Many facts are missing, but many are available and should now be released. We know that the initial period was filled with confusion and even misinformation from the airline itself which, at one stage, told Air Traffic Control that it had contact with the aircraft in Cambodian airspace. This was found to be completely incorrect and the flight had never entered Cambodian airspace.
The stunning inaction of the Vietnamese controller, in Ho Chi Minh Centre, who waited 18 minutes to ask the Malaysian controller why MH370 had not transferred to his radio frequency as instructed, at the expected time when crossing the boundary from Malaysian to Vietnamese airspace, has not been explained satisfactorily and appears to be a dereliction of duty.
An explanation is also needed as to why the civil controller in Kuala Lumpur did not immediately contact his military counterpart to discuss the missing aircraft. If they did coordinate, then why are we not being informed of this and the subsequent decision to take no action???!!
There has been little or no reference to that apparent lack of coordination in the public domain and only discussion of the aircrew actions.
The Malaysian authorities did not reveal that they had tracked the aircraft on radar until four days after the disappearance. They said that there had been security issues surrounding the tracking of the aircraft, so they had not been able to reveal this information immediately.
So, what security issue was so important that the military was not prepared to assist even when 239 people were lost?
What should have happened, under international protocols that are well established and published in various operational documents, was that the Royal Malaysian Air Force should have investigated the then unidentified aircraft they were tracking to ensure that it was not a threat to Malaysia.
The first action would have been to coordinate with civil and neighbouring controllers to determine if anyone could identify the radar return. The big difference here between the military radar and civilian ATC radar is that the military do not need a transponder to be operating on the aircraft and can see a ‘blip’ or ‘target’ on its system without any transmission from the aircraft.
This simple coordination between military and civil officers should have solved the issue there and then. It is hard to believe that this did not occur.
If no coordination took place, either civil to military or vice versa, then it is criminal negligence on the part of both parties.
The next action is that both military and civil personnel should have attempted to establish radio contact with the unidentified aircraft to obtain its identification.
If no communication was established, then the Royal Malaysian Air Force should have sent an interceptor aircraft to allow the military pilot to visually identify and follow the unidentified aircraft to establish its intentions. There should not have been any consideration, at that point, of shooting the intruder out of the sky, as was suggested by the Malaysian Defence Minister on BBC TV. It was purely a matter of identification with the human eye. There would have been obvious indications if there was anyone at the controls of the Boeing 777 including lights on the flight deck and signs of life from any person visible through the windows of the Boeing. There would have been an attempt by the crew of the 777 to contact the fighter pilot either via radio or visually to indicate whether they were capable of continuing to operate their aircraft. A simple wave of a hand would have spoken volumes!!!!
If the RMAF had taken this action, we would not be looking for MH370 now, the families would know what had happened and millions of search dollars could have been saved! Whatever disaster befell MH370 might even have been averted in some way.
There is absolutely no secret about the ability of the Royal Malaysian Air Force to track an aircraft in their airspace, so why did they withhold vital information for four days? Why did they not assist in the search and reveal that they tracked it on radar flying out to the Andaman Sea?
Or did it really? What is the secret they were guarding?
Why is there so little information in the public domain about what happened that night during the first 2 or 3 hours?
Some of the answers to this conundrum are readily available but are being withheld.
Recordings
The Malaysians released the voice record and transcript of the conversations between the aircraft and the KL air traffic controllers. I believe they thought this would satisfy people, and it probably has in many cases. However, what we all need to understand is that EVERYTHING is recorded in the operational environment. Everything that happened that night is all on official record and will explain much of what occurred. There are several recordings which have not been released and they are all on separate recorders/hard disks.
1. There is the pilot/air traffic controller recording which we have all heard and read in the media.
2. There is a separate recording of the voice coordination between the air traffic controllers in Kuala Lumpur and in Ho Chi Minh City. This coordination is done via a voice/data link between the control centres and the pilots do not hear it. This is fully recorded and kept for a minimum of 30 days.
3. There is another recording of the communications between the military air defence officer who was tracking the ‘unknown’ aircraft and anyone else he talked to. There would definitely be a recording of any conversation between him and the civil air traffic controller in the KL Control Centre. If they did in fact talk to each other. If they did not talk to each other in these circumstances, I would call it criminal negligence.
4. All telephone conversations into and out of the military centre and the civil ATC centre are recorded also. So, any conversations between Malaysian Airlines and the ATC centre would be recorded and available.
Nobody can tell us that the recordings do not exist. The communications technology used is very sophisticated, even ten years ago, and operates through an unbreakable, system known as a Voice Switch. The recording is the ground-based equivalent of the Flight Data Recorder and Cockpit Voice Recorder on board the aircraft and the first thing that should have happened on the morning after the disappearance of MH370 is that the hard disks containing the recordings should have been taken out of the system and stored securely for examination by the investigators. There should not be any possibility of loss of data or of it being over recorded by later data. It is still in storage and available today!!
There has been no reference to these ground-based systems and it seems that the Malaysian authorities will have to be pushed into releasing them. Therein lies the issue. Neither Malaysia nor Australia seem to wish to make this information public and could be accused of covering up vital information which would help the families and independent investigators to work out what happened.
All the searching and heartache could have been avoided if the Malaysian authorities had done their jobs properly that night.
Malaysian Culpability?
There are many unanswered questions!!
• How did the RMAF air defence system know, with such certainty, that they were tracking a civilian aircraft heading from the Gulf of Thailand over mainland Malaysia, and in fact over the main RMAF base in the area, and that it was not going to threaten the security of the State of Malaysia in any way? Why did they not follow the same internationally recognised procedures as do other nations, and send up interceptors to ensure that it was not a threat?
Given the facts as stated by the RMAF that they observed this unidentified aircraft cruising at 35,000 feet, then turning to the left, zooming up to about 45,000 feet and then descending rapidly to 23,000 feet and then to 10,000 feet whilst heading on a track toward their major air force facility in Penang, it is difficult to understand how they considered this to be a normal civil operation which did not need to be investigated by interceptor aircraft.
Information is missing in these first four hours. It is unfair to the relatives and friends of the missing crew and passengers of MH370 and has cost a fortune in wasted effort because of the apparent breakdown of the Malaysian and Vietnamese ATC systems that night.
It has seriously eroded confidence in the air safety system and in the ability of the Malaysian and Australian investigation authorities that now, ten years after MH370 disappeared, the answers to these simple questions are either being concealed or are not known.
Given Malaysia’s demonstrated paranoia about secrecy and the time it took them to tell us they were tracking the flight on that night, it seems that they will need a big push to release the ground-based recordings. However, this information needs to be made available.
Part One of this article can be found HERE.
Desmond Ross is a highly experienced international aviation expert with professional pilot and air traffic control qualifications. He was also CEO of an airport company and founding GM of the Pacific Aviation Safety Office, a regulatory office based on the same ICAO model as the European Aviation Safety Agency. Over the last 40 years, he has worked mainly in developing countries, in conflict or post-conflict, including the South Pacific, South East Asia, Middle East, Afghanistan, East and Southern Africa. He can be found on Linked In.
