I REFER to the Sarawak Report published on Jan 30, on “Jumbo Jets Don’t Just Vanish – At Last Some Answers To The World’s Biggest Aviation Mystery”, based on the book The Disappearing Act written by a French author Florence de Changy.
I fully agree with Florence’s assertion that such a big jetliner cannot just simply disappear into the thin air and her take that “the US military shot down MH370” was very interesting.
If so, that is considered murder and the perpetrators have to be brought to the International Court of Justice, like those believed to be responsible for the shooting down of MH17.
But then again, where is the debris for MH370? It is strange indeed that not a single piece of wreckage was picked up at the place where the aircraft was believed to have been shot down.
Unlike the case of Korean Air Boeing 747 flight 007 that was shot down by a Russian jet fighter off the coast of Sakhalin Peninsula on Sept 1, 1983, the Americans spared no effort retrieving every single piece of the wreckage from sea.
Anyway, in my attempt to “rebut” some of the points she wrote I have to declare at the onset that l was at one time the director of flight operations, was chief pilot for flight safety and security, an aircraft accident investigator, a pilot for 42 years having accumulated close to 21,000 hours of total flying hours and flew Boeing 747-400 (B747-400) aircraft for 21 years.
The B747-400 aircraft is mentioned here because the Boeing 777 is a two-engine version of the B747-400.
Though not rated on the aircraft, l once flew the B777 at the Boeing factory in Seattle to be given “An Honorary Boeing 777 Test Pilot” by the manufacturer.
Nobody directed me to make this rebuttal. It is based purely on my knowledge and experience in flying, on flight safety and aircraft accident investigation.
Furthermore, my knowledge on the disappearance of MH370 on March 8, 2014, is based on common information known to everybody from the press conferences, internet and social media.
I played no part in the investigation, nor did l have access to any evidence pertaining to the flight.
First, I must congratulate Florence for probing deeply into the mystery.
While it is not my intention to disprove her argument and analysis into what happened, l will have to comment on a few things mentioned by her.
The assertion that the investigation into what happened involved a “massive global cover-up” is subjected to conjecture.
If it involved so many parties, among them – besides the Malaysian authorities – the Americans, Chinese, Australians, French, Vietnamese, and air traffic control centres in the region, Bangkok, Jakarta, Singapore, it is very difficult to believe that it is possible.
Her assertion that “all open sources of information for this particular event, have been put under lock and key”, cannot be taken as true.
One thing’s for sure, the cockpit recordings were not available because there were no cockpit voice recorder and digital flight data recorder.
It’s unfounded to say that the Malaysian government “endorsed a series of complete red herring theories and planted evidence”.
The assertion that “solid reports and evidence can be seen to have been deliberately ignored and suppressed of a crash scene, debris and even bodies being collected”, is preposterous.
Florence next shifted to the location of the aircraft in the South Indian Ocean where “multi-million dollar expeditions in the vast expanse of ocean” found nothing. Indeed, you won’t find anything if it is not there.
As we all know, the last radio contact with the aircraft was at 1.19am and the last response was, “Malaysian three seven zero, good night”.
We know from then on, there was no radio contact with the aircraft on that radio frequency or any other frequency, particularly the emergency frequency of 121.5MHz.
If the aircraft had indeed been shot down (accidentally) soon after its last radio transmission by “a jet fighter, missile or a new laser guided weapon system”, surely the debris would have been picked up at sea, the area being a major fishing area.
She further mentions that at 2.38am, the “plane is landing”. An aircraft cannot simply land.
In the very first instance it must get Descent Clearance from the air traffic controller (ATC) under whose control the aircraft was with. No such clearance had been requested.
Then it was alleged that five minutes later, at 2.43am, MH370 made a mayday call.
Normally, this emergency call is made on the distress frequency at 121.5MHz, and would and should be clearly picked up by the ATC and all aircraft within a range of 200 nautical miles.
No aircraft or any ATC centres, in all certainty, picked up that distress call. Only garbled noises were heard, which could have been anything or from any other aircraft.
Regardless, when making a mayday call, the aircraft is expected to inform clearly what the emergency it is experiencing is and its intention. There was no such message.
On the other hand, in such a dicey situation, pilots would not bother about anything else except to land the aircraft anywhere (though it would have been difficult to land at night) or ditch in the sea!
From her timeline, at 2.43am the aircraft would have long passed Ho Chi Minh airport, and the most suitable and nearest airport for it to make an emergency landing, if it could make it, was at Da Nang International Airport.
But Da Nang knew nothing about the aircraft coming for an emergency landing.
Florence then came up with the theory that the aircraft was hijacked. I would go along with that.
Without a doubt, l agree that Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah could not be a murderous pilot. I knew him as a gentle and soft spoken person as he used to fly with me as my co-pilot during his younger days.
Nevertheless, Florence’s assertion that “Malaysia’s known status as a hub for terrorism and crossroads for contraband thanks to the ‘boleh’ culture, meaning scrutiny and security can be bought off for the right price”, is uncalled for and made without basis.
I do not wish to dwell on other points raised, except two main ones.
Firstly, it was said among other things, that cockpit recordings of the flight were kept “under lock and key”.
How could that be when not a single piece of debris, what more the cockpit voice recorder and digital flight data recorder, were retrieved whether it was in the Gulf of Thailand, off the North Eastern coast of Vietnam or the South Indian Ocean?
Secondly, the 2.5-tonne cargo of “Motorola” equipment that “was escorted onto the plane at the last minute, without a single security check being made” is a bit hard to believe.
The airline and all other airlines for that matter have strict guidelines and procedures in accordance with IATA, for the acceptance of cargo on board an aircraft.
All consignments have to be declared and have to go through strict customs and security checks.
With no disrespect to Florence, her theories into what happened appears to be misconstrued.
She should focus on one; either the aircraft being shot down, or it was hijacked or forced down because it was carrying a valuable consignment.
Nevertheless, there must be some evidence to support her theory.
And to submit that the incident was a big cover-up, leaves more questions to be answered.
I will conclude by saying theories shall remain theories.
l shall not to dwell on the mystery myself, for aircraft accident investigations and the ensuing analysis leading to its conclusion is based entirely on facts.
Capt Mohd Kamil is a former Malaysia Airlines director of flight operations and aircraft accident investigator. Comments: letters@thesundaily.com
