Malaysia report finds air traffic controller confusion over

MH370.

MAY 2, 2014 Jeremy Grant in Singapore

Kuala Lumpur air traffic controllers spent almost four hours after the
disappearance from civilian radar of flight MH370 in confused exchanges with
regional counterparts before alerting search and rescue teams, a report from the
Malaysian government has revealed.

The disclosure came as the head of the Australian task force leading the hunt for the
missing Boeing 777 said the search may take eight to 12 months after finding no
trace of the aircraft to date.

The Malaysian government report found that it took Vietnamese air traffic control to
spot that the Boeing 777 which had been on a route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing
had not established verbal contact with Ho Chi Minh City controllers as scheduled.

Some 35 minutes after the alarm was raised by Vietnamese authorities, Malaysia
Airlines added to the confusion by telling air traffic control in Kuala Lumpur that
flight MH370 was in Cambodian airspace.
Malaysian authorities activated search and rescue operations at 05.30am three hours
and 52 minutes after the Vietnamese had alerted their counterparts that the aircraft
was missing.

The disclosures reveal that Malaysian authorities floundered in their initial response
to the crisis, sparked 56 days ago when flight MH370 disappeared with 239 people on
board and triggering the biggest multinational hunt for a missing aircraft in
commercial aviation history.

They include audio recordings of the aircrafts ground-to-cockpit conversations up to

the moment when Malaysian air traffic control acknowledged that the airliner was
about to leave Malaysian airspace with the words: Goodnight Malaysian three seven
zero.

No trace of the aircraft has been found, in spite of an extensive air and naval sweep of
a vast swath of the South Indian Ocean off Western Australia where the jet is believed
based on analysis of satellite data to have ditched.

Questions have been raised over why Malaysias military did not scramble jets after it
became clear that flight MH370 had veered off course, heading back over the
Malaysian peninsular shortly after the handover to Vietnamese air traffic control.

In a separate statement, Hishammuddin Hussein, Malaysias acting transport minister

and defence minister, confirmed that Malaysian military radar did track an aircraft
making a westerly turn across peninsular Malaysia on the morning of March 8.

The aircraft was categorized as friendly by the radar operator and therefore no
further action was taken at the time, he said.

Mr Hussein said he was informed about the turn at 10.30 that morning, and that he
then informed the prime minister, Najib Razak, who ordered that search and rescue
operations be initiated in the Strait of Malacca, along with South China Sea operations
that had started earlier in the day.

The Malaysian government report confirmed much of what has been previously
reported by investigators about the last know trajectory of flight MH370, including
the deactivation of its on-board satellite transmitter known as Acars and its
transponder.

However, it shed no light on how the devices were switched off beyond a conclusion
last month from Malaysias prime minister that these movements are consistent with
deliberate action by someone on the plane.

This week the Australian-led task force called off its aerial reconnaissance operation
and said it would hire private companies specializing in deep sea search as it
refocuses its hunt for the aircraft.

Tony Abbott, Australias prime minister, said on Monday he was baffled and
disappointed that no wreckage had been found.

The Malaysian government report concluded by recommending that the aviation

industry implement technology to track airborne aircraft in real time.