Ewan Wilson - Goodnight Malaysian 370: The Truth Behind the Loss of Flight 370

2014 Wilson Aviation Limited

Published by:

WilsonAviation Limited

14Hammond Street

Hamilton

New Zealand 3204

www.wilsonaviation.co.nz

www.GoodnightMalaysianflt370.com

Written by Ewan Wilson & GeoffTaylor

Edited by Kingsley Field

First edition August 2014

ISBN 9-780-473-28868-6

This book is copyright.Except for the purpose of fair reviewing, no part of this publication may bereproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrievalsystem, without permission in writing from the publisher. Infringers ofcopyright render themselves liable to prosecution.

The authors assert their moral rightsin the work.

Table of Contents

TheAirport

DepartureTime

Take-Off

DisappearingAct

TheRadar Disaster

Aftermath

SinisterMotives Emerge

TheReal Search Begins

TheVast Indian Ocean

MorePain

NoBlack Box, No Luck

KualaLumpur Moves On/span>

Zaharie,Prime Suspect

Humansand Technology

MH370Wasnt Shot Down

AccidentalHypoxia Unlikely

PilotSuicide

OurScenario

Conclusion

Glossary

AAIB Air Accident Investigation Branch

ACARS Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System

ADSB Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast

AIP Aeronautical Information Publication

AMSA Australian Maritime Safety Agency

APU Auxiliary Power Unit

ATC AirTraffic Control

ATCCS Air Traffic Control Centre

ATSB Australian Transport Safety Bureau

BEA Bureau dEnquetes at dAnalyses pour La Securite de LAviation Civile

BUTTERWORTH Royal Malaysian Air Force. Butterworth Base

CVR Cockpit Voice Recorder

DCA Department of Civil Aviation (Malaysia)

ELT Emergency Locator Beacon

FAA Federal Aviation Administration

FDR Flight Data Recorder

FMC Flight Management Computer

GGCA GeneralCivil Aviation Authority (United Arab Emirates)

GPS Global Positioning System

HCM HoChi Minh City

HF HighFrequency (radio)

ICAO International Civil Aviation Organisation

ISMS In-flight Safety Monitoring System (usually Star-ISMS)

IFE In-Flight Entertainment (system)

KL Kuala Lumpur

KLATCC Kuala Lumpur Air Traffic Control Centre

LNAV Lateral Navigation System

MAS Malaysian Airline Systems (Malaysia Airlines former title)

MA Ops Malaysia Airlines Operations Centre

MCP Mode Control Panel

n/m Nautical Mile

NTSB National Transport Safety Board (US)

PFD Primary Flight Display

PSU Passenger Service Unit

RAT RamAir Turbine

RMAF Royal Malaysian Air Force

SAR Search and Rescue

SATCOM Satellite Communications System

SDU Satellite Data Unit

SID Standard Instrument Departure

SITA Society Internationale de Telecommuncations Aeronautiques

SSR Secondary surveillance radar

TAC Thrust Asymmetry Compensation

TUC Time of Useful Consciousness

TRS ThalesRaytheon Systems

UAE United Arab Emirates

ULB Underwater Locator Beacon

UNMO United Malays National Organisation

V1/V2 Important speeds in operation of an aircraft

VMO Maximum operating speed of an aircraft

VAMPI/IGOCU/MEKAR/PIBOS/IGARI Waypoints or geographical locations identified bylatitude and longitude along designated air routes.

VHF Very High Frequency (radio)

VSI Vertical Speed Indicator

Foreword

We dedicate this book to the 239people who lost their lives on MH370 on March 8, 2014, on a flight from KualaLumpur to Beijing.

One of our purposes in writing the bookwas, in some small way to convey the human stories from the tragedy. We hope wehave done this without adding upset to the terrible toll relatives and friendsare already facing. Our other, more important task was to pursue the truthabout what exactly happened. That is one small contribution we feel we can maketo this whole terrible affair.

It is doubly tragic that we now alsofind ourselves dedicating the book to 298 more people whose lives were sosickeningly ended above the skies of Ukraine on July 17. Further on in thebook, we will briefly analyse this horrific act and its implications both forthe future of the stricken Malaysia Airlines and for the worlds commercialaviation industry.

For all of us, the horror of MH17 isstill sinking in. Although there were obvious links through the airline, thetwo tragedies were quite different. The Ukraine crash came from a simple cause.A moment of brutal, callous stupidity which saw the 777 shot down over awar-zone. Although it made the horror no less palpable, within a day it wasclear what had occurred. There is no similar clear-cut answer to what happenedto MH370. The aircraft is still missing, the relatives still have no closureand no answers. It is the biggest mystery in the history of aviation. For thisreason, MH370 is our focus in this book.

Aviation is a highly technical field andis full of its own jargon, acronyms and abbreviations. For the sake of brevity,we use the full title or description in the text and from then on the shortenedversion, but have included a glossary for the readers reference. There arealso some variations in how some aspects are referred to by people quoted. Forexample, in the book, the Malaysia Airlines flight is sometimes referred to asMAS370 by air traffic controllers or by its call sign Malaysian 370. The actualflight name is MH370, which is what we use throughout.

As well, wehave deliberately steered away from technical references, common in aviation,and tried to keep things simpler for a general audience.

There are many people and manyorganisations to thank. First, we thank Jahabar Sadiq, chief executive officerof The Malaysian Insider and Martin Vengadesan, news editor of the Star Onlinefor their generosity in making themselves available to us. Others who helpedinclude Asuad Khan and Peter Chong, and also a well-respected 777 200ER pilotwho has asked to remain anonymous but you know who you are and we thank you. Wehave drawn heavily on the expertise of a number of professional reports andnews media accounts. These include: Australian Transport Safety Bureau report,MH370 - Definition of Underwater Search; Malaysian Government, MH370Preliminary Report; Dr Richard E Cole, University College London - An Analysisof the Inmarsat Data from MH370; Air Accidents Investigation Branch AircraftAccident Report 2/90 (EW/C1094); Transportation Safety Board of Canada,Aviation Investigation Report In-Flight Fire Leading to Collision with Water,Swissair Transport Ltd; GCAS Air Accident Investigation Report Boeing 747 44AF,N571UP, Dubai; Air Accident Investigation and Aviation Safety Board reportHelios Airways Flight HCY522 11/2006; National Transportation Safety BoardAircraft Accident Report In-flight break-up over the Atlantic Ocean of TransWorld Airlines Flight 300; ATSB - Course manual and notes Human Factors forTransport Safety Investigators Canberra March 2014; National TransportationSafety Board Aircraft Accident Brief Egypt Air Flight 990 Boeing 767-366ER,SU-GAP October 31,1999; New Straits Times, Associated Press, NZ Herald, WeekendHerald, ABC News, AFP, Reuters, CNN, A Current Affair, The Independent, AsiaPacific News, CBC News, The Telegraph, Malay Online, The Economic Times, PerthNow News, Brisbane Times, Brisbane Courier Mail, Sydney Morning Herald, TheDaily Mail, BBC, Asia News Network, 60 Minutes, India Today, Borneo Post, FourCorners, Sunday Times, The Daily Mirror, The Daily Telegraph.