Tag: Malaysia Airlines

German intel report on MH17 contradicts Western version

The German BND foreign intelligence agency’s new report on the Boeing crash in Ukraine in fact contradicts the Western version on the causes of the tragedy. On Monday this opinion was voiced by Alexey Pushkov, the head of the foreign-affairs committee in the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament.

“The German intelligence report questions the main version which was accepted by the West and stated by a range of Western politicians and almost all mass media that Russia had handed over to militias the Buk missile systems that were used to shoot down the Malaysian Boeing,” Alexey Pushkov said.

“The German intelligence stated: The Boeing was downed by a Buk missile system ‘captured by militias.’ That means Russia was not involved. And the Buk could have been launched by the Ukrainian Armed Forces,” Pushkov said on Twitter.

This came after BND President Gerhard Schindler claimed his agency had found that Donbas militia was responsible for shooting down the Malaysian Boeing using a Buk missile system, though no evidence was unveiled.

Self-defence leader Andrej Purgin said on Sunday in response that pro-Russian groups could not have shot down MH17. According Purgin the Buk missile system is very complicated and self-defence forces do not have the knowledge to operate such a system.

He blamed the leadership in Kiev for the disaster. It is incomprehensible Purgin said, that the government had not closed the airspace over the conflict area.

“The new version means that Russia has no relation to the downed Boeing,” Pushkov stressed.

“If this was done by a Ukrainian missile, Russia has no relation at all to this tragic event,” Pushkov said.

The Dutch Safety Board, which is leading the probe and coordinating the international team of investigators, said in its preliminary report published September 9 that “Flight MH17 with a Boeing 777-200 operated by Malaysia Airlines broke up in the air probably as the result of structural damage caused by a large number of high-energy objects that penetrated the aircraft from outside.

Meanwhile there will not be hearing about the plane crash of flight MH17 in the Netherlands because coalition parties are blocking it.

It appears the VVD and PvdA do not find it necessary to study satellite images showing the the downing of the plane.

On July 17, a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 passenger airliner on flight MH17 en route from the Dutch city of Amsterdam to the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur crashed in the Donetsk Region in eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board.

The hearing could “hamper” the ongoing investigation by the Prosecution into the cause of the disaster,  VVD MP Han ten Broeke told NU.nl.

The CDA and D66 insisted Sunday on a hearing after satellite images and various photographs were provided by German intelligence (BND).

Source: ItarTASS/nu.nl/ RIANovosti

Dutch foreign minister says MH17 victim wore oxygen mask

A passenger of the downed Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 was found with an oxygen mask over the mouth when the body was recovered from the crash site, Dutch Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans said on Wednesday.

Timmermans’ statement came in response to a comment from TV host Jeroen Pauw that the final moments aboard Flight MH17 were not as suggested by Timmermans in his speech at the U.N. Security Council in the week after the tragedy.

Timmermans had reportedly said during his U.N. speech on July 21 that the passengers on board the Malaysia Airlines plane remained conscious after the aircraft was struck by a suspected missile.

“I’ve been thinking how horrible the final moments of their lives must have been, when they knew the plane was going down,” Timmermans reportedly said at the time. “Did they lock hands with their loved ones, did they hold their children close to their hearts, did they look each other in the eyes, one final time, in a wordless goodbye? We will never know.”

A preliminary report of the investigation by the Dutch Safety Board into the crash stated that the jetliner broke apart in mid-air after being hit by “a large number of high-energy objects that penetrated the aircraft from outside.”

Timmermans’ announcement indicates that some passengers on board Flight MH17 may have remained conscious after the aircraft was reportedly hit by a surface-to-air missile. It contradicts findings that claimed that the people aboard the jetliner, which was traveling from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, had been killed instantly after the strike of a BUK missile.

Jeroen Pauw  accused Timmermans of making an emotional speech about the last moments of those on board the plane to the United Nations shortly afterwards.

The first report on the crash shows there is no single moment when the passengers could have realised that a rocket was approaching the plane, Pauw said.

In his rebuttal, Timmermans said one of the passengers was found with an oxygen mask on. ‘So there was time to do that,’ the minister said.

The plane had 298 people on board, of whom 196 were Dutch. So far 262 of the victims have been identified. The Netherlands is in charge of the investigation.

Timmermans was invited to a Dutch late-night talk show “Pauw,” Dutch News reported.

Experts said earlier that the passenger may not have noticed the attack. “The passengers probably lost consciousness immediately,” said researcher James Vosswinkel to Bloomberg. Joris Melkert, lecturer in aeronautical engineering at Delft University concluded that the device disintegrated in the air.

Relatives of the victims this morning received yet another email confirming that an oxygen mask was found on an Australian victim.

About 228 coffins have been reportedly flown back to the Netherlands for identification of the victims. However, forensic experts have not been able to recover all the bodies from the crash site due to the ongoing conflict in the area.

 

Malaysian Airlines losing $2 million a day

Malaysia Airlines is on the verge of bankruptcy, losing up to $2 million every day, after its flight MH370 disappeared in March and MH17 crashed four months later, Agence France-Presse wrote Sunday citing analysts from a Malaysia-based aviation consultancy Endau Analytics.

“The harrowing reality for Malaysia Airlines after MH17 is that if the government doesn’t have an immediate game plan, every day that passes will contribute to its self-destruction and eventual demise,” aviation analyst Shukor Yusof told AFP.

Losing “one to two million US dollars a day,” the airline has “the bandwidth to stay afloat for about six more months based on my estimates of its cash reserves,” Shukor said.

Earlier reports put Malaysia Airlines’ loss in the past 3 year at $1.3 billion.

According to Daily Mail, the airline prepares a range of measures to recover its image. The possible steps include changing the company’s name, creating new air paths, selling the company to a private buyer or filing for bankruptcy with the following renegotiation with the trade unions.

Flight МН370, which was flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people, representing 14 nations, disappeared from radars on March 8. Months of search operations in the Indian Ocean have failed to locate the plane’s remains.

The MH17 Boeing crashed in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk Region on July 17, killing all 298 people on board, mostly Dutch citizens.

Source: RIA Novosti

Singapore Airlines criticised over MH17 tweet

‘Customers may wish to note that Singapore Airlines flights are not using Ukraine airspace.’

Singapore Airlines (SIA) has apologised for posting an “insensitive” comment on social media about the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 crash in crisis-stricken eastern Ukraine.

Hours after the Boeing 777-200 passenger jet with 298 people on board went down on Thursday, believed shot by a surface-to-air missile, SIA posted a one-line statement on Facebook and Twitter.

It read: “Customers may wish to note that Singapore Airlines flights are not using Ukraine airspace.”

The comment sparked anger among users of social media.

“How about at least acknowledging the terrible event and sending condolences to those families and friends involved instead of this cold, classless update?,” wrote a Michael Reif in response.

Hundreds of others joined in the condemnation but some defended the airline, saying it was trying to reassure customers concerned about the safety of their flight route.

“We are aware that our Facebook and Twitter update on Friday morning may have come across as insensitive to some,” SIA said in a Facebook posting late Saturday.

“We recognise that the information could have been better communicated and we sincerely apologise if it had offended our customers and anyone else in the online community,” it added.

“The post was in response to many requests from our customers who had asked for information about our flight routes for their upcoming flights with us.”

SIA acknowledged that prior to the crash it was flying the route taken by MH17 but has since re-routed flights.

World leaders are in agreement that MH17 was blown out of the sky by a surface-to-air missile fired from rebel-controlled eastern Ukraine.

Kiev has gone a step further, saying militias using a Russian-supplied anti-aircraft system were responsible.

Airlines avoid Ukraine airspace after MH17 Boeing crashes

A number of airlines around the world have announced they are going to reroute flights to avoid Ukrainian airspace. The list of companies includes Russian Aeroflot, UTair and Transaero, German Lufthansa and Turkish airlines.

“After the incident we have decided to avoid Ukrainian airspace,” a Turkish Airlines spokesman said.

American airlines have also agreed to avoid airspace near the Russian-Ukrainian border, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said on Thursday. The US Federal Aviation Administration issued a Notice to Airman (NOTAM)“prohibiting US flight operations until further notice” over eastern Ukraine.

The restricted area includes the “entire Simferopol and Dnepropetrovsk flight information regions (FIRs).” No scheduled US airlines are currently flying routes through this airspace, the watchdog added.

Air France and Virgin have decided to temporarily re-route flights to bypass Ukraine.Italy’s Alitalia has also announced it is diverting flights away from eastern Ukraine joining the growing list of companies re-routing flights.

The UK department of transport has ordered “flights already airborne” to bypass south-eastern regions of the country.

Pilots around the world are being advised to plan routes that avoid the area, the statement said. China’s aviation administration has ordered all Chinese airliners to avoid eastern Ukrainian airspace where flight MH17 has crashed, CCTV reports.

Dubai-based Emirates Airline has turned around its Kiev-bound Flight EK171 which has returned to it airport of departure in United Arab Emirates.

“The safety of our customers and crew is paramount, and we will continue to monitor the situation carefully,” the company said in a statement.

In addition Belorussian Belavia, Eva Air, Korean Air Lines, Asiana Airlines, and Swedish SCA, have all announced rerouting their flight patterns to avoid Ukraine.

Flight MH17 crashed in Ukraine on a flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpar, and was carrying 298 people.

The flight was due to enter Russian airspace when contact was lost.

The EU air traffic control regulator – Eurocontrol – has closed the airspace over eastern Ukraine and has already started working on routes that would bypass the country.

“Since the crash, the Ukrainian authorities have informed EUROCONTROL of the closure of routes from the ground to unlimited in Eastern Ukraine (Dnipropetrovsk Flight Information Region). All flight plans that are filed using these routes are now being rejected by EUROCONTROL. The routes will remain closed until further notice,” it said in a statement.

Both Ukrainian government and anti-Kiev fighters have denied shooting the plane down.

A source in Russia’s federal air traffic agency Rosaviatsia has said that three days ago Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council closed the airspace over eastern Ukraine because of the so-called “anti-terrorist operation” that Kiev conducts in the region.

Earlier a representative of Donetsk People’s Republic said that civil aviation planes could not fly over Donetsk and Lugansk regions. He added that all necessary traffic control and navigation equipment was damaged.

“Dispatching support of all passenger flights is being conducted from Kiev. How this plane could be there – is not clear,” a representative of Donetsk People’s Republic said.

The US Federal Aviation Administration has issued a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) prohibiting US Airlines from flying in the area in Ukraine in April.

‘Only professional military could take down Malaysian Boeing’

If the plane was taken down then it was done by a professional military force

A Malaysia Airlines’ Boeing-777 with over 290 people on board has crashed in Ukraine, close to the border with Russia. Both Kiev and the opposition deny involvement in the incident.

Reports in the Western media hurried to blame the self-defense forces of the People’s Republic of Donetsk for bringing the plane down.

The claims were denied by the representatives of the Donetsk People’s Republic, saying that it’s the Ukrainian military, which destroyed the aircraft.

“We simply don’t have such air defense systems. Our man-portable air defense systems have a firing range 3,000 – 4,000 meters. The Boeing was flying at a much higher altitude,” Sergey Kavtaradze, special representative for the prime minister of the Donetsk People’s Republic, explained.

Kavtaradze also expressed condolences to the relatives of all of those who lost their lives in the tragedy.

IHS Jane’s Defense analyst, Nick de Larrinaga, also shared the belief that the self-defense forces lack the capability to bring the Malaysian plane down.

“At normal cruising altitude a civilian passenger aircraft would be out of the range of the sort of manned portable air (defense) systems that we have seen proliferate in rebel hands in east Ukraine,” he said in a statement.

But the aircraft would be within range of Buk or other medium-range surface-to-air missile systems, he stressed.

“Both Russia and Ukraine have such SAM systems in their inventories,” the expert added.

It seems unlikely that the self-defense forces could’ve used Buk surface-to-air missile systems to down the Malaysian plane, retired Brig. Gen. Kevin Ryan, the director of the Defense and Intelligence Project at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, said.

“It takes a lot of training and a lot of coordination to fire one of these and hit something,” he told CNN. “This is not the kind of weapon a couple of guys are going to pull out of a garage and fire.”

According to Ryan, if the plane was really taken down then it was done by a professional military force.