Tuesday, May 27, 2014
Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 Likely Ran Out of Fuel, Report Says
May 27, 2014, 12:11 a.m. ET
Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 Likely Ran Out of Fuel, Report Says
By Daniel Stacey
SYDNEY--Analysis of the final ping transmission between Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 and an Inmarsat PLC satellite found the missing jetliner was likely descending after running out of fuel, according to Australian air-accident investigators.
Investigators remain confident Flight 370 crashed into a remote stretch of the southern Indian Ocean within around 25 nautical miles of the final ping transmission, despite an initial underwater search and lengthy air-and-sea hunt for floating debris failing to find any trace of the plane.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau said its conclusion about the plane's likely location relied on calculations of how long it took the plane to descend plus a five nautical mile margin for error in the analysis of the satellite data. The bureau's conclusions--outlined in a series of reports on its website--come as authorities prepare to open up the hunt for the plane to private contractors through a public tender next week.
Flight 370's final digital handshake with the satellite didn't coincide with previous regular hourly transmissions. That is likely due to its electrical systems resetting when the plane ran out of fuel, the ATSB summary said, confirming earlier reports in The Wall Street Journal.
Modeling of fuel burn at various flight paths and aircraft speeds support the idea that Flight 370 ran out of fuel near the final ping arc, it said.
The ATSB also said for the first time that the search area intersects the only air route that passes down through the southeastern Indian Ocean, route M641, which travels from Cocos Island to Perth through four way points.
The overlap of the Cocos-Perth air route and search area may be a coincidence, with investigators still unsure about the plane's navigation during its final hours. Air routes are preprogrammed into flight computers and can be navigated without human intervention, raising the possibility that none of the crew were conscious when the plane crashed.
Authorities are also trying a new approach to help refine the search area: listening to audio captured by special underwater microphones spread across the ocean, which are typically used to monitor signs of illegal nuclear explosions. The microphones have long been deployed as part of the United Nations Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.
The Australian naval vessel Ocean Shield is due to give up the search on Wednesday, having scoured a narrow area close to where it detected electronic signals on four occasions in early April. Authorities believed those transmissions were consistent with locator beacons on an aircraft's black box flight recorders, raising hopes of a breakthrough in the hunt for Flight 370, which went missing en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur on March 8 with 239 people on board.
The Ocean Shield's departure will leave the Chinese survey vessel Zhu Kezhen alone in the search area, carrying out early work to map the seabed. The ATSB said it would take up to three months to map the entire area some 1,000 miles northwest of Perth, with an additional ship from a private contractor being deployed in early June to scan the ocean floor at depths of up to 6,000 meters.
The results will enable towed sonar equipment to be deployed without the risk of it banging into undersea ridges and mountains.
Write to Daniel Stacey at daniel.stacey@wsj.com
Copyright ©2014 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Thursday, May 15, 2014
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Sunday, May 11, 2014
Drone Almost Hit Airliner Over Florida in March, FAA Says
Drone Almost Hit Airliner Over Florida in March, FAA Says
By Alan Levin May 10, 2014 12:00 AM ET
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An unmanned aircraft almost struck a US Airways plane over Florida in March, a pilot told theFederal Aviation Administration, highlighting safety concerns as U.S. regulators develop rules for civilian drone use.
The Bombardier Inc. CRJ2 regional jet was about 5 miles from Tallahassee Regional Airport at an altitude of 2,300 feet (701 meters) when it passed by what appeared to be a remote-controlled aircraft, the FAA said in a statement yesterday.
American Airlines Group Inc. (AAL), which includes US Airways, is aware of media reports about the incident and is investigating, Casey Norton, a spokesman, said in an e-mail.
There have been at at least six other incidents since September 2011 in which pilots have reported close calls with what they believed were small unmanned aircraft, according to NASA’s Aviation Safety Reporting System, which logs safety issues. The FAA doesn’t allow drone flights, other than by hobbyists, unless it has granted a special permit.
The drone in March came so close to the airliner that the pilot “was sure he had collided with it,” saidJames Williams, chief of the FAA’s unmanned aircraft office, said in a speech May 8 at the Small Unmanned Systems Business Exposition in San Francisco. “Thankfully inspection to the airliner after landing found no damage, but this may not always be the case.”
The pilot said it appeared the drone was a high-end model built to look like a fighter jet and powered with a small turbine engine, according to the FAA. Such model planes are capable of reaching higher altitudes than drone copters and may cost thousands of dollars.
Hudson Miracle
The FAA investigated the Tallahassee incident and couldn’t locate the unmanned aircraft or the pilot, according to the statement.
The FAA has said it plans to propose rules by the end of the year governing civilian drones weighing less than 55 pounds (25 kilograms), which have grown in popularity as prices fall and the aircraft become more widely available.
An industry committee assisting the FAA on the rule has proposed these small drones be kept away from airports and populated areas and limited to no higher than 400 feet.
Williams, whose speech was posted to YouTube.com, compared the Florida incident to the Jan. 15, 2009, water landing in the Hudson River of a US Airways Group Inc. aircraft that struck a flock of geese. No one died in the accident known as the “Miracle on the Hudson.”
“Imagine a metal and plastic object, especially that big lithium battery, going into a high-speed turbine engine,” he said. “The results could be catastrophic.”
FBI Investigation
Williams also cited drone accidents, including a small helicopter that struck a woman participating in a triathlon in Australia this year.
The March incident highlights the need for the FAA to move slowly as it develops rules to ensure the safety of unmanned flight, he said. The current rules for pilots and air-traffic controllers preventing mid-air collisions become more difficult when the person flying the plane is on the ground, he said.
The FAA and law enforcement have investigated other cases in which drones got too close to traditional aircraft.
Pilots on an Alitalia SpA Boeing Co. (BA) 777 nearing New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport reported a drone helicopter came within about 200 feet on March 4, 2013. The Federal Bureau of Investigation opened an investigation.
An unidentified airline flight into LaGuardia Airport in New York flew about 500 feet (152 meters) above a small black drone in July 2013, according to an Aviation Safety Reporting Systemreport. The plane’s mid-air collision warning system didn’t alert them to the danger, the pilot reported. The other five incidents reported to NASA involved private aircraft.
To contact the reporter on this story: Alan Levin in Washington at alevin24@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Bernard Kohn at bkohn2@bloomberg.netRomaine Bostick
©2014 Bloomberg L.P. All Rights Reserved
Thursday, May 08, 2014
Tuesday, April 29, 2014
Monday, April 28, 2014
US pilot believes he's found wreckage of missing airliner after searching through thousands of satellite images online
Is this MH370? US pilot believes he's found wreckage of missing airliner after searching through thousands of satellite images online - right where the flight vanished seven weeks ago
Michael Hoebel, from Tonawanda, New York spent hours trawling through pictures on TomNod.com, a website that shares satellite images
He has found images of what he believes to be the intact aircraft just off the northeast coast of Malaysia days after the crash
He has contacted the FBI and NTSB to share his findings
The search for the missing flight, which vanished on March 8, will now focus on the ocean floor, authorities have said
By LYDIA WARREN
PUBLISHED: 10:12 EST, 28 April 2014 | UPDATED: 11:45 EST, 28 April 2014
A pilot from New York believes he has found the wreckage of the missing Malaysia Airline Flight 370 off the coast of Thailand after searching thousands of satellite images online.
Michael Hoebel, 60, spent hours trawling through the images made available to the public on a crowd-sourcing website, TomNod.com, before coming across what he believes is the doomed plane.
The recreational pilot from Tonawanda said he was shocked to discover that the aircraft, which vanished two months ago, appeared to be in one piece beneath the water off the northeast coast of Malaysia, just west of Songkhla in Thailand. The image was taken days after the crash.
Is it the wreckage? Michael Hoebel is pictured showing an image of what he believes is the wreckage of missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370. He found the image on a website that shares satellite images
+9
'The perfect size': He said he used a scale given by the website and compared it to the specifications listed on Boeing's website - and discovered that the figure in the water was the right size
Discovery: He said that the lighter markings on the image matched up with the design of the plane
He told WIVB that he used the scale at the bottom of the map on TomNod and compared them to the specs on Boeing's website to establish that the white figure he saw was the perfect size.
'I was taken aback because I couldn't believe I would find this,' he told the news channel.
+9
Where is the plane? A map shows where Hoebel believes the plane is, compared to its intended flight (red line) and suspected flight path (in blue)
He pointed to the image on his computer as he explained why he thought it was the missing airliner.
'The lighter skin where the wing attaches to the fuselage - you see that lighter skin,' he said, comparing the grainy image to a photograph of the make of plane.
And when WIVB reporter Ed Drantch questioned if the shadow could be a shark, Hoebel responded: 'That's a 210ft shark.'
TomNod allows members of the public to go through millions of satellite pictures in a bid to help investigate the crash.
It also allows other users to rate whether or not they agree with another user's theory - and so far, no one has disagreed with Hoebel's, he said.
No one else has noted finding the wreckage at the same spot, he added.
He said that he started searching for the plane because he wanted to aid the investigation to help the families who had lost loved ones.
He added that he has contacted the NTSB and the FBI with what he found - but so far they have not contacted him in response.
This weekend, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said surface search efforts for the plane have been scaled back because it is 'highly unlikely' clues will be found on the surface.
Certain: Hoebel said he looked through thousands of satellite images to find the potential wreckage
Hobby: The recreational pilot, 60, said that he felt deeply for the families who have lost their loved ones
Obama: Lessons must be learned from missing Malaysia flight
Instead, the search will enter a new phase with the focus on the ocean floor - despite there being no 'pings' from what was earlier hoped were the aircraft's black boxes.
Mr Abbott said that as the aircraft, which had 239 people on board, has been missing for 52 days, if there had been any debris from the aircraft it would have now sunk.
Malaysia's Prime Minister, Mr Najib Razak, has also conceded that investigators have made no substantial progress since March 8 - the date that the plane is believed to have crashed.
'That's all we have until today,' Mr Najib told the Wall Street Journal.
+9
No signs: Royal Navy submarine HMS Tireless concluded its work searching for the black box on Friday
+9
Are they looking in the right place? A map shows the planned search areas just west of Australia
+9
No answers: Relatives of some of the Chinese passengers on board the Malaysia Airlines flight comfort each other as they continued their sit-in protest outside the Malaysian embassy in Beijing
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2614932/U-S-pilot-believes-hes-wreckage-missing-Malaysia-flight-searching-satellite-images.html#ixzz30E6biIFo
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Michael Hoebel, from Tonawanda, New York spent hours trawling through pictures on TomNod.com, a website that shares satellite images
He has found images of what he believes to be the intact aircraft just off the northeast coast of Malaysia days after the crash
He has contacted the FBI and NTSB to share his findings
The search for the missing flight, which vanished on March 8, will now focus on the ocean floor, authorities have said
By LYDIA WARREN
PUBLISHED: 10:12 EST, 28 April 2014 | UPDATED: 11:45 EST, 28 April 2014
A pilot from New York believes he has found the wreckage of the missing Malaysia Airline Flight 370 off the coast of Thailand after searching thousands of satellite images online.
Michael Hoebel, 60, spent hours trawling through the images made available to the public on a crowd-sourcing website, TomNod.com, before coming across what he believes is the doomed plane.
The recreational pilot from Tonawanda said he was shocked to discover that the aircraft, which vanished two months ago, appeared to be in one piece beneath the water off the northeast coast of Malaysia, just west of Songkhla in Thailand. The image was taken days after the crash.
Is it the wreckage? Michael Hoebel is pictured showing an image of what he believes is the wreckage of missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370. He found the image on a website that shares satellite images
+9
'The perfect size': He said he used a scale given by the website and compared it to the specifications listed on Boeing's website - and discovered that the figure in the water was the right size
Discovery: He said that the lighter markings on the image matched up with the design of the plane
He told WIVB that he used the scale at the bottom of the map on TomNod and compared them to the specs on Boeing's website to establish that the white figure he saw was the perfect size.
'I was taken aback because I couldn't believe I would find this,' he told the news channel.
+9
Where is the plane? A map shows where Hoebel believes the plane is, compared to its intended flight (red line) and suspected flight path (in blue)
He pointed to the image on his computer as he explained why he thought it was the missing airliner.
'The lighter skin where the wing attaches to the fuselage - you see that lighter skin,' he said, comparing the grainy image to a photograph of the make of plane.
And when WIVB reporter Ed Drantch questioned if the shadow could be a shark, Hoebel responded: 'That's a 210ft shark.'
TomNod allows members of the public to go through millions of satellite pictures in a bid to help investigate the crash.
It also allows other users to rate whether or not they agree with another user's theory - and so far, no one has disagreed with Hoebel's, he said.
No one else has noted finding the wreckage at the same spot, he added.
He said that he started searching for the plane because he wanted to aid the investigation to help the families who had lost loved ones.
He added that he has contacted the NTSB and the FBI with what he found - but so far they have not contacted him in response.
This weekend, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said surface search efforts for the plane have been scaled back because it is 'highly unlikely' clues will be found on the surface.
Certain: Hoebel said he looked through thousands of satellite images to find the potential wreckage
Hobby: The recreational pilot, 60, said that he felt deeply for the families who have lost their loved ones
Obama: Lessons must be learned from missing Malaysia flight
Instead, the search will enter a new phase with the focus on the ocean floor - despite there being no 'pings' from what was earlier hoped were the aircraft's black boxes.
Mr Abbott said that as the aircraft, which had 239 people on board, has been missing for 52 days, if there had been any debris from the aircraft it would have now sunk.
Malaysia's Prime Minister, Mr Najib Razak, has also conceded that investigators have made no substantial progress since March 8 - the date that the plane is believed to have crashed.
'That's all we have until today,' Mr Najib told the Wall Street Journal.
+9
No signs: Royal Navy submarine HMS Tireless concluded its work searching for the black box on Friday
+9
Are they looking in the right place? A map shows the planned search areas just west of Australia
+9
No answers: Relatives of some of the Chinese passengers on board the Malaysia Airlines flight comfort each other as they continued their sit-in protest outside the Malaysian embassy in Beijing
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2614932/U-S-pilot-believes-hes-wreckage-missing-Malaysia-flight-searching-satellite-images.html#ixzz30E6biIFo
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Sunday, April 27, 2014
Saudi Prince's $500 Million Airbus A380 Will Blow Your Mind
When people who are just a little bit rich travel, they fly first class. When you're really rich, you rent a private jet. When you're insanely rich, you fly on your very own private jet with your name painted on the wings. When you are a multi-billionaire Saudi Prince, you fly on a mind blowingly lavish$500 million customized Airbus A380. Recently it was revealed that Saudi Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, who has a net worth of $18 billion, purchased a $300 million Airbus A380 and is spending an additional $200 million remodeling the plane into a flying palace that makes Airforce One look like a hunk of junk….
Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal
Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal is one of the wealthiest people in the Arab world. Thanks to thousands of extremely shrewd investments, the Prince was able to turn a modest fortune into more than $18 billion. Through his investment firm Kingdom Holding, Prince Alwaleed has bought up large stakes in companies like News Corp, Apple, Citigroup, Twitter and more. He owns luxury hotels like The Savoy in London, the Fairmont in San Francisco, the Plaza in New York and the Four Seasons. He owns several yachts, more than 200 cars and three incredible palaces that cover a combined 5 million square feet. When Prince Alwaleed takes delivery of his $500 million Airbus, it will be one of four massive private jets. It will also be the largest and most expensive private plane in the world.
$500 Million Airbus A380
The base Airbus A380 costs $300 million and normally fits around 800 passengers. Prince Alwaleed's Airbus A380 is being completely stripped and remodeled with the following mind blowing luxuries:
- One parking space for his Rolls Royce
- Concert hall with grand piano, seating for 10 and stage for private entertainment
- Marble tiled steam room with spa treatments
- A "wellbeing" room complete with flat screen TVs on the walls and floors that shows passengers what they are flying over
- Five master bedroom with king sized beds, private bathrooms and showers
- 20 smaller private rooms
- Private elevator that connects the master bedroom to the tarmac for quick entrances and exits
- Boardroom with holographic monitors
- A prayer room with computer monitored prayer mats that automatically adjust to face Mecca
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Friday, April 25, 2014
Properly Tracked and Monitored Boeing 777s Do Not Disappear, or Do They?
Properly Tracked and Monitored Boeing 777s Do Not Disappear, or Do They? By Staff April 11, 2014
Garcia / Published April 11, 2014
Photo courtesy Aero Icarus, Creative Commons
A Boeing 777 in cruise flight, maneuvering and even at low altitude, transmits a robust, crisp, and clear primary radar signature to both civilian and military radars for almost two hours or perhaps even longer. This signature was evident to Thai, Malay and Indonesian radar operators, civilian and military the night and early morning of March 8th, 2014. As I write this piece, over one month has elapsed since this plane “vanished” or “disappeared” from radar as international media persuasively quotes.
It is factual that MH370 transponders, communications equipment (digital and voice) failed. Such an unusual event triggered an immediate alert from the men and women in the airline’s operations control center and the civilian air traffic control radars centers who, until then, were routinely tracking the flight. The presence of a primary radar signature should have also triggered an immediate chain of communications between the airline, civilian air traffic-radar controllers and their military counterparts. In fact, it seems that such actions were not taken or were not assertive enough to have triggered a military radar tracking and intercept, as prescribed by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Document 9433, Manual Concerning Interception of Civil Aircraft. This is a globally accepted and mandated standard operating procedure for “strayed” aircraft, especially since the tragic events of 9-11 in the USA.
Yet Malaysian Airlines MH 370 flew unchallenged with enough freedom, range and capability to have diverted, overflown, or crashed in very dense city centers such as Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Phuket, Bangkok, Jakarta and Singapore. Millions of innocent people were unbeknownst of the events transpiring literally over their heads.
I have flown a similar B 777-200 on the same route, airway and time of the night many times. I know the aircraft well and indeed, it does have the capability to fly fast and maneuver vertically with vigor. Yet, it cannot outrun an attentive military radar controller, much less a fighter jet on a well executed tactical intercept mission. A well monitored, tracked and intercepted, if necessary, Boeing 777 does not mysteriously vanish or disappear into vast uncontrolled oceanic airspace under the cover of the night.
—–
Oscar S. Garcia, Chairman and CEO of Interflight Global, is an expert advisor and consultant in the areas of strategy, business and economic development, organizational design and industry forecasting. He was formerly a pilot with major airlines in the US and Asia, flying several aircraft including B777-200/300 and B747-400.He can be reached at: oscargarcia@interflightglobal.com
© 2014 all rights reserved. All photos are the property of Chris Sloan, unless otherwise noted, and may not be reproduced without consent.
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