Hisham: France even slower than us

Malaysian authorities are leaving it to the international panel of experts that it had set up to determine if Malaysia had been slow to realise that Flight MH370 had gone missing in the early hours of March 8, and even slower to act on it.

Timeline made public yesterday indicated a 17-minute delay before the disappearance of the plane was first noticed by air traffic controllers in Vietnam and Malaysia, and a four-hour gap from that time before search and rescue operation was launched.

Acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein, in a press conference today, refused to comment when asked on the delay in the activation of the Air Rescue Coordination Centre.

Instead, he pointed out that France took much longer to initiate rescue procedures when Air France Flight 447 disappeared over the Atlantic Ocean back in 2009.

“It is not for us to discuss and decide here because I had informed that in the case of Air France Flight 447, it took them six to seven hours to respond.

“Therefore the benchmark for response time is different based on prevailing conditions. If we want to discuss this via the media, everyone have their opinion,” he said.

MAS sets aside RM163,000 for each Chinese MH370 family

BEIJING, May 2 — Malaysia Airlines (MAS) will allocate US$50,000 (RM163,000) as advanced compensation payment to the next-of-kin of each Chinese passenger on board the Malaysia Airlines (MAS) MH370 aircraft which vanished on March 8.

The payments would be made to individuals entitled to claim compensation to meet their immediate economic needs, MAS said in a statement which was pasted on the door of a ballroom at the Lido Hotel here today.

It said MAS would notify the next-of-kin on details of the payment within a fortnight.

“The notification of the payment details will be posted at MAS’ official platform. We will send a written notice to the Chinese next-of-kin, too,” it added.

Meanwhile, Steve Wang, whose mother was on board the ill-fated aircraft told Malaysian reporters that the families would leave the hotel despite receiving the “last minute” notification last night.

In a separate statement earlier today, MAS confirmed that it would close its MH370 Family Assistance Centres here at 6pm today.

The statement said a MH370 Family Support Centre would be established on May 4 at the Shunyi district here, whose function was to communicate with the Malaysian and Chinese governments, MAS and liaise with the affected families.

It said three hotlines would be set up to enable the public to contact the centre. They are 10-800-130-1364 (toll-free), 10-800-713-1404 (toll-free) and 400-720-8792.

Flight MH370 carrying 239 passengers and crew went missing while on its flight to Beijing about an hour after departing from the KL International Airport at 12.41am. It was scheduled to arrive in Beijing at 6.30am, the same day.

Seventeen days later, the flight path of MH370 ended in the southern Indian Ocean. The search for the aircraft continues.


Source :  Bernama

Report reveals confusion after MH370 disappearance

Malaysia has yesterday released its most comprehensive account yet of what happened to missing Flight MH370, in a preliminary report that detailed the route the plane probably took as it veered off course and revealed the confusion that followed.

It showed four hours elapsed between the first sign that the Malaysia Airlines jet had failed to report in when expected to and the decision to mount a search operation - and that time included lapses of communication and a false lead from the airline itself.

The document, dated April 9, also contributed to a growing safety debate by urging the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the United Nation body that oversees aviation, to consider introducing a system for tracking commercial jets.

The call comes ahead of a meeting at the Montreal-based agency later this month to address mounting pressure for improvements to fill communications blind spots over the world's oceans, but until now regulators have said such systems still need to be proven despite lobbying by the satellite industry.

The Malaysian government and military have come under intense criticism for their handling of events on and after March 8, when the Malaysia Airlines flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing disappeared with 239 passengers and crew on board.

Although the preliminary report issued by the Transport Ministry leaves many key questions about what happened nearly eight weeks ago unanswered, and is not intended to resolve speculation about the cause, Malaysia may be hoping it sets the record straight on at least some of the contentious issues.

MH370 preliminary report raises more questions than answers about Malaysia’s response

More questions are being raised about flight MH370's mysterious disappearance exactly eight weeks ago, particularly the response from relevant authorities – the Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) and the military – after the Malaysia Airlines (MAS) Boeing 777-200ER vanished with 239 people on board.

Defence Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein, who is the acting Transport Minister, released a preliminary report last night, the same as the one sent to the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) last week.

The report included details of the cargo manifest and audio recordings of what had transpired between the pilots of the plane and the air traffic controllers when it disappeared on March 8 while on the way to Beijing.

But it also showed gaps that have turned flight MH370 into an "unprecedented aviation mystery". The plane has yet to be found despite a multi-million dollar search that began in the South China Sea and has expanded to the southern Indian Ocean.

Also, it showed that there was a complete breakdown in communications between the DCA and the military, an irony considering both share air traffic control facilities at the airport in Subang.

MAS tells families to return home

Latest developments:

• Gov't release preliminary report, cargo manifest
   
• PM Najib ordered search along Straits of Malacca on day of disappearance
   
• MAS to close family assistance centres
   
• Advanced compensation payments won't affect future claims, says MAS
   
• Bangladesh sends two frigate to search Bay of Bengal

Follow us as we bring the latest updates and coverage for the search of Flight MH370:

Preliminary report: M'sia recommends real-time tracking

8.05pm: Acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein releases the preliminary report Malaysia sent to the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) early last month.

Here are some of the highlights:

• Hishammuddin also releases a copy of the audio recordings of the communication between the cockpit and air traffic control on March 8 just before the aircraft lost contact, the actions taken between 1:38am and 06:14am that day, a map of a number of possible flight paths, as well as plane’s seating plan and cargo manifest.
   
• The cargo manifest does not reveal anything unusual, apart from the reported lithium batteries and large consignment of mangosteens.
   
• In the preliminary report the Transport Ministry’s Office of the Chief Inspector of Air Accident recommended to the ICAO for possible implementation of real-time tracking of commercial flights.
   
• MH370 disappeared from Kuala Lumpur radar at 1.21 am. Ho Chi Minh air traffic control enquired about the plane’s wherabouts 17 minutes later.
   
• Malaysia air traffic control enlisted the help of Singapore, Cambodia and Hong Kong as well as another MAS flight MH386 to try to establish the location of MH370.
   
• Kuala Lumpur Rescue Coordination Centre (KL RCC) was activated at 5:30am, four hours after the plane went missing, and search and rescue operations began in South China Sea.
   
• Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak had orderd search for missing Flight MH370 to be extended to the Straits of Malacca, alongside that being carried out at the South China Sea, on the same morning of the plane’s disappearance following the detecting of the plane on military radar hours earlier.
  
  Najib made the order immediately after being informed on the crisis and 10.30am by Hishammuddin.
   
• Two Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) vessels, KD Mahamiru and KD Laksamana Muhamad Amin, already in the Straits on patrol duties were immediately retasked.
   
• Military aircraft was also sent to join the ships at 10.54am that day.

Why this happened

Dr M: Chinese are rich and Indians are lawyers

Disagreeing with US President Barack Obama, Dr Mahathir Mohamad said the Chinese and Indians are wealthy and successful in Malaysia.

"In Malaysia, despite our policies, Do you see the Chinese poor? The Indians are professionals, they are lawyers and doctors," he told reporters.

"Those who didn't come to Malaysia are not so fortunate," he added.

Mahathir also said that he agreed with American economist Joseph Stiglitz that there is huge inequality in the US.

Obama had ruffled the feathers of certain quarters, when he said that Malaysia would not succeed if non-Muslims are not given equal opportunities.

"I would like you to read Joseph Stiglitz’s book ('The Price to Pay for Inequality').

"He points out that there is no equality in the US at all. One percent owns all the wealth and the rest are poor. That is why there is a group calling themselves the '99' who wants to occupy Wall Street," Mahathir said.

He reiterated that Stiglitz spoke more truth than Obama, who was the first American president to visit Malaysia in nearly 50 years.