Malaysia airlines 370 with 239 people on board, 8 March 2014 #25

[panthera]

One year and still no answers
I just can't get over the fact that a jumbo jet can disappear without a trace!

Yes, one year....

It does almost seem unfathomable. Those poor families still with no answers.

:cry:

 

[panthera]

Info that seems to be causing the most stir in the report is the fact that battery of underwater locator beacon had expired a year before plane disappeared.

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/mi...-planes-underwater-locator-beacon-had-n319431

Totally inexcusable.

 

[ilovepierre]

Info that seems to be causing the most stir in the report is the fact that battery of underwater locator beacon had expired a year before plane disappeared.

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/mi...-planes-underwater-locator-beacon-had-n319431

Wow....that's ridiculous!
Know what I think is funny (not that this incident is funny at all)?
Early reports said that the plane's maintenance and safety checks were done and everything was working correctly.

So did someone just sign off on these reports and not actually check the plane?!

 

[watcher9]

Maybe they did do the normal maintenance and safety checks, but just did not check the battery area.
I wonder what the protocol is for checking these batteries? Do they look at the paperwork for them or actually pull the batteries out and check the date? Sometimes dates don't mean a thing either. Do they push some sort of button to see if the beacon actually works? Could a fire or an explosion have happened if the batteries were dead or not working correctly? Maybe causing a short?

 

[gregjrichards]

"Malaysia Airlines has revealed that an expired battery in the beacon of the 'black box' flight data recorder on missing Flight MH370 would have made no difference in the search for the plane.

Lawyers acting for some of the families of those on board said earlier that the fact the battery had not been replaced could be key in any legal action against the airline.

MH370 vanished shortly after taking off from Kuala Lumpur, bound for Beijing, early on March 8 last year, becoming one of the greatest mysteries in aviation history."

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...rence-search-missing-MH370.html#ixzz3TsQYfuSU

 

[gregjrichards]

"Malaysia Airlines has responded to revelations the underwater locator beacon battery (ULB) in the flight data recorder of MH370 had expired, saying it was the result of a “maintenance scheduling oversight”.

The Interim Statement from the Safety Investigation for MH370 was released by Malaysia’s Ministry of Transport on Sunday (March 8) and included the revelation that the beacon battery, which would have allowed search teams to locate the aircraft’s black box underwater, had expired in December, 2012 and was not replaced.

In a press statement, Malaysia Airlines said the Engineering Maintenance System was not updated correctly when the ULB battery was first installed in 2008. The report clarified that the system therefore did not trigger an alert to indicate the battery needed to be replaced upon expiry in late 2012.

The report stated that the effectiveness of the underwater locator beacon would have been degraded when the plane was believed to have crashed into the southern Indian Ocean in March, 2014. The beacon is designed to operate for a minimum of 30 days upon activation, however the report said there is “no guarantee that it will work” for the same duration, or with the same frequency or power once the battery was expired."

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asiapacific/malaysia-airlines-says/1703566.html

 

[watcher9]

"Malaysia Airlines has revealed that an expired battery in the beacon of the 'black box' flight data recorder on missing Flight MH370 would have made no difference in the search for the plane.

Lawyers acting for some of the families of those on board said earlier that the fact the battery had not been replaced could be key in any legal action against the airline.

MH370 vanished shortly after taking off from Kuala Lumpur, bound for Beijing, early on March 8 last year, becoming one of the greatest mysteries in aviation history."

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...rence-search-missing-MH370.html#ixzz3TsQYfuSU

This stood out to me from your link. I wonder how they found this out. Was it part of the normal maintenance check?

Malaysia Airlines said in a statement on Monday that a similar beacon was also installed with the solid state cockpit voice recorder and its battery life was still good.

 

[gregjrichards]

Latest article of interest.

"In a new twist in the continuing saga of missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, a towelette that was washed up on a Western Australia beach is now being examined to try and find out if it could have come from the disappeared plane.

Nine News reports that the small pre-moistened paper towel that was in a Malaysia Airlines sealed packet has been sent to Canberra for further testing and verification after being found hundreds of kilometres away by a couple walking along a beach in Cervantes in July.

The couple who discovered the packet said it was ‘unopened, which was very unusual’."

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...shed-West-Australian-beach.html#ixzz3TvkxKZVX

 

[emirates1957]

"Malaysia Airlines has revealed that an expired battery in the beacon of the 'black box' flight data recorder on missing Flight MH370 would have made no difference in the search for the plane.

Lawyers acting for some of the families of those on board said earlier that the fact the battery had not been replaced could be key in any legal action against the airline.

MH370 vanished shortly after taking off from Kuala Lumpur, bound for Beijing, early on March 8 last year, becoming one of the greatest mysteries in aviation history."

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...rence-search-missing-MH370.html#ixzz3TsQYfuSU

I have just ran this by our trusty Engineers. Apparently an FDR could be 10 years past the said expiry date, and operate perfectly. They did say that maybe the expiry label had not been updated. I still find it amazing no debris has been located. QF 17 made an emergency landing into Singapore - lost a cowling. Several days later a number of pieces had been discovered by villagers. Has anybody heard via MSN that something belonging to MH has washed up on a WA coastline? I havn't been able to find anything as yet.

 

[newone]

I have just ran this by our trusty Engineers. Apparently an FDR could be 10 years past the said expiry date, and operate perfectly. They did say that maybe the expiry label had not been updated. I still find it amazing no debris has been located. QF 17 made an emergency landing into Singapore - lost a cowling. Several days later a number of pieces had been discovered by villagers. Has anybody heard via MSN that something belonging to MH has washed up on a WA coastline? I havn't been able to find anything as yet.

bbm: am guessing you mean Western Australia??

I got all excited there for a minute thinking that WA meant Washington State:thinking:

 

[emirates1957]

Whoops apologies yes Western Australia. I have just found the article thanks to Greg up thread. It is a small hand wipe enclosed in what appears to be a metallic packet. It looks to new to for something that could have been submerged for some time. It will be interesting to see.

 

[ilovepierre]

Let's hope that towelette yields some answers!
But it's been a year..so I'm not holding my breath.

 

[SouthAussie]

Whoops apologies yes Western Australia. I have just found the article thanks to Greg up thread. It is a small hand wipe enclosed in what appears to be a metallic packet. It looks to new to for something that could have been submerged for some time. It will be interesting to see.

Yes, they are saying it was a towelette, unopened, 'very similar' to this. The couple found it on 2nd July last year, handed it to local police, who handed it to WA counter-terrorism police, who handed it to federal police, who sent it to Canberra. Then it was photographed and forensically tested. The JACC refused to release photo, refused to speak of the results, refused to speak of significance. All officials will say is that they are not ruling it in, not ruling it out. It is too hard to tell where it came from. But it would be an amazing coincidence if it wasn't from MH370 (said the news announcer in the video at the link).

Cervantes, where it was found, is right in the zone initially predicted for finding washed up items.

http://www.9news.com.au/national/20...rlines-handwipes-could-be-first-clue-to-mh370

 

[SouthAussie]

Makes me wonder how much other stuff could have been laying on those beaches along the coast there last year. It is such an unpopulated area. Just some small towns dotted along there, far and few between.

 

[emirates1957]

Coastal surveillance is quite prominent along Western Australia and Northern Territory areas. Remote coastlines such as these surely would have been swept for debris, one would hope. Regional Airlines are quite often asked to fly low and scan areas for missing boats/fisherman/debris etc to gather information en-route to their destination. If I was financially sound I would jump on a flight in a heart beat and scan the West Coast from head to tail.

 

[Roselvr]

Latest article of interest.

"In a new twist in the continuing saga of missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, a towelette that was washed up on a Western Australia beach is now being examined to try and find out if it could have come from the disappeared plane.

Nine News reports that the small pre-moistened paper towel that was in a Malaysia Airlines sealed packet has been sent to Canberra for further testing and verification after being found hundreds of kilometres away by a couple walking along a beach in Cervantes in July.

The couple who discovered the packet said it was ‘unopened, which was very unusual’."

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...shed-West-Australian-beach.html#ixzz3TvkxKZVX

Really surprised this is the 1st we've heard! I also wonder what else may have washed up then washed away!

 

[Elley Mae]

One thought I had was that it was someone's way of keeping the search in the area, like it could have been planted. jmo idk

 

[Roselvr]

One thought I had was that it was someone's way of keeping the search in the area, like it could have been planted. jmo idk

I wonder that too

 

[watcher9]

I just thought it was about time something was found but then I read that this was found last July so I just don't know.

I don't see how it can prove where the plane went down since I understood that part of the ocean was governed by different currents. I can't seem to bring in this image but it shows the western coast of Australia is governed by the Leeuwin Current which comes down along the coast of Australia from the Java Island which would be away from where they are searching now.

http://web.deu.edu.tr/atiksu/toprak/den07.gif

 

[time]

One thought I had was that it was someone's way of keeping the search in the area, like it could have been planted. jmo idk

We must be cynical equals because that was my first thought also!