3月12日,馬來(lái)西亞交通部長(zhǎng)Hishammuddin Hussein在吉隆坡舉行的關(guān)于搜救行動(dòng)的新聞發(fā)布會(huì)上。 |
U.S. investigators suspect that Malaysia Airlines 3786.KU -2.04% Flight 370 stayed in the air for about four hours past the time it reached its last confirmed location, according to two people familiar with the details, raising the possibility that the plane could have flown on for hundreds of additional miles under conditions that remain murky. Aviation investigators and national security officials believe the plane flew for a total of five hours based on data automatically downloaded and sent to the ground from the Boeing Co. BA -0.99% 777's engines as part of a routine maintenance and monitoring program. That raises a host of new questions and possibilities about what happened aboard the widebody jet carrying 239 people, which vanished from civilian air-traffic control radar over the weekend, about one hour into a flight to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur. Six days after the mysterious disappearance prompted a massive international air and water search that so far hasn't produced any results, the investigation appears to be broadening in scope. U.S. counterterrorism officials are pursuing the possibility that a pilot or someone else on board the plane may have diverted it toward an undisclosed location after intentionally turning off the jetliner's transponders to avoid radar detection, according to one person tracking the probe. The investigation remains fluid, and it isn't clear whether investigators have evidence indicating possible terrorism or espionage. So far, U.S. national security officials have said that nothing specifically points toward terrorism, though they haven't ruled it out. But the huge uncertainty about where the plane was headed, and why it apparently continued flying so long without working transponders, has raised theories among investigators that the aircraft may have been commandeered for a reason that appears unclear to U.S. authorities. Some of those theories have been laid out to national security officials and senior personnel from various U.S. agencies, according to one person familiar with the matter. At one briefing, according to this person, officials were told investigators are actively pursuing the notion that the plane was diverted "with the intention of using it later for another purpose." As of Wednesday it remained unclear whether the plane reached an alternate destination or if it ultimately crashed, potentially hundreds of miles from where an international search effort has been focused. In those scenarios, neither mechanical problems, pilot mistakes nor some other type of catastrophic incident caused the 250-ton plane to mysteriously vanish from radar. The latest revelations come as local media reported that Malaysian police visited the home of at least one of the two pilots. Boeing officials and a Malaysia Airlines official declined to comment. The engines' onboard monitoring system is provided by their manufacturer, Rolls-Royce RR.LN -1.71% PLC, and it periodically sends bursts of data about engine health, operations and aircraft movements to facilities on the ground. Rolls-Royce couldn't immediately be reached for comment. As part of its maintenance agreements, Malaysia Airlines transmits its engine data live to Rolls-Royce for analysis. The system compiles data from inside the 777's two Trent 800 engines and transmits snapshots of performance, as well as the altitude and speed of the jet. Those snippets are compiled and transmitted in 30-minute increments, said one person familiar with the system. According to Rolls-Royce's website, the data is processed automatically "so that subtle changes in condition from one flight to another can be detected." The engine data is being analyzed to help determine the flight path of the plane after the transponders stopped working. The jet was originally headed for China, and its last verified position was half way across the Gulf of Thailand. A total flight time of five hours after departing Kuala Lumpur means the Boeing 777 could have continued for an additional distance of about 2,200 nautical miles, reaching points as far as the Indian Ocean, the border of Pakistan or even the Arabian Sea, based on the jet's cruising speed. Earlier Wednesday, frustrations over the protracted search for the missing plane mounted as both China and Vietnam vented their anger over what they viewed as poor coordination of the effort. Government conflicts and national arguments over crises are hardly unique to the Flight 370 situation, but some air-safety experts said they couldn't recall another recent instance of governments publicly feuding over search procedures during the early phase of an international investigation. Authorities radically expanded the size of the search zone Wednesday, which already was proving a challenge to cover effectively, but the mission hadn't turned up much by the end of the fifth day. WSJ has confirmed that the pilot had the ability to manually turn off the transponder on Flight MH370. A mid-air catastrophe could have destroyed it. Why is the transponder so significant? WSJ's Jason Bellini has #TheShortAnswer. Also on Wednesday, a Chinese government website posted images from Chinese satellites showing what it said were three large objects floating in an 8-square-mile area off the southern tip of Vietnam. The objects were discovered on Sunday , according to the website, which didn't say whether the objects had been recovered or examined. Ten countries were helping to scour the seas around Malaysia, including China, the U.S. and Vietnam. Taiwanese vessels are expected to be on the scene by Friday, with India and Japan having also agreed to join the search soon. In all, 56 surface ships were taking part in the search, according to statements issued by the contributing governments, with Malaysia providing 27 of them. In addition, 30 fixed-wing aircraft were also searching, with at least 10 shipboard helicopters available, mostly in the waters between Malaysia and Vietnam. China's government was especially aggrieved. More than 150 of the 239 people on board are Chinese, and family members in Beijing have at times loudly expressed their frustration over the absence of leads. More than a dozen Chinese diplomats met with Malaysian authorities in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday as tension grew over the search. "At present there's a lot of different information out there. It's very chaotic and very hard to verify," foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang said in a regular press briefing. "We've said as long as there is a shred of hope, you can't give up." The day before, Beijing pointedly pressed Malaysia to accelerate its investigation, which has been hampered by false leads on suspected debris and conflicting reports on radar tracking. Vietnam on Wednesday suspended its search flights after conflicting reports from Malaysia that authorities had tracked the plane to the Strait of Malacca before it disappeared. Gen. Rodzali Daud, Malaysia's air force chief, denied saying he had told local media that military radar facilities had tracked the plane there, saying they were still examining all possibilities. Vietnam later resumed normal search sweeps. Malaysian authorities divided the search area into several sectors on either side of the country, as well as areas on land. The challenge, said Lt. David Levy, a spokesman for the U.S. Navy's Seventh Fleet, isn't so much coordination as the sheer size of the area involved. The search grids are up to 20 miles by 120 miles, and ships and aircraft employ an exhaustive methodical pattern "like mowing your lawn" in their search for the plane, he said. China and Vietnam venting their frustration with the slow progress of the mission and what they view as poor coordination of the effort to find Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. Allison Morrow reports on the News Hub. Photo: Getty Images. U.S. defense officials sought to play down any suggestion that the Malaysian government was doing a poor job with the search. "It is not unusual for searches to take a long time, especially when you are working with limited data," one official said. Aviation experts say the absence of an electronic signal from the plane before it disappeared from radar screens makes it difficult to pin down possible locations. Some radar data suggested the Boeing 777 might have tried to turn back to Kuala Lumpur before contact was lost, a detail that prompted a search for the plane on both sides of the Malaysian peninsula. A U.S. Navy P-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft has been searching the northern Strait of Malacca, west of Malaysia, while destroyers USS Kidd and USS Pinckney have been deploying helicopters in the Gulf of Thailand to the east. So far the U.S., like other nations taking part in the search, has had no success. Many aviation experts are concluding that searchers might not have been looking in the right places. Even if the plane broke up in midair, it would have left telltale traces of debris in the ocean. The cracks now emerging between some of the participants in the search could make it even more difficult. You can help search for the missing Malaysia Airlines plane, thanks to a website called Tomnod.com. It allows anyone to comb the area where rescue workers are searching using satellite images. The WSJ's Deborah Kan speaks to DigitalGlobe's Luke Barrington. Diplomatic feuds over air disasters have generally erupted over the conclusions of the investigations, long after the initial search is over. The results of the 1999 crash of an Egyptair Boeing 767 en route to Egypt from New York, which killed 217 people, spawned a dispute between Washington and Cairo that strained ties for years. The National Transportation Safety Board concluded the plane's co-pilot purposely put the twin-engine jet into a steep dive and then resisted efforts by the captain to recover control before the airliner slammed into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Nantucket. Egyptian authorities insisted the evidence indicated mechanical failure. Years earlier, Washington and Paris butted heads over the investigation of an American Eagle commuter turboprop that crashed in 1994 near Roselawn, Ind. The French objected to the NTSB's conclusions that French regulators failed to take actions that could have prevented the accident. |
據(jù)《華爾街日?qǐng)?bào)》3月13日?qǐng)?bào)道,據(jù)兩位知情人士透露,美國(guó)調(diào)查人員懷疑馬航370航班離開(kāi)最后被定位的位置后,仍在空中飛行約4個(gè)小時(shí)。而這意味著飛機(jī)在失聯(lián)后可能又繼續(xù)飛行了幾百英里,雖然后來(lái)飛行時(shí)的具體情況目前尚未可知。 根據(jù)自動(dòng)下載并發(fā)送至地面的波音777發(fā)動(dòng)機(jī)數(shù)據(jù)(該數(shù)據(jù)平時(shí)用于對(duì)飛機(jī)的例行檢查和監(jiān)控),美國(guó)航空調(diào)查人員和國(guó)家安全部門(mén)官員認(rèn)為該失聯(lián)航班飛行了總計(jì)5個(gè)小時(shí)。 該航班于3月8日從吉隆坡出發(fā)飛往北京,但剛剛起飛不到1個(gè)小時(shí),就突然失去了同地面的通訊聯(lián)絡(luò),同時(shí)雷達(dá)信號(hào)消失,并自此失蹤。這一新發(fā)現(xiàn)對(duì)此班載有239人的大型客機(jī)失聯(lián)后發(fā)生的情況,又提出了很多新的問(wèn)題和可能性。 在該航班神秘失蹤之后的六天里,多國(guó)在相關(guān)海域展開(kāi)了空中和海上搜救。但是截至目前,救援工作仍未取得重大發(fā)現(xiàn)或?qū)嵸|(zhì)性進(jìn)展,救援力量已決定擴(kuò)大搜索范圍。 美國(guó)反恐官員根據(jù)一名飛機(jī)探測(cè)器監(jiān)控人員的觀察猜測(cè),可能是機(jī)組人員或機(jī)上其他人士故意關(guān)閉了應(yīng)答器以躲避雷達(dá)監(jiān)測(cè)后,人為地更改了飛機(jī)的航向駛向目前為不人知的目的地。 目前,該調(diào)查仍在進(jìn)行中,但是還不明確調(diào)查人員是否已發(fā)現(xiàn)暗示恐怖襲擊或間諜行動(dòng)的證據(jù)。截至目前,美國(guó)國(guó)家安全部門(mén)的官員表示,尚未發(fā)現(xiàn)將該事件指向恐怖襲擊的任何線索,但也并不排除恐怖襲擊的可能。 對(duì)于該失聯(lián)航班到底去向何方,以及為何在應(yīng)答器停止工作的情況下繼續(xù)飛行那么久,眼下還是疑云密布。這些疑點(diǎn)讓一些調(diào)查人員提出了失聯(lián)航班可能被一些人非法利用的猜測(cè),但對(duì)于非法利用的原因,美國(guó)官方目前難以給出可能的答案。據(jù)一名知情人士透露,這種猜測(cè)已上報(bào)美國(guó)國(guó)家安全部門(mén)官員和其他部門(mén)的高級(jí)官員。 這名知情人士表示,美國(guó)官員們?cè)谝淮伟l(fā)布會(huì)上表示,調(diào)查人員正在積極調(diào)查失聯(lián)航班被故意改變航向以“在稍后用于其他的目的”的可能性。 截止到3月12日,仍然不明朗的是該架飛機(jī)是否降落在其他的機(jī)場(chǎng),或者如果最終墜機(jī),還是在各國(guó)集中搜救的幾百英里范圍內(nèi)。 在上述情況里,機(jī)械故障、駕駛員錯(cuò)誤操作以及一些災(zāi)難性事故都不會(huì)造成重達(dá)250噸的飛機(jī)無(wú)故從雷達(dá)中消失。 馬來(lái)西亞當(dāng)?shù)孛襟w最新披露的消息顯示,馬來(lái)西亞警方曾去過(guò)至少一位駕駛員的家中。 波音公司和馬來(lái)西亞航空公司的人員拒絕對(duì)此發(fā)表評(píng)論。 飛機(jī)引擎上的內(nèi)置監(jiān)測(cè)系統(tǒng)由制造商勞斯萊斯公司(Rolls-RoycePLC)并會(huì)定時(shí)向地面發(fā)送有關(guān)引擎條件、運(yùn)行情況以及飛機(jī)飛行的數(shù)據(jù)包。 目前還未能立刻聯(lián)系到勞斯萊斯公司進(jìn)行采訪。 作為維護(hù)協(xié)議的一部分,馬來(lái)西亞航空公司將其實(shí)時(shí)引擎數(shù)據(jù)傳送給了勞斯萊斯公司進(jìn)行數(shù)據(jù)分析。這一系統(tǒng)可以對(duì)波音777飛機(jī)內(nèi)兩個(gè)Trent800引擎的數(shù)據(jù)進(jìn)行匯編并傳送操作照片、海拔高度和飛行速度。 據(jù)一位熟悉該系統(tǒng)的人士透露,這些數(shù)據(jù)每三十分鐘就會(huì)進(jìn)行匯編和傳送。據(jù)勞斯萊斯網(wǎng)站介紹,這些數(shù)據(jù)都是自動(dòng)處理,因此任何一點(diǎn)小的變動(dòng)都能夠被探測(cè)到。 在應(yīng)答器停止工作之后,目前正在分析引擎數(shù)據(jù)以斷定飛機(jī)的飛行航線。該架飛機(jī)原定飛向中國(guó),其最后的確定位置為泰國(guó)灣的中間地段。 該架波音777飛機(jī)離開(kāi)吉隆坡后原定飛行五小時(shí),根據(jù)飛機(jī)的巡行航速,它還可能繼續(xù)飛行大約2200海里,到達(dá)印度洋、巴基斯坦邊境甚至阿拉伯海地區(qū)。 本周三(3月12日)早些時(shí)候,中國(guó)和越南都表達(dá)了對(duì)于搜救行動(dòng)協(xié)調(diào)不足的憤怒,對(duì)于失聯(lián)飛機(jī)延遲搜救的失望之情也越發(fā)強(qiáng)烈。 面對(duì)危機(jī),政府內(nèi)部矛盾和全國(guó)性爭(zhēng)論的情況不僅僅只出現(xiàn)在MH370這一事件中,但是一些航空安全專(zhuān)家表示,在國(guó)際調(diào)查的初步階段就出現(xiàn)政府關(guān)于搜救程序的公開(kāi)不和在近一段時(shí)間是很少見(jiàn)的。 盡管在當(dāng)前范圍內(nèi)也很難進(jìn)行有效搜索,當(dāng)局在周三繼續(xù)擴(kuò)大了搜救范圍,但截至第五天搜救行動(dòng)仍未有有效信息。 《華爾街日?qǐng)?bào)》證實(shí)飛行員可以手動(dòng)關(guān)閉MH370飛機(jī)上的應(yīng)答器??罩袨?zāi)難可能已經(jīng)將它摧毀。應(yīng)答器為何如此重要?華爾街日?qǐng)?bào)的杰森貝里尼能夠給我們一個(gè)“簡(jiǎn)短的回答”。 中國(guó)一政府網(wǎng)站也在周三公布了中國(guó)衛(wèi)星拍攝到的三個(gè)大型物體漂浮在越南南部8平方英里的海域中的畫(huà)面。據(jù)該網(wǎng)站介紹,這些物體是在周日被發(fā)現(xiàn)的,但未透露是否這些物體已經(jīng)被取得或接受檢查。 目前已有十個(gè)國(guó)家參與搜索馬來(lái)西亞周?chē)S?,包括中?guó)、美國(guó)和越南。臺(tái)灣的艦隊(duì)預(yù)計(jì)于周五到達(dá),印度和日本也同意盡快參與搜救行動(dòng)。 據(jù)參加搜救的國(guó)家所提供的公告,一共有56艘船只在馬來(lái)西亞的海域參加搜救工作。馬來(lái)西亞出的了27艘船只。此外,參加搜救的還有30架固定翼飛機(jī)以及至少10架艦載直升機(jī),主要在馬來(lái)西亞和越南之間的水域進(jìn)行搜救。 中國(guó)政府尤其感到悲憤。239名乘客中有150多位中國(guó)人。在北京,這些乘客的家屬也不時(shí)強(qiáng)烈的表達(dá)對(duì)馬航負(fù)責(zé)人缺席的失望。 3月12日,十幾名中國(guó)外交官在吉隆坡會(huì)見(jiàn)馬來(lái)西亞當(dāng)局,目前,失蹤航班仍在緊張搜索之中。 “目前,馬來(lái)西亞這邊有許多不同的消息,信息非?;靵y,很難進(jìn)行核實(shí)?!蓖饨徊堪l(fā)言人秦剛在例行記者招待會(huì)上稱(chēng):“我們的觀點(diǎn)一直都是,只要有一絲一毫的希望,我們絕不會(huì)絕不會(huì)放棄?!?/p> 前天,中國(guó)向馬來(lái)西亞施加壓力,責(zé)成其加快調(diào)查速度。此前,調(diào)查由于被錯(cuò)誤的引導(dǎo)到可疑殘骸和追蹤雷達(dá)相沖突的報(bào)道上而被耽擱。 3月12日,海軍上將萊明坦(LeMinhThanh)在越南富國(guó)島的一次媒體發(fā)布會(huì)上宣布,根據(jù)馬來(lái)西亞的有爭(zhēng)議的報(bào)告進(jìn)行的搜尋行動(dòng)失敗。馬來(lái)西亞當(dāng)局稱(chēng),在航班失蹤之前,曾在馬六甲海峽追蹤到該航班。馬來(lái)西亞空軍司令羅查理(GenRodzaliDaud)拒絕談?wù)撍嬖V當(dāng)?shù)孛襟w軍方雷達(dá)曾在馬六甲海峽追蹤到失蹤航班,并稱(chēng)他們?nèi)栽谡{(diào)查一切的可能性。隨后,越南當(dāng)局繼續(xù)進(jìn)行常規(guī)搜尋。 馬來(lái)西亞當(dāng)局將搜尋區(qū)域分成若干部分,搜尋區(qū)域包括馬來(lái)西亞兩側(cè)海域和島上陸地。 美國(guó)海軍第七艦隊(duì)新聞發(fā)言人大衛(wèi)·利維(LtDavidLevy)稱(chēng)由于所涉及的區(qū)域沒(méi)有絕對(duì)的大小,這次的挑戰(zhàn)非常難協(xié)調(diào)。他稱(chēng),搜尋區(qū)域由20英里乘120公里的網(wǎng)格組成。艦船和直升機(jī)采用一種徹底的、系統(tǒng)的搜尋模式——就像剪草坪一樣——搜尋失蹤航班。 美國(guó)國(guó)防部官員試圖淡化一切關(guān)于馬來(lái)西亞政府正在做欠佳的搜尋工作的建議。 這是一次不同尋常的搜尋行動(dòng),需要花很長(zhǎng)的時(shí)間,尤其在只具備有限數(shù)據(jù)的情況下?!币晃还賳T稱(chēng)。 航空專(zhuān)家稱(chēng),飛機(jī)在從雷達(dá)屏幕上消失之前沒(méi)有接收到電子信號(hào),使得很難確定可能的失聯(lián)地點(diǎn)。一些雷達(dá)數(shù)據(jù)表明,波音777在失聯(lián)前,有可能試圖返回吉隆坡,而這個(gè)細(xì)節(jié)讓對(duì)飛機(jī)的搜救工作在馬來(lái)西亞uf半島兩側(cè)展開(kāi)。 美國(guó)一架P-3C巡邏機(jī)一直在馬拉西亞以西馬六甲海峽北部進(jìn)行搜索,而“紀(jì)德”號(hào)和“平克尼”號(hào)驅(qū)逐艦也已派出直升機(jī)向泰國(guó)灣以東進(jìn)行搜素。 截至目前,和其他參與搜救的國(guó)家一樣,美國(guó)的搜救行動(dòng)也未取得任何成就。許多航空專(zhuān)家認(rèn)為各國(guó)并未在正確的地點(diǎn)開(kāi)展搜救行動(dòng)。即使飛機(jī)在空中解體,它也該在海上留下碎片的痕跡。參與搜救各方之間出現(xiàn)的爭(zhēng)議可能讓搜救工作變得更加困難。 1999年,埃及航空公司一架從埃及開(kāi)入紐約的波音767發(fā)生bw墜毀,造成217名乘客死亡。此次事故引發(fā)美國(guó)和埃及之間的長(zhǎng)達(dá)數(shù)年的爭(zhēng)議。美國(guó)國(guó)家交通安全委員會(huì)(the NationalTransportationSafetyBoard,NTSB)認(rèn)定,該架飛機(jī)的副駕駛故意將這架雙引擎飛機(jī)急速俯沖,并阻止機(jī)長(zhǎng)重新掌控飛機(jī),致使飛機(jī)f墜入Nantucket海岸附近的大西洋里。埃及政府堅(jiān)持有證據(jù)證明這是一起機(jī)械事故。 幾年以前,美國(guó)和法國(guó)投入大量的人力調(diào)查在1994年美國(guó)印弟安納州Roselaw發(fā)生的美國(guó)老鷹渦輪螺旋槳飛機(jī)墜機(jī)事件。但是,法方反對(duì)NTSB的結(jié)論,即法國(guó)監(jiān)管機(jī)構(gòu)沒(méi)有采取措施阻止事故的發(fā)生。 本周早些時(shí)候,馬來(lái)西亞調(diào)查人員稱(chēng),他們?cè)诓粩嗟財(cái)U(kuò)大自己的調(diào)查范圍,包括劫持或被破壞的可能性,以及船員和乘客可能的個(gè)人或心理問(wèn)題。但馬來(lái)西亞官員沒(méi)有討論關(guān)于發(fā)動(dòng)機(jī)傳輸?shù)膯?wèn)題,也沒(méi)有對(duì)主要和備份轉(zhuǎn)發(fā)器不工作做出任何解釋。 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