air Service Regiment also in a suburb of Perth; the Australian Defence Satellite Communications electronic spying station at Kojarena near Geraldton; and the North West Cape naval ­communications station near ­Exmouth.

“From my past intelligence experience I would be surprised if a vessel like the Dong Hai Jiu 101 did not have an intelligence collection role,” said Clive Williams, a former Australian army officer who was Director of Security ­Intelligence.

“WA is of course a target-rich environment in terms of various Australian defence activities,” said Mr Williams, who now teaches at the Australian National University.

“China’s intelligence collection effort against Australia goes back at least 30 years. China also has an active collection effort within Australia as documented by defectors. The People’s Liberation Army Navy has a strong interest in the Indian Ocean where ‘research’ activity is conducted by Chinese ships including its hospital ship, the Peace Ark.”

Australian Strategic Policy Institute executive director Peter Jennings said the Dong Hai Jiu 101 “isn’t purpose built to be an intelligence-gathering ship”.

“That said, this ship would as a matter of routine be noting any activity into and out of Fremantle and HMAS Stirling, which all adds to a database of ship movements and observed capabilities,” Mr Jennings said.

“I would say that the real value of the Dong Hai Jiu 101’s activities is that it is … learning first-world techniques, tactics and procedures on how to do search and ­rescue.

“The PLA-N (and other Chinese maritime units) has been lifting its skill levels through ­activities like this as well as counter-piracy operations off the Horn of Africa; extended deployments and exercising.”

Greg Barton from Deakin University said the Dong Hai Jiu 101 would probably be spying “as a matter of course”.

“Apart from actual intel, it would also represent an opportunity to gauge their signals intelligence capacity in terms of working out what they can pick up at that sort of distance, such as working out how well their hydrophone instrumentation can track submarine movements,” he said.

The JACC did not respond to a question from The Australian about whether the Dong Hai Jiu 101 might be spying.

In a statement. the JACC, which works with federal agencies and departments including Foreign Affairs and Defence, said: “Dong Hai Jiu 101 has been available for search operations since February 25, 2016. The crew of approximately 30 remain on board the vessel when it is at anchor.”

The Chinese embassy in Canberra, and the Chinese consulate in Perth, did not respond by deadline to a request for comment.

Hmm...maybe some more potential for political embarrassment in that lot for miniscule Dazzling Dazza and PM Malcolm...


MTF...P2