Missing Malaysian flight - recording casts suspicion on pilots!

Suspicions that one or both of the pilots on the Malaysian jetliner was involved in its disappearance have grown as the final recording from the cockpit gave no indication anything was wrong even though one of the plane's communications systems had already been disabled, it has emerged.

As authorities examined a flight simulator confiscated from the home of one of the pilots and dug through the background of all 239 people on board as well as the ground crew that serviced the plane, they also were grappling with the enormity of the search ahead of them, warning they needed more data to narrow down the hunt for the aircraft.

The Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 took off from Kuala Lumpur at around 12:40am on March 8, headed to Beijing. Malaysia's government has confirmed the plane was deliberately diverted and may have flown as far north as Central Asia, or south into the vast reaches of the Indian Ocean.

Authorities have said someone on board the plane first disabled one of its communications systems - the Aircraft and Communications Addressing and Reporting System, or ACARS - at 1:07am. Around 14 minutes later, the transponder, which identifies the plane to commercial radar systems, was also shut down. 

The fact that they went dark separately is strong evidence that the plane's disappearance was deliberate.

Malaysian Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein told a news conference today that that the final, reassuring words from the cockpit - "All right, good night" - were spoken to air traffic controllers after the ACARS system was shut down. Whoever spoke did not mention any trouble on board, seemingly misleading ground control.

Air force Major General Affendi Buang said he did not know whether it was the pilot or co-pilot who spoke to air traffic controllers.

Given the expanse of land and water that might need to be searched, the wreckage of the plane might take months - or longer - to find, or might never be located. Establishing what happened with any degree of certainty will likely need key information, including cockpit voice recordings, from the plane's flight data recorders.

The search area now includes 11 countries the plane might have flown over, Mr Hishammuddin said, adding that the number of countries involved in the operation had increased from 14 to 25.

"The search was already a highly complex, multinational effort. It has now become even more difficult," he said.

The search effort initially focused on the relatively shallow waters of the South China Sea and the Strait of Malacca, where the plane was first thought to be. Mr Hishammuddin said he had asked governments to hand over sensitive radar and satellite data to try to help get a better idea of the plane's final movements.

"It is our hope with the new information, parties that can come forward and narrow the search to an area that is more feasible," he said.

Malaysia is leading the multinational search for the plane, as well as the investigation into its disappearance.

Investigators are trying to answer these questions: If the two pilots were involved in the disappearance, were they working together or alone, or with one or more of the passengers or crew? Did they fly the plane under duress or of their own volition? Did one or more of the passengers manage to break into the cockpit, or use the threat of violence to gain entry and then pilot the plane? And what possible motive could there be for flying off with the plane?

Malaysia's police chief, Khalid Abu Bakar, said he requested countries with citizens on board the plane to investigate their background, no doubt looking for any ties to terrorist groups, aviation skills or evidence of prior contact with the pilots. He said that the intelligence agencies of some countries had already done this and found nothing suspicious, but that he was waiting for others to respond.

The government said police searched the homes of both pilots yesterday, the first time they had done so since the plane went missing. Asked why it took them so long, Mr Khalid said authorities "didn't see the necessity in the early stages".

He said police confiscated the elaborate flight simulator that one of the pilots, Zaharie Ahmad Shah, had built in his home and reassembled it in their offices to study it for clues.

Zaharie, 53, who has three grown children and one grandchild, had previously posted photos online of the simulator, which was made with three large computer monitors and other accessories. Earlier this week, the head of Malaysia Airlines said this was not in itself cause for any suspicion.

Malaysian police are also investigating engineers and ground staff who may have had contact with the plane before it took off, Mr Khalid said.

ACARS is used to send information about the plane's engines and other parts to the airline. Even though it was disabled on Flight 370, it continued to send out faint hourly pulses that were recorded by a satellite. The last "ping" was sent out at 8:11 a.m. - 7 hours and 31 minutes after the plane took off. It placed the jet somewhere in a huge arc as far north as Kazakhstan in Central Asia or far into the southern Indian Ocean.

While many people believe the plane has crashed, there is a very small possibility it may have landed somewhere and be relatively intact. Affendi, the air force general, and Mr Hishammuddin said it was possible for the plane to "ping" when it was on the ground if its electrical systems were undamaged.

Australia said it was sending one of its two AP-3C Orion aircraft involved in the search to remote islands in the Indian Ocean at Malaysia's request. The plane will search the north and west of the Cocos Islands, a remote Australian territory with an airstrip about 745 miles southwest of Indonesia, military chief Gen David Hurley said.

Given that the northern route the plane may have taken would take it over countries with busy airspace, most experts say the person in control of the aircraft would more likely have chosen the southern route. The southern Indian Ocean is the world's third-deepest and one of the most remote stretches of water in the world, with little radar coverage.

Malaysian officials and aviation experts said that whoever disabled the plane's communication systems and then flew the jet must have had a high degree of technical knowledge and flying experience, putting one or both of the pilots high on the list of possible suspects.

Zaharie, the pilot, was a supporter of a Malaysian opposition political party that is locked in a bitter dispute with the government, according to postings on his Facebook page and a friend, Peter Chong, who is a party member.

Mr Chong said that he last saw Zaharie a week before the pilot left on the flight for Beijing, and that they had agreed to meet on his return to organise a shopping trip for poor children.

"If I am on a flight, I would choose Captain Zaharie," he said. "He is dedicated to his job, he is a professional and he loves flying."

Later search and rescue experts said the hunt for the plane may hinge on inexact satellite data.

A satellite was able to connect with the aircraft's messaging system once an hour for four to five hours after the system was shut down and the plane disappeared from radar screens. The satellite tilted its antenna to receive messages from the plane, although no location information was exchanged.

Investigators have used the antenna angle, along with radar data, to draw two vast arcs where the plane is believed to be.

Air crash investigators have never used this kind of satellite data before to try to find a missing plane, but it may be the best clue left.

Source: Reuters

Malaysian police search pilot's home after learning flight tracker was turned off in cockpit!

The Malaysian Police reportedly searched the home of the pilot of the missing jetliner Saturday after it was revealed at a press conference that the flight tracker was turned off from inside the plane’s cockpit on the day it disappeared.

Investigators trying to solve the disappearance of a Malaysia Airlines jetliner have sharpened their focus on passengers and crew after concluding that the Boeing 777 had its communications deliberately disabled.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said at a press conference that investigators now know that the airliner's last signal came about 7 1/2 hours after takeoff, meaning it could have ended up as far as Kazakhstan or deep in the southern Indian Ocean. 

"In view of this latest development, the Malaysian authorities have refocused their investigation into the crew and passengers on board," Najib said, stressing they were still investigating all possibilities as to why the plane deviated so drastically from its original flight path.

"Clearly the search for (Flight) MH370 has entered a new phase," Najib told a televised news conference.

Najib also said that authorities are now trying to trace the airplane across two possible "corridors" -- a northern corridor from the border of Kazakstan and Turkmenistan through to northern Thailand, and a southern corridor from Indonesia to the southern Indian Ocean. 

The prime minister said that searching in the South China Sea, where the plane first lost contact with air traffic controllers, would be ended. He said the new search corridors were based on the latest available satellite data.

Najib also confirmed that Malaysian air force defense radar picked up traces of the plane turning back westward, crossing over Peninsular Malaysia into the northern stretches of the Strait of Malacca. 

Authorities previously had said this radar data could not be verified.

He said the jetliner's "movements are consistent with the deliberate action of someone on the plane,".

The prime minister said investigators have not ruled out any possible cause for the plane's disappearance, despite an earlier report by The Associated Press that investigators had concluded that one of the pilots or someone else with flying experience hijacked the jetliner.

It was gathered that a Malaysian government official involved in the investigation told the AP on Saturday that no motive has been established, and it is not yet clear where the plane was taken. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media. 

The official said that hijacking was no longer a theory. "It is conclusive," he said.

He said evidence that led to the conclusion were signs that the plane's communications were switched off deliberately, data about the flight path and indications the plane was steered in a way to avoid detection by radar. 

Malaysian officials have said radar data suggest it may have turned back and crossed back over the Malaysian peninsula westward, after setting out toward the Chinese capital. 

Malaysian police have previously said they were checking whether any passengers or crew had personal or psychological problems that might offer clues to why the plane vanished, along with the possibility of a hijacking, sabotage or mechanical failure.

Earlier Friday, a senior U.S. official told Fox News that the search effort would be broadened deep into the Indian Ocean, based on new intelligence assessments that there is a "higher probability" the aircraft went down in that region. 

As a consequence of shared U.S.-Malaysian intelligence assessments, the U.S. Navy destroyer USS Kidd is expected to expand its search into a southern quadrant of the ocean, while Indian authorities will cover a northern quadrant. 

The development comes as authorities speculate that the disappearance may have been an "act of piracy,” and more evidence suggests the plane was diverted by a skilled pilot before it vanished, U.S. and Malaysian officials familiar with the investigation said Friday.

Key evidence for "human intervention" in the plane's disappearance is that contact with its transponder stopped about 12 minutes before a messaging system quit, an unidentified American official told the Associated Press. 

The official -- also not authorized to speak publicly -- said it's also possible the plane may have landed somewhere. 

A source familiar with the investigation but not authorized to speak on the record told Fox News that flight 370 continued to send "periodic pushes" of data after the transponder went dark for about four hours after contact was lost with the aircraft, suggesting the jet continued to fly. This was described to Fox News as signals data that, in isolation, would not provide location data.  

While the systems were no longer transmitting maintenance data, the satellite communication link was still active. Once an hour, the system sent out a “handshake” -- a form of reset, like a cell phone searching for an antenna tower. 

The “handshake” allows the satellite to work out how much tilt or arc was needed to be in range of the plane's signal. It therefore provides a scope or range for the aircraft, but it does not provide altitude, speed or location.

If the plane had disintegrated during flight or had suffered some other catastrophic failure, all signals — the pings to the satellite, the data messages and the transponder — would be expected to stop at the same time.

Analysis of the Malaysia flight data suggests the plane diverted from its intended northeast route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing and instead flew west, using airline flight paths normally taken to the Middle East and Europe, Reuters reported Friday. 

This points to the theory that the plane was being flown by the pilots or possibly someone familiar with those routes.

Details such as these are leading investigators to sharpen their focus the possibility of sabotage.

Mike Glynn, a committee member of the Australian and International Pilots Association, said he considers pilot suicide to be the most likely explanation for the disappearance, as was suspected in a SilkAir crash during a flight from Singapore to Jakarta in 1997 and an EgyptAir flight from Los Angeles to Cairo in 1999.  

"A pilot rather than a hijacker is more likely to be able to switch off the communications equipment," Glynn said. "The last thing that I, as a pilot, want is suspicion to fall on the crew, but it's happened twice before."

"What we can say is we are looking at sabotage, with hijack still on the cards," said that source, a senior Malaysian police official.  

The current search involves 14 countries, 43 ships and 58 aircraft.

Seven applicants die in Abuja NIS recruitment centre!

According to the News Agency of Nigeria, authorities of National Hospital, Abuja, on Saturday confirmed seven persons among 67,000 Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) job applicants in the FCT dead.

The applicants had converged on the National Stadium, Abuja, one of the venues for the test to fill 5,000 vacancies in NIS and many were said to have arrived at the centre before 6a.m.

The service had fixed the test nationwide for the 7,000 applicants for the available jobs.

However, a stampede ensued at the FCT centre about 7a.m. when the screening of candidates was to start for the test scheduled for 4p.m.

Mr Tayo Haastrup, the spokesman for the hospital, said that the seven, five women and two men, were brought in dead and that the bodies had been deposited at the mortuary.

“The hospital received some casualties from the stampede from the ongoing Immigration recruitment at the National Stadium.

“Those that died were seven in number, five women are and two men, their corpses have been deposited at the mortuary, “Haastrup said.

He further said the hospital was working to stabilise those brought in unconscious from the stampede, while other casualties had been taken to other hospitals, including Asokoro General Hospital.

NAN recalled that in 2008, no fewer than 20 people died in various states of the federation during a similar exercise conducted by the Ministry of Interior for Nigeria Prisons Service, Nigeria Immigration Service and Customs Service.

Nigerian military captures Boko Haram’s armoury around Lake Chad–Defence Headquarters!

The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) on Saturday in Abuja said that troops, operating in the North-East, have captured a massive armoury with arms and ammunition belonging to Boko Haram insurgents.

This information is contained in a statement signed by Major General Chris Olukolade, Director of Defence Information/Coordinator of the Joint Information Centre Counter Terrorism Campaign.

Mr. Olukolade said that a dump of the terrorists was sighted in one of the camps, around the  Lake Chad area, that fell on Friday night in the ongoing counter terrorism operations.

He said the large quantities of weapons recovered in the raid were still being evacuated from the scene of the night raid where several terrorists also were killed.

“Similar operations took place in other camps, in coordination with the troops of Multi-National Joint Task Force.

“These camps are located on the outskirts of Duguri, Polkime, Malafatori and other locations around the fringes of Lake Chad.

“Substantial money in different currencies and denominations were also recovered from the camps, ‘’ he said.

Mr. Olukolade said that seven Boko Haram terrorists were captured in the operation during which a soldier died while five were wounded.

He also said that troops conducting ‘Cordon and Search’ for remnants of the terrorists, who attacked Giwa Barracks in Maiduguri on Friday, also had an encounter with some of the surviving terrorists.

According to him, the encounter was in the general area of Kayamla and Alu Dam on the outskirts of Maiduguri.

“More of the terrorists have been killed and arrested in the ongoing encounters.

“Those captured in the encounter are providing useful information towards the discovery of other hideouts of the daring terrorists.

“It has been revealed that the terrorists are now desperate to either free or kill the ones being detained with a view to averting or preventing further revelations about their operations and hideouts as this has been frustrating their plans lately,” he added.

The Coordinator said more bodies of fleeing terrorists have also been discovered along the routes of their escape.

He said troops’ morale and fighting spirit have been further boosted by the outcome of the operations so far.

Mr. Olukolade said that the ‘Cordon and Search’ as well as ‘Patrol and Pursuit’ by air and land would continue in the entire mission area of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa States. 

What in the world does Putin want?

The name Vladimir Putin will for a long time send shivers to the spines of millions across the globe, owing to the horrifying signature he leaves behind in any conflict situation he gets involved in. 



The case of Syria is one among many nations which the Russian government cleverly gets involved in, by shamelessly providing ammunition  for an embattled government to use against her own people. 

Since the Syrian crisis broke out in 2011, millions have be brutally killed and displaced, and the role of Russia in supporting her long time (amour deals)  ally, the Assad regime can not be over emphasized.  



As Syria licks her wound, and the rest of the world (at least so it seems) through the United Nations rally round to seek ways of ending the conflict, after having called Russia to order; Vladimir Putin is once again in the news, and for the same reasons, this time he turned to Russia's former colony, Ukraine to tear her apart. 



A crisis which started as a non - violence pro- EU treaty protest late 2013 in the capital city Kiev, suddenly escalated into a full blown crisis; and today less than 6 months into the protest, the country is at the verge of being turn apart if the situation is not brought under control.

Again, the signature of Vladimir Putin is clearly seen on the wall, only this time, will the rest of the world watch as he does what he best knows how to? destroy the Ukraine nation?

With the sudden appearance of Russian military troop in Crimea, Soldiers who neither spoke to press men or any other at that, but waited for further instruction from their boss Putin. My question is directed to this man whom many world leaders have described as "in another world," - German Chancellor Angela Merkel; "lost it."- Julia Ioffe of the New Republic,  and 
"we may have reached the weird moment when the dictator believes his own propaganda." - Anne Applebaum of The Post....

WHAT IN THE WORLD DO YOU WANT? 

By Uju Mbanusi

Shell admits global Loss, blames situation on insecurity in Nigeria!

According to the BBC's news this evening, the Shell Global Profit is on the decline and the reason? security situation in Nigeria.....

Who says Nigeria is not relevant to the Global World Economy?

Impressive to know we hold such sway, this should be an encouraging call to the Nigerian government to key into this situation and utilize it positively, by seeking ways of ending the security night mare the nation is currently bedevil with, taking the Nigerian economy to a World class level. 

If a situation in the country can cause such plummeting global impact to a multi- national company like Shell, making them to openly admit such, then taking our economy to a higher level is feasible.

By Uju Mbanusi

Controversy trails missing plane as Malaysian Authorities say U.S report is inaccurate!

Malaysian authorities said on Thursday there was no evidence that a jetliner missing for almost six days flew for hours after losing contact with air traffic controllers and continued to transmit technical data.

The Wall Street Journal reported that U.S. aviation investigators and national security officials believed the Boeing 777 flew for a total of five hours, based on data automatically downloaded and sent to the ground from its Rolls-Royce Trent engines as part of a standard monitoring program.

"Those reports are inaccurate," Malaysian Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein told a news conference. "As far as both Rolls-Royce and Boeing are concerned, those reports are inaccurate. The last (data) transmission from the aircraft was at 01:07 a.m. (local time) which indicated that everything was normal."