BALTIMORE, Maryland March 15, 2014 (11:05 am) - The Malaysian Government said today that the reason the Malaysian Airlines Boeing 777 went missing last Saturday morning with 239 people on board was because it was hijacked. Other experts had reached that conclusion earlier, but the Malaysian Government had not taken that step. With the revelation that the plane remained aloft for some five or more hours after radar lost contact with it.
The Aviation Herald provided this direct quote from Malaysia's Prime Minister, Najib Razak: "based on new satellite communication we can say with a high degree of certainty that the Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) was disabled just before the aircraft reached the east coast of peninsular Malaysia. Shortly afterwards, near the border between Malaysian and Vietnamese air traffic control, the aircraft’s transponder was switched off." Movements of the aircraft until the aircraft left Malaysia's primary radar coverage were consistent with deliberate action by someone on the aircraft. The primary radar target, so far believed but not confirmed to be MH-370, could today be identified as MH-370 with the help of new data received from the satellite data provider. The aircraft could have flown on for 7 hours, the last trace of the aircraft was identified at 08:11L (00:11Z Mar 8th). "Due to the type of satellite data we are unable to confirm the precise location of the plane when it last made contact with the satellite." However, the investigation was able to determine that the last communication was in one of two corridors: "the northern corridor stretching approximately from the border of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to northern Thailand or the southern corridor stretching approximately from Indonesia to Southern Indian Ocean." The investigation team is working to further refine the information. The search in the South China Sea and Gulf of Thailand has been ended. "In view of this latest development the Malaysian Authorities have refocussed their investigation into the crew and passengers on board. Despite media reports, that the plane was hijacked, I wish to be very clear we are still investigating all possibilities as to what caused MH-370 to deviate from its original flight path." Mr Rajak made this announcement after first meeting with some of the families of those on board, according to the Aviation Blog, "Plane Talking," in Austrailia.
After the press conference today in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Airlines released this statement: On Mar 15th 2014, following the speach by Malaysia's Prime Minister, Malaysia Airlines released a statement stating amongst others: "This is truly an unprecedented situation, for Malaysia Airlines and for the entire aviation industry. There has never been a case in which information gleaned from satellite signals alone could potentially be used to identify the location of a missing commercial airliner. Given the nature of the situation and its extreme sensitivity, it was critical that the raw satellite signals were verified and analysed by the relevant authorities so that their significance could be properly understood. This naturally took some time, during which we were unable to publicly confirm their existence.
We were well aware of the ongoing media speculation during this period, and its effect on the families of those on board. Their anguish and distress increases with each passing day, with each fresh rumour, and with each false or misleading media report. Our absolute priority at all times has been to support the authorities leading the multinational search for MH370, so that we can finally provide the answers which the families and the wider community are waiting for."
In other words, the Malaysian Government and Malaysia Airlines have been aware of the data and its significance for several days but were unwilling to confirm it until, in their minds, it had been checked and corroborated to, as they say, the "nth" degree; i.e., over and over. The two corridors spoken of by the Prime Minister opens wide new area for searchers, although the United States continues its search in the Indian Ocean.
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