Monday, July 21, 2014

Malaysia receives the two MH17 black boxes

DONETSK: Malaysian officials have received the two MH17 black boxes from the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) on Tuesday in Ukraine.


At 6.11am, DPR representatives showed up at their government headquarters here with the Malaysian government representatives.




Speaking to the press, DPR leader Alexander Borodai thanked Malaysia and the Netherlands for sending teams here on Monday to resolve the MH17 matter.


"(Our) thanks to Malaysia and Netherlands for coming here without protection or help from Kiev (the Ukrainian government)," he said, according to a rough translation by a local.


A handover ceremony then took place between the DPR and Malaysian officials.

Both parties were seen signing various documents.


The DPR then produced a white sack containing the black boxes and showed them to the Malaysian officials.


The boxes were then inspected and later accepted by the Malaysian officials.

A man who introduced himself as Kol Mohd Shukri of the National Security Council thanked Borodai for handing the boxes back to Malaysia.


"I would like to convey our sincere appreciation to Borodai for giving us the opportunity and entertaining our special request to hand over the two black boxes to Malaysia," he said.



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Friday, July 18, 2014

Ukraine authority instructed MH17 to fly at 10,060m

Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 had requested to fly at 35,000 feet (10,670 metres) over Ukrainian air space but was instructed by the country’s air traffic control to fly at 33,000ft (10,060m) instead, Malaysia Airlines said in a statement this evening.

In responding to reports that the ill-fated Boeing 777 jetliner was flying just 300m (984ft) above restricted airspace when it was shot down over Ukraine, the national carrier said MH17 had filed a flight plan requesting to fly at 35,000ft over Ukrainian airspace, which is close to the “optimum” altitude.

“However, an aircraft’s altitude in flight is determined by air traffic control on the ground. Upon entering Ukrainian airspace, MH17 was instructed by Ukrainian air traffic control to fly at 33,000ft,” Malaysia Airlines said in a statement.

Citing the European air traffic control body – Eurocontrol – British paper The Guardian had reported that Ukrainian authorities had barred aircraft from ground level to 9,700m but MH17 was cruising at 10,000m when it was hit by a ground-to-air missile on Thursday, killing 298 people, including three infants.

Those responsible for downing the jet have yet to be identified, with Russian and Ukrainian authorities blaming each other and pro-Russian separatists for the disaster.

ll flights have now been barred over eastern Ukraine, Eurocontrol further said.

"The aircraft was flying at Flight Level 330 (about 33,000 feet or 10,060m) when it disappeared from the radar," Eurocontrol was quoted as saying.

"This route had been closed by the Ukrainian authorities from ground to flight level 320 (9,700m, or 32,000 feet) but was open at the level at which the aircraft was flying."

MAS also said MH17’s flight plan was approved by Eurocontrol and reiterated Putrajaya’s stand that the flight path was not unsafe.

The carrier said the route over Ukrainian airspace where the incident occurred is commonly used for Europe to Asia flights.

“A flight from a different carrier was on the same route at the time of the MH17 incident, as were a number of other flights from other carriers in the days and weeks before,” it said.

MAS said in April, the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) identified an area over the Crimean peninsula as risky.

“At no point did MH17 fly into, or request to fly into, this area. At all times, MH17 was in airspace approved by the ICAO,” it added.

- See more
Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 had requested to fly at 35,000 feet (10,670 metres) over Ukrainian air space but was instructed by the country’s air traffic control to fly at 33,000ft (10,060m) instead, Malaysia Airlines said in a statement this evening.
In responding to reports that the ill-fated Boeing 777 jetliner was flying just 300m (984ft) above restricted airspace when it was shot down over Ukraine, the national carrier said MH17 had filed a flight plan requesting to fly at 35,000ft over Ukrainian airspace, which is close to the “optimum” altitude.
“However, an aircraft’s altitude in flight is determined by air traffic control on the ground. Upon entering Ukrainian airspace, MH17 was instructed by Ukrainian air traffic control to fly at 33,000ft,” Malaysia Airlines said in a statement.

Citing the European air traffic control body – Eurocontrol – British paper The Guardian had reported that Ukrainian authorities had barred aircraft from ground level to 9,700m but MH17 was cruising at 10,000m when it was hit by a ground-to-air missile on Thursday, killing 298 people, including three infants. Those responsible for downing the jet have yet to be identified, with Russian and Ukrainian authorities blaming each other and pro-Russian separatists for the disaster.
ll flights have now been barred over eastern Ukraine, Eurocontrol further said.
"The aircraft was flying at Flight Level 330 (about 33,000 feet or 10,060m) when it disappeared from the radar," Eurocontrol was quoted as saying.
"This route had been closed by the Ukrainian authorities from ground to flight level 320 (9,700m, or 32,000 feet) but was open at the level at which the aircraft was flying."
MAS also said MH17’s flight plan was approved by Eurocontrol and reiterated Putrajaya’s stand that the flight path was not unsafe.
The carrier said the route over Ukrainian airspace where the incident occurred is commonly used for Europe to Asia flights.
“A flight from a different carrier was on the same route at the time of the MH17 incident, as were a number of other flights from other carriers in the days and weeks before,” it said.
MAS said in April, the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) identified an area over the Crimean peninsula as risky.
“At no point did MH17 fly into, or request to fly into, this area. At all times, MH17 was in airspace approved by the ICAO,” it added.
- See more at: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/ukraine-authority-instructed-mh17-to-fly-at-33000ft-says-mas#sthash.yItqCC4a.dpuf

Plane in airspace approved by ICAO

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia Airlines confirmed that Flight MH17 was in airspace "approved by the International Civil Aviation Organisation."

It said in a statement late Friday that the ICAO identified an area over the Crimean peninsula as risky in April.

"At no point did MH17 fly into, or request to fly into, this area. At all times, MH17 was in airspace approved by the ICAO," it said.

MAS also said Flight MH17 was requested to fly at 33,000ft upon entering Ukraine airspace on Thursday.
"The plane filed a flight plan requesting to fly at 35,000ft throughout Ukrainian airspace.

"This is close to the ‘optimum’ altitude." it said.

"However, an aircraft’s altitude in flight is determined by air traffic control on the ground. Upon entering Ukrainian airspace, MH17 was instructed by Ukrainian air traffic control to fly at 33,000ft," it said.

Here is the full statement from MAS:

1. Flight plan
MH17’s flight plan was approved by Eurocontrol, who are solely responsible for determining civil aircraft flight paths over European airspace. Eurocontrol is the air navigation service provider for Europe and is governed under ICAO rules.


The route over Ukrainian airspace where the incident occurred is commonly used for Europe to Asia flights. A flight from a different carrier was on the same route at the time of the MH17 incident, as were a number of other flights from other carriers in the days and weeks before. Eurocontrol maintains records of all flights across European airspace, including those across Ukraine.

In April, the International Civil Aviation Organization identified an area over the Crimean peninsula as risky. At no point did MH17 fly into, or request to fly into, this area. At all times, MH17 was in airspace approved by the ICAO.

2. Altitude
MH17 filed a flight plan requesting to fly at 35,000ft throughout Ukrainian airspace. This is close to the ‘optimum’ altitude.

However, an aircraft’s altitude in flight is determined by air traffic control on the ground. Upon entering Ukrainian airspace, MH17 was instructed by Ukrainian air traffic control to fly at 33,000ft.

3. Nationalities
Following this afternoon’s press conference, Malaysia Airlines can confirm that a further 16 passengers’ nationalities have been verified. The latest breakdown of nationalities of those on board the flight is as follows:
189 Netherlands
44 Malaysia
27 Australia
12 Indonensia
9 United Kingdom
4 Belgium
4 Germany
3 Philippines
1 Canada
1 New Zealand
Four passengers’ nationalities remain to be verified.

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Thursday, July 17, 2014

Malaysia Flight Plane Is 9th Commercial Aircraft Shot Down Near Russia In 74 Years



Mashable has a list of nine commercial aircraft downed by military forces near Russia's western border. The report notes that the downing of MH17 is the second case of a commercial plane being taken down in Ukraine, happening in 2001 over the Black Sea.

Globally, there are 22 cases of commercial aircraft being shot down since 1940 Mashable reports.

Is It A Co-incidence? Anniversary of the TWA Flight 800

Today is the anniversary of the TWA Flight 800 over Long Island in 1996.  Is it not an odd co-incidence that the crash of MH17 shares the same date?

The TWA Flight 800 was flying from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport to Paris when it exploded near Long Island, killing all 230 people aboard.


Pro-Russian rebels deny any involvement in the crash


Pro Rusian rebels in Ukraine denied any involvement in the crash of the Malaysia airlines Boeing 777 saying they do not have the military equipment to take down an airplane flying at 10,000.

“We only have two portable anti-aircraft missiles with a maximum reach of 5 kilometers,” the Donetsk’s self-proclaimed republic's Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Purgin said.


Consequences For Putin If Russia Behind Plane Crash



Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said Thursday that if reports about a downed Malaysian jetliner were indeed correct, "incredible repercussions" would be brought against those responsible.

"To leap to conclusions could be very embarrassing and really inappropriate until we have more information," he told NBC's Andrea Mitchell. "But there have been, as you mentioned, previous incidents of shot down of Ukrainian aircraft. This was an airliner headed towards Russian air space. And it has the earmarks, and I'm not concluding, but it has the earmarks of a mistaken identification of an aircraft that they may have believed was Ukrainian.

"If that's true, this is a horrible tragedy event which was certainly unanticipated by anybody, no matter who they are," he said. "And there will be incredible repercussions if this is the case. Exactly what those will be will have to be determined by how we find out who was responsible."

McCain added, "If it is a result of either separatists or Russian actions mistakingly believing that this was a Ukrainian warplane, I think there's going to be hell to pay and there should be."