Two weeks ago, I wrote a couple of posts about the strange reboot of MH370’s satcom system that occurred shortly after the plane disappeared from primary radar, and asked if anyone could come up with a reasonable explanation. I drew attention in particular to the left AC bus, which the satcom equipment is connected to. This bus can be electrically isolated using controls located in the cockpit, and this appears to be the only way to recycle the satcom without leaving the flight deck. I suggested that there might be some other piece of equipment that the perpetrator wanted to turn off and on again by using the left AC bus, thereby causing the satcom to be recycled as an unintended side effect.
The readers rose to the occasion. Gysbreght pointed out that paragraph 1.11.2 of Factual Information states that “The SSCVR [Solid State Cockpit Voice Recorder] operates any time power is available on the Left AC transfer bus. This bus is not powered from batteries or the Ram Air Turbine (RAT).”
This is an incredibly interesting observation. Reader Oz fleshed out Gysbreght’s insight, writing to me via email:
We could isolate the Left Main AC by selecting the generator control switch to OFF and the Bus Tie switches to OFF; SATCOM is now dead. What else happens……….the Backup generator kicks in automatically to supply the Left Transfer bus. Here’s what’s so spine chilling; if you now simply reach up and select the Backup Generator switch to OFF………..you now lose Left transfer as well. The CVR is gone! I couldn’t believe how easy the CVR was to isolate!
To recap;
Left Gen Control to OFF
Bus Ties to OFF (Isolate)
Left Backup Gen to OFF.
I now firmly believe your mystery reboot was Left AC power being switched back ON……….. after something that had occurred that the perp or perps didn’t want any possible evidence of on the CVR……whatever was being hidden was done by around 1822; AC back to normal.
Gysbreght notes that the Factual Information also identifies the location of the CVR as Electronic Equipment Rack, E7, in the aft cabin above the ceiling, and suggests: “Later [the perp] could have opened Electronic Equipment Rack E7, physically pulled the SSCVR power supply plug from its socket, and then gone back to the MEC to restore power to the Left AC bus.”
Oz has his own theory: “If you are thinking why the hell you would turn Left AC/Left transfer back on? Flight deck temperature control comes from these…”
There’s a precedent for a suicidal airline pilot depowering the black boxes before flying a plane into the ocean: the pilot of Silkair Flight 185 appears to have done just that before pointing the nose down and crashing in December, 1997. It’s easy to imagine Zaharie reading the accident reports and realizing he should also figure out a way to disable the CVR before implementing his suicide plan. When the moment came, near IGARI, one can imagine the veteran 777 pilot suddenly flipping various switches while the baffled newbie, Fariq, looked on.
It’s certainly an intriguing scenario, but it is not without its flaws. As Gysbreght notes, “I would expect the Captain to know that the CVR only retains the last two hours and overwrites older recordings.” So if Zaharie planned to commit suicide by flying the plane for hours into the remotest reaches of the southern ocean, he wouldn’t have needed to turn the CVR off: the portion between 17:07 and 18:25 would have been erased anyway. This is not in insurmountable problem, however. Maybe he orginally intended to crash right away, a la Silkair, but then lost his nerve.
I’m not quite ready to declare, as Gysbreght has, “Case closed,” but I have to admit that the CVR idea is fascinating. Great work, Gysbreght and Oz!
Is it possible that a hacker could have disabled MH370’s thrust reverser, along with shutting down additional erroneous systems, including the AES, ACARS, etc, thereby not allowing the pilots to slow down, communicate, land, etc?
Everything is possible in theory, but we should focus on realistic stuff.
Sarcasm
Littlefoot – most obvious takeaway is that Shah is nerdy. The overlap of sheets is pretty much exactly how I would do it. That would give me double thickness and I think you would need it with that product. An after thought mid job?
The headlines themselves represent the 1st handful of pages for the better part.
And absolutely no sign of an American accent.
@Matty
Jose Saramago.
Gysbreght, Littlefoot,
To start a list of concerns about the co-pilot, here are a few. i’ve always been interested in whether Zaharie was a whistleblower, and causing a stink at MAS by complaining about Umno brats being given un-earned promotions and being passes on exams which they in fact had failed. He worked as an instructor. He hated corruption. He was very upset when MAS was told to shuttle illegal voters around the country in 2013 to help Najib win re-election.
1. Do MAS indenture pilots in return for training investment?
We need to find out more about Fariq’s meteoric career path. He went through two type ratings in 15 months to convert, first to A330, then to B777. The cost involved to convert is considerable, approximately $20,000 per type rating. Even before the events of 2014, MAS had retired two B777s and the intent was to bring in more A330s to the fleet. The 777 fleet is shrinking so it seems unusual to convert from the A330 to the B777. A more natural career progression for a gifted pilot would be to the A380, as MAS was expanding into that fleet. Unless he was being grromed to pilot for Jet Premier One.
2. Why was MAS apparently concerned with Fariq’s performance, by extending his training despite Fariq having achieved his rating proficiency?
Fariq’s type rating proficiency was earned on the 26th of January, yet he was still under supervision when CNN’s Richard Quest flew with him on February 19th, and more supervised check flights were to be expected later in March — in fact his next flight out after March 8th was to be another check ride. Was MAS concerned about his abilities, and had Zaharie and his fellow instructors raised these concerns internally?
Fariq had a long-held aspiration to flying, only a secondary school education, to O-level standards –then cadet flying school, where he met his fiancee (who experienced a similarly swift rise through the ranks, with, again, startlingly low flight time, and well-connected parents ) Was Fariq struggling to meet standards and facing a failed career as a pilot, with no other prospects, eclipsed by his fiancee, (or are rumors that they had recently split, true?)
Perhaps he saw no way to simply resign and do something else with his life — being a pilot is a respected profession. Was Fariq pushed too fast through the ranks due to his family’s political connections, and due to his fiancee’s fathers position as a head pilot with MAS?
Compared to the other MH370 cabin crew, in the months prior to March 8th, Fariq had the most leisure time of all. Why was he not scheduled to work? What was he doing? Was he doing overtime on the MAS sims to try to get up to standard? Would this be counted as ‘work hours’?
And compared to Zaharie, whose career appeared to be plodding along at a mid-level as compared to peers such as Captain Nik Huzlan, Ibrahim and Norudin, (perhaps due to his vociferous political views on Umno, and his unwillingness to toe the party line?), Fariq seems to have been promoted at a rate that bordered on being dangerous to MAS passengers. Is this a hierarchy within MAS, that Umno connected pilots get pushed through the ranks too fast, endangering the general public?
Was Fariq being blackmailed about his fondness for blondes in the cockpit? Did he dislike Zaharie because he had pointed out his failings to MAS?
I don’t believe it was a pilot suicide just for no reason. If it was a suicide/murder, there was some intense catalyst that we are missing.
I hope no-one takes offense – it is necessary to look into everything.
I hope someone from MAS can comment.
@Jeff
Perhaps you would care to opine?
I found this on another forum:
“The left AC TRANSFER bus can obtain power from the DC system. There is no evidence that the left AC transfer bus was knocked off.
Satcom is powered by the left MAIN AC bus (not transfer bus). We have evidence pointing towards that being unpowered.
Again… CVR is considered critical, satcom isn’t considered critical. Hence the former is on a more redundant power supply than the latter.
Just semantics, or back to square one? I have no idea.
Sorry Spencer – I have a psych background but as a single Dad I have a patchwork employment history post Army. It includes spray painting for a building company, and I did a few vehicles as well. So when I see Shah’s tape off it looks very well….typical. That’s from the trade point of view. Some on the other hand go into a Rorschach daze and see whatever they want. Over-lapping newspaper is no big thing when you have to actually make a mess. Sorry…..Saramango….
@Spencer,
The AC Transfer buses supply the respective DC buses through transformer rectifier units. The DC buses cannot feed the AC Transfer buses. DC can feed the Standby AC system through an inverter but this is only after all AC is lost. Standby AC cannot feed either of the Transfer buses.
OZ
Curious – when the Shah lynch mob got rolling I also maintained a curiosity with Hamid. His first unsupervised run in a 777 and something big happens? A regular at the mosque, memorized bits of the Koran(or so I read), fitted the young professional Jihadi archetype that are being radicalized out of nowhere and in the beginning it was his voice last heard. I thought here we go. It’s remarked that he isn’t a culprit because he got engaged but the IS recruits from here have taken their families with them including Doctors. I’m not saying he’s in Syria but wonder more and more if we even have a serious investigation going on here. Now I will wait for Spencer to tell me off for smearing an innocent person…….
@Curious, interesting perspectives re: the copilot. Thanks.
There’s another contradiction which got me thinking: you have the religious young man on one hand who allegedly memorized the Koran, but who also invited women in his cockpit for a smoke. Maybe, he changed into a more devoted Muslim, or maybe that was just on the surface. But I can’t see any overt motives for comitting suicide, at least not in such a bizarre and elaborate fashion. He would have done it probably with a nose dive since there were no mountainsides available, like in Andreas Lubitz’s case. But couldn’t it be also possible that he wanted another life, getting away from it all? Zaharie I see as a man with strong moral principles. Now, strong moral principles have never hindered humans from committing heinous crimes which they justified with exactly those strong principles. But Zaharie would probably not do it for money and getting rich. Could that have been different for the copilot? Hard to say because we know only external facts about him. But we have hardly any information what kind of human being he was. But his age group might be more susceptible for making a clean break and starting all over, especially since he wasn’t married with kids. I have never heard anything – positive or negative about his engagagement.
Fariq was living a good life, way over what he deserved(thanks to government connections) and he certainly knew it. I think nobody would kill himself in such situation but I’ll leave a few % that he was the culprit, just in case.
@Matty,
I tend to agree; some of our news reports have indicated that our home grown Jihadists have been notorious womanisers….doesn’t stop them being terrorists.
What is known is that various events were initiated from the cockpit.
To do this you had to be there! Obvious. You had to have also known what you were doing and maybe rehearsed it!
That leaves 3 possibilities:
1/ Zaharie
2/ Hamid
3/ An engineer type – a he or a she?
Zaharie had the self-made simulator, but in my mind that’s fairly harmless; there are pilots out there with various computer programs that help hone there skills on the use of the FMC.
The likely candidates are 1 & 2 because they’re in the cockpit; but then again if 3 is blonde maybe 2 let her in?
OZ
OZ/StevanG/Littlefoot – If Hamid was involved then it’s not a suicide in my mind and likely becomes terror related. The aim and actual outcome still unknown. You don’t need to be a guru to turn a plane around and input some numbers to a computer. Big misconception being peddled there.
@OZ:
I got this from the Electrical System Description on page 6.20.13 of a B777 FCOM:
Does that mean that isolating the left transfer bus puts a drain on the battery, and when the battery gets low it would be necessary to restore generated power to the left main AC bus?
@StevanG
Fariq was an unlikely suicide candidate. The good life, the Muslim faith, and behavior patterns all argue strongly against it. Most of all, recent studies show that suicide is highly correlated with intelligence. Fariq was pretty much a dolt by any measure. Which also argues against him being a part of any complicated hijacking scenario.
@StevanG:
“Fariq was living a good life”
He wouldn’t be the first to spoil a good life by loosing his temper.
When thinking about why a perp might choose to first isolate and later reconnect the left bus, we have to remember that ACARS was not available after the log-on at 18:25. This was likely due to deliberately disabling the SATCOM as a transport medium using the ACARS Manager via the CDU. It is possible that the disconnect/reconnect of the AES to the Perth GES via IOR might be an unintended consequence of manipulating the CVR using an electrical bus that was coincidentally common to the CVR and the SATCOM, but since there was a deliberate manipulation of the ACARS over SATCOM, it seems to me that the disconnect/reconnect of the AES was also deliberate and not an unintended consequence of another action.
Gysbreght if he lost his temper it was because of the in-flight conflict with Z (they had very opposite politic views), it wasn’t preplanned in that case.
Why would a perp wish to log-on to the satellite at 18:25 with ACARS disabled? I can think of two reasons:
1) To monitor incoming communications such as ACARS messages (only outgoing ACARS messages are disabled using the ACARS Manager) and incoming sat calls.
2) To provide clues, either accurate or altered, to investigators that show a prolonged flight into the SIO.
Are there other possibilities?
Victor
@VictorI:
“Are there other possibilities?”
Yes, I would think so. Silencing ACARS via the CDU would have been sufficient. There was no need to shut down the AES. Maybe the perp(s) never thought of it. “Pings” don’t occur normally, and they may never have thought of the BFO and BTO possibilities.
“(only outgoing ACARS messages are disabled using the ACARS Manager)”
In the VHF Manager selecting Radio Mode: VOICE disables incoming ACARS messages too.
@Gysbreght: Let me re-phrase my question, and I understand that you do not agree with the premise:
If we assume that the disconnect and reconnect of the SATCOM were deliberate, what are the possible reasons for the log-on at 18:25 with the ACARS disabled?
i feel nothing was really intended to be deliberate but were reactionary due to random failing power supply to various critical systems.
@VictorI:
Apologies if I was taking unintended liberties with your question.
I wonder which version of the ACARS manager you are referring to.
@Victorl
Agreed with both 1) and 2) – some kind of simple coded comm with ground, without ACARS details, but only misleading pings (in fact, as after 1st call (sync) pilots KNOW exactly WHEN each next ping occurs, they might fly to north and at each precise ping time do 360deg turn to manipulate BFO doppler??speculation, of course)
@Gysbreght
I am almost sure all passionated pilots must know about BFO/BTO consequences… it is in fact core principle of radars and even gps/glonass/galileo
@Gysbreght: The ACARS menu is reached using the CDU by MANAGER/ACARS (Page 2). I am assuming the version as delineated in SmartCockpit.com is AIMS 2003 so that VHF, HF, and SATCOM can be independently enabled/disabled. This does raise a good point, though. If the version is non-AIMS 2003, the SATCOM mode can only be disabled by selecting the VHF mode, assuming SmartCockpit.com is accurate.
@VictorI:
I seem to recall that the pre- and post-2003 versions were discussed earlier with @GuardedDon. 9M-MRO was delivered to MAS in May 2002 and I believe we concluded that the pre-2003 version was applicable.
@falken
“I am almost sure all passionated pilots must know about BFO/BTO consequences… it is in fact core principle of radars and even gps/glonass/galileo”
absolutely, and anyone wanting to hide the plane would easily find out the basics of SATCOM, in that case we wouldn’t have pings at all that’s why I think the goal of the perpetrator was not to hide the aircraft
@StevanG:
“Gysbreght if he lost his temper it was because of the in-flight conflict with Z (they had very opposite politic views), it wasn’t preplanned in that case.”
There may well have been other incompatibilities of character. The captain comes across as as very meticulous with perhaps excessive attention to detail. As a Type Rating Examiner he is likely to have commented on the slightest deviation by the FO from what the TRE considered to be the correct action/procedure/acknowledgement. The first ‘point of irritation’ may have been (as the FI makes a point of mentioning) the late arrival of the FO, when the captain had completed the pre-flight formalities by himself.
For the benefit of the MANY commenters on this thread who are more fluent in their SECOND (or more!) tongue than I am in my first (and only), I stress that it is a FOREhanded compliment I offer to StevanG for inventing the word “passionated”. Like Victor, I’m always on the prowl for new ways to enhance my lexicon – I plan to put this invention to good use.
For example: “the runaround received from JACC-led agencies has passionated my drive to expose its underlying nefarity.”
Whoops – looks like the compliments (& royalty cheques) go to @falken.
@Gysbrecht
You say “The first ‘point of irritation’ may have been (as the FI makes a point of mentioning) the late arrival of the FO, when the captain had completed the pre-flight formalities by himself”.
Zaharie checked in at 14:50. The FI STATES that the FO (Mr. Hamid) checked in 25 minutes LATER (15:15), and that the a/c was released at 15:15.
What is the basis for your claims that a) The FO was late and b) that the captain had completed the pre-flight formalities by himself?
Did it occur to you that perhaps Zaharie was EARLY?
@Gysbreght,
Left Transfer bus is the normal supply to the AC Standby bus. Isolating the Transfer bus brings in the inverter which is fed off the Battery bus. The Battery bus is normally fed by the battery charger. The Battery charger is fed by the Ground Service bus which is in turn fed by Right AC….in short no drain on the battery.
RE:
“Silencing ACARS via the CDU would have been sufficient. There was no need to shut down the AES. Maybe the perp(s) never thought of it. “Pings” don’t occur normally, and they may never have thought of the BFO and BTO possibilities.”
I think you are spot on!
OZ
@Gysbrecht
Oh, I see, you must simply be implying that he was late in relation to Zaharie. Okay.
But, could it be the case that Zaharie was purposely 25 minutes early??
I somehow think this to be MUCH more likely.
25 minutes early — maybe to organize the tests that are needed on Hamid to get B777 certified…
On PBS tonight, check your local listings. They do alternate airings in case you miss it tonight.
NOVA
Why Planes Vanish #4116
Wednesday, July 22, 09:00 pm
Duration: 0:56:46
Description: The disappearance of Flight MH370 stunned the world. In an era of smart-phones and GPS, how could a 270-ton passenger jet vanish into thin air? It was a rude awakening for all of us, showing just how far we are from the world we imagined we lived in – in which every move is monitored all the time. NOVA tells the inside story of the search for Flight MH370 and meets the key players, from all corners of the globe, who have spent months searching for the lost plane. How easy is it to make a plane disappear? Or can new technology guarantee that in the future, nothing will ever be “lost” again?
[HD][CC]
@Victorl,
“If the version is non-AIMS 2003, the SATCOM mode can only be disabled by selecting the VHF mode, assuming SmartCockpit.com is accurate.”
In that case you would need to take out the VHF to disable ACARS. Guess where the circuit breakers are?
OZ
@Oz: It may be that for pre-2003 AIMS, in the ACARS Manager you can select “VHF mode” (which deselects SATCOM) and then you can enter and select an invalid secondary (VHF) frequency. This could effectively disable ACARS. This may or may not work depending on whether ACARS/AIMS is smart enough to automatically change to a valid frequency.
Another way is to open the circuit breakers for VHF Center, Left, and Right communications which are located in the cockpit overhead in the maintenance panels. There is no need to leave the cockpit.
@Victorl,
AIMS is pretty smart; it uses a database of VHF frequencies to automatically tune until it gets a successful communication.
The overhead CBs will kill that!
OZ
Victor suggested,
Post 18:25 no ACARS msgs would have been forwarded to -MRO. While the GES Log-On completed, no vc was established to the SITA ACARS Processor, it had no path to -MRO after the 18:03 outbound msg failure. Only one vc after 18:25, to the IFE msg processor.
Satphone calls only require successful GES Log On.
:Don
Curious,
Interesting info about Fariq Hamid. As far as him being “blackmailed for his fondness for blondes in the cockpit” blackmailed by whom? I just think in those countries they had a very “relaxed cockpit door policy” and don’t have a 911 mentality. Since MH370 and after Jonti Roos exposed her experience, MAS changed their policy. I don’t know what the exact details are but it involves serving food in the cockpit, etc. There was an article out about a year ago where stewards were not happy about it or something like that. So apparently MAS had different cockpit door entry rules prior to and post MH370.
Maybe because he was pushed through the ranks rather quickly that is why he was still being supervised, but why not supervised on MH370 and why on the very next flight?
I’d question too if Zaharie was going to be “pensioned” by MAS in the near future.
Littlefoot,
I agree with most of what you said about the “Window Seal” video, a message is there (maybe, we have to block out or seal off the nepotism that has seeped into our lives) but we cannot really connect it to MH370, or can we? If that was his mindset and MH370 took much time planning, then that could have been the rudimentary beginning, I think not, but who knows.
What do you make of the simulator in the aircon video that he sits in front of or next to that has a photo of a plane that looks like it landed on water on it?
@cheryl – it appears to me as a runway jetting out into the ocean some where. I scanned around and found
Sheycelles, Phuket, Male, DG etc to be similar. Maybe there is a clue if he flew to what is portrayed in this video /photo.
Regarding Fariq Hamid being later than Captain Zaharie. They both went through the security together in the video didn’t they? I believe Fariq Hamid smokes/smoked, per a comment by Jonti Roos that he smoked while she was in the cockpit the whole time in 2011. And isn’t there official video of one of the pilots smoking, more than likely Hamid, before entrance to the plane. Perhaps Hamid took a cigarette break knowing it would not go over big with Zaharie if he smoked in the cockpit and that caused his delay? Just a guess.
@Cheryl
Yes, they both went through security together. The FI says that Z was checked in at 14:50, Fariq 25 minutes later.
Is the ‘check in’ process done before security? If not, then that 25 minute gap is VERY odd.
It would be difficult to explain considering Z was training him.
Maybe Z ordered him to go do something? Loooong cigarette smoke?
I’m confused, as usual.
Would you guys please stop talking about me?
@Spencer
Fariq was a loser. There is nothing to dispute it. Take him off the list of people who may have had a role in this episode other than perhaps flipping some breakers in the EE bay.
While we wring our hands over the workings of the various busses and backup systems we are losing sight of motive. Why would anyone do these things? I keep bringing it up, and it keeps getting lost. In my view it is the single most important element relative to solving this crime.
@Dennis
Couldn’t agree more. I think the likelihood that Fariq had any role other than unwitting victim is hovering somewhere close to zero.
Actually, I’ll say, at risk of ridicule by some, that I am 100% sure he was neither accomplice or sole perp etc…just my opinion.
The only person that would do THESE THINGS is Zaharie. It’s more than apparent to those who care to look objectively at the facts, and things such as opportunity, motive, capability, etc…
It’s a no brainer. The NOK has been put through the ringer. Sigh.
@dennisW – I see the only motive is trying to isolate a failed subsystem in the case of an emergency by switching off such device from power…a side effect was other properly working subsystems may have been unnecessarily disabled.