It’s been seven years since the Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 went missing without a trace, but is this a new piece to the puzzling mystery?
The pilot made many turns and speed changes… according to new research.
Apparently the pilot was most likely avoiding giving any clear idea where he was heading.
Aerospace engineer Richard Godfrey is behind the new research.
He says applying new technology will provide “credible new evidence”, that was not available during previous underwater searches.
On March 7th, 2014 the Boeing 777 took off for Kaula Lumpa bound for Beijing
The aircraft disappeared from air traffic controls screens – only one hour into the flight.
239 women, men and children were on board.
There are 239 people on board the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, comprising 227 passengers (including two infants) and 12 crew members. About two-thirds of them are Chinese, and other nationalities include 38 Malaysians, seven Indonesians, six Australians, five Indians, four French and three Americans. Among the passengers are French teenagers Hadrien Wattrelos and Zhao Yan heading for school in Beijing, and Australian grandparents Rodney and Mary Burrows on vacation.
New technology leading new findings
Godfrey is seen one of world’s leading investigators into the mystery.
He based his findings on weak radio signals that cover the earth. also called Weak Signal Propagation (WSPR), which is a digital radio communication protocol.
“WSPR is like a bunch of tripwires or laser beams, but they work in every direction over the horizon to the other side of the globe,” Mr. Godfrey says.
He said they triggered invisible signals when aircraft crossed them and they can help solve the mystery of MH370.
The flight path appears “carefully planned” said Mr. Godfrey.
“The pilot of MH370 generally avoided official flight routes from 18:00 UTC (2am Australian Western Standard Time) onwards but used waypoints to navigate on unofficial flight paths in the Malacca Strait, around Sumatra and across the Southern Indian Ocean,” Mr Godfrey said.
“The flight path seems well planned and avoids commercial flight routes. The pilot appears not so concerned about fuel usage and much more concerned about leaving false trails.”
“The significant number of changes of track and speed suggest that there was an active pilot during the flight,” Mr. Godfrey said.
“Speed changes were beyond the level of changes expected if the aircraft was following a speed schedule such as the long range cruise (LRC) or maximum range cruise (MRC) mode.”
“The pilot of MH370 generally avoided official flight routes from 18:00 UTC (2 am AWST) onwards but used waypoints to navigate on unofficial flight paths in the Malacca Strait, around Sumatra and across the Southern Indian Ocean. The flight path follows the coast of Sumatra and flies close to Banda Aceh Airport,” Mr. Godfrey said.
He said all the end-of-flight analysis points to a spiral dive into the ocean.
Its suspected crash site at 34.5 degrees south, south-west of Western Australia
This new paper examines in finer detail the turn around Indonesia before settling onto a course for the Southern Indian Ocean.
Two searches failed to find any trace of the plane…but Godfrey says a more detailed analysis of flight’s final destination will be underway soon.
Although, there continues to be more questions than answers to the greatest aviation mystery of all time.
As the U.S. and Chinese defence bosses spoke in Beijing, many in the room realised one thing – the two are far from ready to talk.
A thinly veiled criticism of the United States was delivered by Chinese Defence Minister General Li Shangfu.
In his first public statement to an international audience since becoming defence minister in March, Li highlighted China’s Global Security Initiative, a set of foreign policy principles and directions in line with Beijing’s style of diplomacy, which was announced in April last year by Chinese President Xi Jinping.
“It practises exceptionalism and double standards and only serves the interests and follows the rules of a small number of countries,” he told Asia’s biggest defence conference.
Among them are opposition to unilateral sanctions and economic development as a means of stemming instability and conflict.
“Its so-called rules-based international order never tells you what the rules are, and who made these rules,” Li said in a speech to the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, without naming the US or its partners.
#featured #china #li shangfu #south china sea #taiwan
The provocation of a Chinese warship sailing 2000ft off the bow of a U.S. warship near Taiwan has escalated tensions.
As the U.S. and Chinese military chiefs stood in the same room in Singapore, a dangerous manoeuvre was taking place in the South China Sea.
A Chinese naval vessel sailed directly in front of a U.S. warship, in a supposed breach of international law.
The U-S describing this maneuver as “unsafe” but China disagrees. China claims the democratic island of Taiwan as part of its own territory.
Beijing says the strait is part of its exclusive economic zone but the U-S regularly sail through and flies over the area.
The incident in the Taiwan Straits comes after the U-S Defence Secretary and his Chinese counterpart were together in Singapore.
The pair weren’t meeting but they were in the room for a defence conference.
Li Shangfu is China’s Defence Minister who’s suggesting the U-S and its allies are creating danger in the region.
He’s asking one question, “what’s the point of going there?”
And he followed on with the saying “In China we always say: ‘Mind your own business.’”
David Zhang, who’s the host of China Insider, says China is now playing a more dangerous game, akin to a Cold War mentality. #china #south china sea #taiwan #united states #featured