All appeared to be going well for MH370 shortly after
it took off from the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) about
12.40am on Saturday.
Its pilot Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah, 53, told the Subang Airport
ground control "Okay, roger. Good day" when he acknowledged receipt of
the communication code for the plane's tracking, before the flight came
under Ho Chi Minh City air traffic control.
Zaharie's short response was the last words heard from him before the aircraft disappeared from the radar.
According to a report in Malay daily Sinar Harian, National Air
Traffic Control Centre (NATCC) assistant director Siti Sarah Lebai Abu
was the last person in the country to communicate with Zaharie.
She said she never thought anything was amiss and everything went
smoothly for flight MH370 for the first 40 minutes it was in the air.
Possible crash site found, verification in progress ? |
"However, we failed to detect any radar signal from the plane after
handing over to Ho Chi Minh City a few minutes later," she said.
Sinar Harian also quoted her as saying that never before in her
18-year career as an air traffic controller had she encountered a "total
communication breakdown" with an aircraft.
Siti Sarah said all contact with the plane was lost after it entered
the Igari island zone located between the east coast of Peninsular
Malaysia and the southwestern coast of Vietnam.
She also said Malaysian air traffic controllers were not at fault in this incident.
"This is not a situation for us to fool around with. We are
responsible for the lives of up to 800 people at any one time. We never
slack off at work,” she added.
Zaharie, who joined Malaysia Airlines in 1981, has more than 18,300
flying hours, while his first officer Faroq Abdul Hamid, 27, has
recorded a total flying time of about 2,800 hours since joining the
airline seven years ago. Both have been described as experienced pilots.
Pray for MH370 |
Yesterday, Sinar Harian also reported that Civil Aviation Department
(DCA) director-general Datuk Azharuddin Abdul Rahman had said that there
was a new signal, but the information on it could not be shared yet.
He also said search and rescue (SAR) operations are still focused on
the areas around Igari, although it had been expanded to 100 nautical
miles around that location.
SAR operations are also ongoing in the Strait of Malacca and the Andaman Sea.
Yesterday, another Malay daily, Berita Harian, quoted military
sources saying that MH370 was detected by airforce radar in Butterworth,
flying north of the peninsula and heading towards the Sumatran waters
at 2.40am on Saturday.
However, Royal Malaysian Air Force chief Rodzali Daud later denied that the air force had made such a statement.
MH370 flew from KLIA with 227 passengers and an all-Malaysian crew of 12 onboard. – March 12, 2014.
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