Kuala Lumpur: Air-traffic controllers did not realize that Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 was missing until 17 minutes after it disappeared from civilian radar, according to a preliminary report released Thursday by Malaysia’s government.
Other information from the investigation into the flight, including audio recordings of conversations between the cockpit and air traffic control, the plane’s cargo manifest and its seating plan, also was released.
The government provided a map showing the Boeing 777’s deduced flight path and a document detailing actions taken by authorities during the hours of confusion following the jet’s disappearance. Many of the details have been previously disclosed.
The report noted that there is no requirement for real-time tracking of commercial aircraft and that the uncertainty about Flight 370’s last position made it more difficult to locate the plane.
The plane, carrying 239 people, went off Malaysian radar at 1:21 a.m. on March 8 while en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. Vietnamese air-traffic controllers began contacting Kuala Lumpur at 1:38 a.m. after they failed to establish verbal contact with the pilots and the plane didn’t show up on their radar, according to the five-page report, sent last month to the International Civil Aviation Organization.
The documents showed that Malaysian authorities did not begin an official search-and-rescue operation until four hours later, at 5:30 a.m.
01/05/14 Eileen Ng/Washington Post
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Other information from the investigation into the flight, including audio recordings of conversations between the cockpit and air traffic control, the plane’s cargo manifest and its seating plan, also was released.
The government provided a map showing the Boeing 777’s deduced flight path and a document detailing actions taken by authorities during the hours of confusion following the jet’s disappearance. Many of the details have been previously disclosed.
The report noted that there is no requirement for real-time tracking of commercial aircraft and that the uncertainty about Flight 370’s last position made it more difficult to locate the plane.
The plane, carrying 239 people, went off Malaysian radar at 1:21 a.m. on March 8 while en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. Vietnamese air-traffic controllers began contacting Kuala Lumpur at 1:38 a.m. after they failed to establish verbal contact with the pilots and the plane didn’t show up on their radar, according to the five-page report, sent last month to the International Civil Aviation Organization.
The documents showed that Malaysian authorities did not begin an official search-and-rescue operation until four hours later, at 5:30 a.m.
01/05/14 Eileen Ng/Washington Post
