Malaysia Airlines MH370 missing.

[Biem]

...no, MH370 has not been found yet, but
http://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-up ... 667d2e24aa
may be interesting to read.

February 5, 2018

MH370 search vessel Seabed Constructor switches off tracking system

THE search vessel tasked with finding MH370 mysteriously switched off its tracking system near a “treasure filled” sunken shipwreck.

THE state-of-the art vessel tasked with finding missing Malaysia Airlines flight 370 mysteriously switched off its Automatic Identification System (AIS) for more than three days, sending some observers into meltdown.


Seabed Constructor’s AIS was disabled on January 31 — exactly 10 days into the new search — and not reconnected until last night, leaving approximately 80 hours unnaccounted for.

Amateur aviation specialists and MH370 watchers have been charting Constructor’s progress since it left Port of Durban on January 2 for the new search area, located just outside the previous 120sq km previously scoured along the 7th Arc.

The vessel has been contracted by Texas-based exploration company Ocean Infinity, which signed a “no cure, no pay” deal with the Malaysian Government which will see it receive more than AUD$70 million if it finds the plane within 90 days.

But unlike its predecessors Fugro Equator, Fugro Discovery and Havila Harmony, whose progress was meticulously mapped via satellite by investigators, both amateur and professional, at their own expense, following the Constructor has proved more challenging.

It reached the new search on January 21 and trusted observers such as UK-based space scientist Richard Cole and US-based precision machinist Kevin Rupp were able to post regular maps to followers on Twitter, Facebook and Reddit.

But that changed last Wednesday when Constructor “went dark”, sending everyone into a spin.

“I think that the AIS transmission from Constructor has been disabled. The question is whether this is finger-trouble by someone adjusting the AIS system settings ahead of departing for Fremantle, or deliberate action.” Mr Cole posted in a subreddit dedicated to Seabed Constructor position updates.

Some speculated the Constructor took a secret detour to check out the wreckage of what is believed to be the S.V Inca, a Peruvian-built transport ship that vanished en route to Sydney more than 100 years ago.

In January 2016, MH370 search vessel Havila Harmony stumbled across the shipwreck almost four kilometres below the surface inside the 7th Arc, initially mistaking it for the plane’s fuselage.

S.V Inca was last seen on March 10, 1911 when it set sail from Callao, Peru bound for Sydney. There has been speculation about what cargo the vessel may have been carrying and inevitable chatter about sunken treasure.

http://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-up ... 667d2e24aa

I think it isn't newsworthy..
I sail on cargoships as Officer and Engineer and it happens quite a lot that we don't have AIS coverage on the open ocean.
The Ocean Infinity has Malaysian officials onboard to keep an eye on the proces of finding it. I don't think the Malaysian officials will allow such a search for the SV Inca. The Ocean Infinity will look for the SV Inca when there done searching for MH370 if they're interested in the shipwreck.

[Stratofreighter]

Okay, the information below is "official":

http://mh370.gov.my/en/mh370-underwater-search-2018
/
http://mh370.gov.my/en/mh370-underwater ... sh-version

MH370 OPERATIONAL SEARCH UPDATE #2
Period 29 JANUARY - 4 FEBRUARY 2018
DATED 6 FEBRUARY 2018
This operational search report has been developed to provide regular updates on the
progress of the current search efforts to locate MH370.

 Total area covered as of 4 February 2018 is 7500 square kilometres.
 2 points of interest (POI) had been identified from the AUVs missions and upon further
investigation, these POI’s were classified as geological.

Ship Movements
 On 4 February 2018, Seabed Constructor departed the search area at 0200 UTC to
commence transit to Fremantle for resupply and crew change. The vessel is expected
to arrive port on 8 February and schedule to depart on 12 February 2018 to continue
with the search operations.
Weather
 Favorable weather is forecasted for the week ahead.


Not official but of interest:
https://www.pprune.org/rumours-news/605 ... gress.html
/
https://www.airlineratings.com/news/mh- ... ebris-yet/
/
https://www.flightglobal.com/news/artic ... gi-445617/

[Stratofreighter]

...not much offical "news" to report.

In that PDF you can see which areas have been covered so far this year, though...

http://www.mh370.gov.my/en/mh370-underwater-search-2018

/
http://www.mh370.gov.my/en/mh370-underw ... sh-version

Government of Malaysia

MH370 OPERATIONAL SEARCH UPDATE #4

Period of 11-18 FEBRUARY 2018

DATED 20 FEBRUARY 2018

DIAGRAM1
1. The Orange area depicted in the diagram 1 indicates areas covered to date.
2. Site 01 / Area – 01 (southern leg) present survey scope, highlighted in red line.

Key Developments
 Seabed Constructor left Freemantle on the 12 February and had arrived at the search
area at 2245 UTC on 15 February 2018.
 Upon arrival, the vessel was on standby due to adverse weather.
 On standby, Seabed Constructor initiated calibration of equipment before resuming the
search operations.
 Vessel’s Underwater Search coverage to date depicted in diagram 2.

 Total area covered as of 18 February 2018 is 7500 square kilometres.
Weather
 Weather is reported to be marginal for the week ahead.

[Stratofreighter]

http://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-maga ... nd-renewed

23 Mar 2018 / UPDATED ON 27 Mar 2018

MH370: mystery of private company behind renewed search for missing plane

Ocean Infinity has taken over the search for lost Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 on a no-find, no-fee basis.

But what is in it for the Texas-registered company?

In the niche world of underwater exploration,
few had heard of Ocean Infinity before the January 2018 contract was signed.

According to The Australian, the company was registered only in July 2017, in Texas.

A newcomer it may be,
but Ocean Infinity has nevertheless shown it means business.

Chartering Seabed Constructor (2012),
the newest ship in the fleet of Norwegian company Swire Seabed,
is a serious statement of intent,
especially given it has done so on a six-year lease.

Ocean Infinity, then,
has launched itself into the big league,
but its approach has left some observers dumb­founded.

Not only has the company given itself just three months
to locate a plane that has eluded everyone else for more than four years,
it has apparently undertaken the challenge at enormous risk.

“I do not see how nor why any company would take on such a financial risk,”
says Paul-Henri Nargeolet,
a former mine-clearing diver who has worked on dozens of wreck-recovery operations,
including those of the Titanic and flight AF447.

Using such a ship would cost between US$70,000 and US$100,000 per day,
Nargeolet estimates, and AUVs cost about US$5 million each.

And then there are the USVs and the specialist teams required to run operations and assess data around the clock.

“Either they have information that they are the only ones to have,
and that gives them good reasons to believe in this new area,”
Nargeolet says, “or there is something totally incomprehensible in their approach.”

http://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-maga ... nd-renewed
is an interesting "long-read", far longer than the excerpts above.

"Official" update with maps in the Pdf's at
http://mh370.gov.my/en/mh370-underwater-search-2018
/
http://mh370.gov.my/en/mh370-underwater ... sh-version

DATED 10 APRIL 2018

This operational search report has been developed to provide regular updates
on the progress of the current search efforts to locate MH370.

Key developments

 All available AUVs were launched for the search operation.

 Seabed Constructor completed surveying Site 1 / Areas 01, 02 & 03 (shaded area) depicted in diagram 2.
They have since moved on to Site 2 / Areas 02 & 03 (red shaded area) depicted in diagram 1.

 Total area covered in Site 1 is 38,214 square kilometres includes
additional areas along the Northern Leg of Site 1 / Area 1 and
the Southern Leg of Site 1 / Area 1 (grey shaded areas depicted in diagram 2 outside the indicative search area).

 Total area covered in Site 2 as of 8 April 2018 is 7,500 square kilometres.
Seabed Constructor completed surveying Site 2 / Area 01, depicted in diagram 3.

 One Point of Interest (POI) had been identified from the AUVs missions and ROV (KD31)
was deployed for further investigation.
Upon detailed survey by the ROV, it was determined to be geological.

Images of Geological Formation captured by ROV (KD31)
Weather
 Weather and sea conditions predicted to build slightly on 12 April 2018.

[Stratofreighter]

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-44285241

MH370: Ocean Infinity's search for missing plane formally ends

34 minutes ago

A privately funded search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 has drawn to a close.

US-based company Ocean Infinity had been using a deep-sea vessel
to conduct a 90-day survey of a vast area of the southern Indian Ocean.

But it found nothing and Malaysia's government says it has no plans to begin any new searches.

The plane disappeared on 8 March 2014 while flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board.

There are still fierce debates over how the flight ended.

The hunt for the missing plane
formed one of the largest surface and underwater searches in aviation history,
covering more than 120,000 sq km (46,300 miles) of the Indian Ocean.


Pieces of debris have been found as far away as Madagascar,
but not the main body of the plane.

The official search, involving teams from Australia, Malaysia and China, ended in January last year.

Who conducted the search?

It has been carried out by Ocean Infinity - a US-based company.

It surveyed an area of about 80,000 sq km (30,888 sq miles),
using a fleet of up to eight mini-submarines.

The deteriorating weather in the area as winter approaches
now makes operating in the area impossible for the next few months.

The company had agreed to undertake the search unpaid
but would have received a reward of up to $70m if it found the wreckage.

The search began after the likely drift patterns of parts of the plane
found along the east African coast had been analysed.

How did the flight end?

Investigators have very limited information about the plane's last hours.

Experts still cannot come to a definitive conclusion as to whether MH370
remained under the pilot's command, or crashed out of control into the sea.

Each of these two scenarios suggests different search areas.

The reasons why the pilot took the airliner off its scheduled flight path and down into a remote stretch of ocean
are still unknown,
as most of the communication equipment on board had been switched off.

Earlier this month,
Australian investigators rejected that the plane was deliberately brought down by the pilot.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-44285241

[Stratofreighter]

...the latest "Wild Goose Chase".....
https://www.luchtvaartnieuws.nl/node/149097
/
https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/10 ... dia-jungle
/
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/travel/2 ... -maps.html

Man flying to Cambodia to search jungle for MH370 after claiming he has found it on Google Maps

14/09/2018

A British tech expert who claims to have located missing airliner MH370 on Google Maps
is now heading to a remote jungle in Cambodia in an attempt to locate the wreckage.

Ian Wilson spotted a 'plane-shaped object' on Google Maps south of Phnom Penh.

Earlier this week, locals working with Wilson surveyed the area in a helicopter, but no wreckage was found.

Determined to prove his theory correct,
Wilson will now be airlifted into the middle of the dense jungle
to being a two day walk to the precise location he identified as the crash site.

The sighting was enough for China to use one of its spy satellites to zoom in on the location,
but it found no sign of an aircraft.

Wilson is expected to touch down in Cambodia at the end of October.

[pjotrtje]

https://s.s-bol.com/imgbase0/imagebase3 ... 866208.jpg

[Key]

"Tech expert"
https://www.google.com/maps/@12.0887439 ... 3?hl=en-US

[Stratofreighter]

...this will probably not yield any results , but who knows what they could accidentally stumble upon
https://thewest.com.au/news/wa/voyage-t ... 881007845z

Monday, 5 November 2018
7:01PM

A groundbreaking expedition to the deepest parts of the world’s five oceans
will dock in Perth in March
and explore what was a key search area for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.

The Five Deeps project,
launched in New York last week,
is set to provide scientific findings from the floors of the Indian, Arctic, Atlantic, Southern and Pacific oceans and
explore the little-known Diamantina Trench,
about 1125km south-west of Perth.

At more than 7000m, the Diamantina Trench is one of the deepest points in the Indian Ocean and
is still considered one of the most likely resting places for the wreckage of MH370.

The project, a collaboration between Caladan Oceanic, Triton Submarines and EYOS Expeditions,
will include dives to
Puerto Rico Trench (Atlantic Ocean, 8408m),
South Sandwich Trench (Southern Ocean, 8183m),
Java Trench (Indian Ocean, 7290m),
Mariana Trench/Challenger Deep (Pacific Ocean, 10,925m) and
Molloy Deep (Arctic Ocean, 5573m).

https://thewest.com.au/news/wa/voyage-t ... 881007845z

...and earlier:
https://thewest.com.au/news/mh370/mh370 ... 881002050z

MH370 experts cast doubt on hack attack claim

Thursday, 25 October 2018
5:20AM

One of the leading experts into the disappearance of MH370
has cast doubt on claims a mysterious hacker was responsible for the plane’s fate.

French businessman Ghyslain Wattrelos lost family members
travelling on MH370 and has claimed the possibility
that a “third entity” could be involved in the alleged hacking.

According to an AP report,
French investigators “found ‘inconsistencies’ in the Malaysian investigation’s official report,
and the presence of ‘curious’ passengers,
whom “we should continue to investigate”.

French authorities plan to visit Boeing and the FBI,
after an earlier trip in September last year 2017 was cancelled over
what is termed after US authorities allegedly opposed the trip.

Responding to the allegations in the AP story,
MH370 expert Victor Iannello said in his blog
“it’s not clear what additional information the French investigators expect to obtain while in the US.”

The data we have, notably the satellite data, is imprecise,
so additional data is needed to reconstruct the trajectory of the plane.”

Leading oceanographers suggest that the debris field lies just outside the area that has been searched to date.

Mr Iannello commented further saying
“this story, if true, suggests that the French judiciary system,
and in turn the military police that are assigned to the case,
are seriously considering whether the Inmarsat data
was corrupted by a malicious intrusion into the SATCOM onboard MH370.

https://thewest.com.au/news/mh370/mh370 ... 881002050z

[Stratofreighter]

...the Daily Telegraph, not the "Daily Fail"...
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/1 ... ne-debris/

30 November 2018 • 3:14pm

MH370 relatives urge new search as they hand over five pieces of 'plane' debris

Relatives of some of the people missing on Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 urged Malaysia on Friday
to resume a search for the plane that disappeared in 2014,
as they handed over what they believe are five new pieces of debris from it.

Flight MH370 was on its way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014,
with 239 people on board, when it vanished,
and became one of the world's greatest aviation mysteries.

The next of kin of some of those on board handed the government
the five pieces of debris they said had been found by villagers in Madagascar,
in three difference locations, one bit found as recently as August 2018.

"The fact that debris is still washing up now means that the investigation should still be live.
It shouldn’t be closed," said Grace Nathan,
a lawyer whose mother, Anne Daisy, was on the plane.

Malaysian and international investigators believe the jet veered thousands of miles off course
before plunging into the Indian Ocean.

In July 2018, investigators released a 495-page report,
saying the plane's controls were likely deliberately manipulated to take it off course
but they were not able to determine who was responsible.

More than 30 bits of suspected debris have collected from various places around the world
but only three wing fragments,
which washed up along the Indian Ocean coast,
have been confirmed to be from MH370.

Transport Minister Anthony Loke, who met the next of kin,
said the government would consider resuming a search if provided with credible leads.

"We are open to proposals, but we must have some credible leads before we decide," Mr Loke said.

In May 2018, Malaysia called off a three-month search by US firm Ocean Infinity,
which spanned 112,000 sq km (43,243 sq miles) in the southern Indian Ocean
and ended with no significant findings.

It was the second major search
after Australia, China and Malaysia ended
a fruitless A$200 million ($144.80 million) search
across an area of 120,000 sq km (46,332 sq miles) last year.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/1 ... ne-debris/

...the Daily Mail has got more pictures of those "new" pieces, though...
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... nment.html

[Stratofreighter]

...well, Boeing 777-200ER 9M-MRO has been missing for five years now.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IooUYvy5h0o

Gepubliceerd op 3 mrt. 2019

It’s now five years since MH370 disappeared,
but there have been no definitive answers about where the airliner is or what happened to it.

The failure of the search has had an unbearable impact on the family and friends of the 239 people on board,
who are presumed dead.

But Danica Weeks, whose husband Paul was one of the passengers, refuses to give up.

With Sarah Abo’s assistance, she has achieved what many think is impossible and arranged
a face-to-face meeting with the Malaysian Prime Minister, Dr Mahathir bin Mohamad –
the first time he has met with a relative of a passenger on MH370.

The Perth mother-of-two has pleaded with him to continue searching for the plane.

And as our story reveals, Dr Mahathir has been clearly touched by Danica Weeks’ determination,
ordering his Minister of Transport to give 60 MINUTES world-first access
to the secret vault where recovered parts of the plane’s wreckage are stored.
It’s a degree of investigative transparency from Malaysia that is unheard of, and signals a major step forward.

..for that wreckage, tune in from about 22.00 ...

[Stratofreighter]

...perhaps of interest...

https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-atlan ... -hijacking

The Atlantic Dusts Off Discredited Conspiracy Theory to Accuse MH370 Pilot of Hijacking

‘He was often lonely. His wife had moved out.’ Does that really drive a man to kill himself and 238 people?

Updated 06.17.19 3:13PM ET / Published 06.17.19 2:40PM ET

This time the accuser is surprising:
William Langewiesche, one of the most authoritative and respected aviation writers,
in a long report in the latest issue of The Atlantic.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-atlan ... -hijacking
examines
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/ar ... es/590653/

[Stratofreighter]

...The Times:
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/myst ... -0gpmld0pf

...and the Telegraph:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/0 ... s-suspect/

...both cite numerous "reputable" French media.

MH370 pilot in control ‘until the end’, French investigators suspect

11 July 2019 • 4:37pm

The pilot of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 was in control of the plane “until the end”,
French investigators reportedly suspect, after gaining access to "crucial" flight data.

The readouts "lend weight" to suspicions that he crashed into the sea in a murder-suicide, they were cited as saying.

The revelations based on Boeing data came days
after a new account suggesting the pilot may have been clinically depressed,
leading him to starve the passengers of oxygen and then crash the Boeing 777 into the sea.


In July last year investigators released a 495-page report,
saying the plane's controls were probably deliberately manipulated
to take it off course but they were not able to determine who was responsible.

The only country still conducting a judicial inquiry into the crash is France,
where two investigating magistrates
are looking into the deaths of three French passengers,
the wife and two children of Ghyslain Wattrelos - an engineer who met the judges on Wednesday.

According to Le Parisien,
they informed him that Boeing had finally granted them access late May
to vital flight data at the plane maker’s headquarters in Seattle.

This included numerous documents and satellite data from Britain-based company Immarsat.

They were obliged to sign a confidentiality contract,
meaning the documents cannot be cited in court.

The investigators also visited Immarsat headquarters in the UK.


It will take “a year” to sift through all the data and
“nothing permits us to say the pilot was involved,”
according to the plaintiffs’ lawyer, Marie Dosé.

However, French investigators cited by Le Parisien said
the data “lends weight’
to the idea that “someone was behind the control stick when the plane broke up in the Indian Ocean”.

It cited a source close to the inquiry as saying
someone was flying the plane "until the end."

“Certain abnormal turns made by the 777
can only have been carried out manually.

Someone was in control," the source was cited as saying.

Asked whether the data pointed to a deliberate crash, the source said:
“It’s too early to assert it categorically but
there is nothing to suggest anyone else entered the cockpit.”

Mr Wattrelos, who lost family members in the crash,
hailed the “incredible” work of the judges,
who he said “were able to note that the case was riddled with incoherences”.

"For example, we know that the data initially provided by Malaysian authorities on the plane’s altitude were wrong.

And I hope that by analysing all the data collected at Boeing,
they will discover a problem that will jump out at them,” he told Le Parisien.



But he said he remained convinced that the plane was “taken down”.
“I don’t know why or where but I’m convinced of it,” he said.
Mr Wattrelos said that French investigators could meet FBI agents to discuss the case “over the summer in Paris”.

More than 30 bits of suspected washed up debris have been collected from various places around the world.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/0 ... s-suspect/

[Stratofreighter]

https://premium.telegraph.co.uk/newslet ... =DM1063655
/
https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/ ... clnk&gl=nl

MH370: Inside the investigation into the mysterious plane disappearance

28 July 2019 • 8:00am

This article has an estimated read time of 12 minutes

[Stratofreighter]

https://liu.se/en/news-item/liu-forskar ... fter-mh370

LiU researchers participate in search for MH370

27 August 2019

In March 2014,
a Malaysian airplane appeared to completely disappear when flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

Satellite data suggested that it crashed into the Indian Ocean, far off the planned flight path.
Researchers from LiU are helping in the search for the plane.

Speculation is rife about what happened to the plane:
one theory is that the captain hijacked the plane and deliberately crashed it, looking for death.

It has namely been possible to use satellite data to reconstruct the path taken after the plane disappeared from radar screens,
showing that it remained in the air for many hours, flying in the wrong direction.

Calculations based on these data suggest that the plane crashed into the Indian Ocean west of Australia when the fuel ran out.

“Despite a huge search operation in which unmanned underwater vehicles surveyed an area of the ocean floor as large as half of Sweden,
the plane has not been found”, says Fredrik Gustafsson, professor of sensor fusion in the Division of Automatic Control at LiU.

Experts in target tracking

Together with his research group,
he has now been given the task by colleagues in Australia
to use their specially developed methods for target tracking to estimate the position of the crash site more accurately.

“Three research groups have been asked to look at this:
us in Linköping, a group in Great Britain and one in Finland.

The three groups use slightly different methods for target tracking,
and we hope that it will be possible to use satellite data to limit the search area”, Fredrik Gustafsson continues.

Target tracking is a method by which computers and robots can detect and follow a moving target,
and research in this field is important to enable, for example, autonomous vehicles to move through traffic, while locating pedestrians and other vehicles.

It is also important when robots are to work alongside humans.
All types of robot must know what is in their surroundings and how these objects are moving,
and be able to predict how they will move in the future.

Since the researchers know where the plane was at a certain instant, it is possible to use the same technique to predict its subsequent path.

A small but challenging project

“Normally in target tracking we have lots of data:
for an airplane we have its position from radar measurements essentially every second.
What is unique in this case is the we only have 16 measurements,
and we must use these to recreate the final six hours of the plane’s flight.

This is an enormous challenge, and needs a completely new way of thinking”, says Fredrik Gustafsson.

The commission came to him during the summer,
and more colleagues in the research group will become involved as soon as the initial analyses are complete.

“This is a small project for us, outside of our main line of research, but it’s very exciting.

It’s fun to spend time with it in the evenings, instead of solving crossword puzzles”, says Fredrik Gustafsson,
who is happy to have received the task from the Australians,
and is happy to contribute the expertise of his group.

The first report should be ready as early as 1 October 2019.

Using satellites to monitor aircraft is relatively new.
It came into use after Air France Flight 447 disappeared on a flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris in June 2009.

It wasn’t until May 2011 that the black boxes were found in the Atlantic, allowing the cause of the crash to be determined.

Since then, aircraft in the air have been tracked by satellites.

Initially, the positions were determined once an hour,
but since the disappearance of MH370 this has been increased to every 15 minutes.

It is hoped that this will prevent aircraft from disappearing in the future,
and enable help to be sent to the required location rapidly.

https://liu.se/en/news-item/liu-forskar ... fter-mh370