Missing Plane: Pilots' Conversations Revealed

Updated: 12:36pm UK, Tuesday 01 April 2014

A transcript of the final conversations between the control tower and Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 has been released.

MAS 370 (Kuala Lumpur to Beijing)

PILOT-ATC RADIOTELEPHONY TRANSCRIPT

Departure from KLIA: 8 March 2014

ATC DELIVERY

12:25:53 MAS 370 Delivery MAS 370 Good Morning

12:26:02 ATC MAS 370 Standby and Malaysia Six is cleared to Frankfurt via AGOSA Alpha Departure six thousand feet squawk two one zero six

12:26:19 ATC ... MAS 370 request level

12:26:21 MAS 370 MAS 370 we are ready requesting flight level three five zero to Beijing

12:26:39 ATC MAS 370 is cleared to Beijing via PIBOS A Departure Six Thousand Feet squawk two one five seven

12:26:45 MAS 370 Beijing PIBOS A Six Thousand Squawk two one five seven, MAS 370 Thank You

12:26:53 ATC MAS 370 Welcome over to ground

12:26:55 MAS 370 Good Day

LUMPUR GROUND

12:27:27 MAS 370 Ground MAS370 Good morning Charlie One Requesting push and start

12:27:34 ATC MAS370 Lumpur Ground Morning Push back and start approved Runway 32 Right Exit via Sierra 4.

12:27:40 MAS 370 Push back and start approved 32 Right Exit via Sierra 4 POB 239 Mike Romeo Oscar

12:27:45 ATC Copied

12:32:13 MAS 370 MAS377 request taxi.

12:32:26 ATC MAS37..... (garbled) ... standard route. Hold short Bravo

12:32:30 MAS 370 Ground, MAS370. You are unreadable. Say again.

12:32:38 ATC MAS370 taxi to holding point Alfa 11 Runway 32 Right via standard route. Hold short of Bravo.

12:32:42 MAS 370 Alfa 11 Standard route Hold short Bravo MAS370.

12:35:53 ATC MAS 370 Tower

12:36:19 ATC (garbled) ... Tower ... (garbled)

MAS 370 1188 MAS370 Thank you

LUMPUR TOWER

12:36:30 MAS 370 Tower MAS370 Morning

12:36:38 ATC MAS370 good morning. Lumpur Tower. Holding point..[garbled]..10 32 Right

12:36:50 MAS 370 Alfa 10 MAS370

12:38:43 ATC 370 line up 32 Right Alfa 10. MAS 370 Line up 32 Right Alfa 10 MAS370.

12:40:38 ATC 370 32 Right Cleared for take-off. Good night.

MAS 370 32 Right Cleared for take-off MAS370. Thank you Bye.

LUMPUR APPROACH

12:42:05 MAS 370 Departure Malaysian Three Seven Zero

12:42:10 ATC Malaysian Three Seven Zero selamat pagi identified. Climb flight level one eight zero cancel SID turn right direct to IGARI

12:42:48 MAS 370 Okay level one eight zero direct IGARI Malaysian one err Three Seven Zero

12:42:52 ATC Malaysian Three Seven Zero contact Lumpur Radar One Three Two Six good night MAS 370 Night One Three Two Six Malaysian Three Seven Zero

LUMPUR RADAR (AREA)

12:46:51 MAS 370 Lumpur Control Malaysian Three Seven Zero

12:46:51 ATC Malaysian Three Seven Zero Lumpur radar Good Morning climb flight level two five zero

12:46:54 MAS370 Morning level two five zero Malaysian Three Seven Zero

12:50:06 ATC Malaysian Three Seven Zero climb flight level three five zero

12:50:09 MAS370 Flight level three five zero Malaysian Three Seven Zero

01:01:14 MAS370 Malaysian Three Seven Zero maintaining level three five zero

01:01:19 ATC Malaysian Three Seven Zero

01:07:55 MAS370 Malaysian...Three Seven Zero maintaining level three five zero

01:08:00 ATC Malaysian Three Seven Zero

01:19:24 ATC Malaysian Three Seven Zero contact Ho Chi Minh 120 decimal 9 Good Night

01:19:29 MAS370 Good Night Malaysian Three Seven Zero

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Missing Plane: Pilots' Conversations Revealed

Updated: 12:36pm UK, Tuesday 01 April 2014

A transcript of the final conversations between the control tower and Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 has been released.

MAS 370 (Kuala Lumpur to Beijing)

PILOT-ATC RADIOTELEPHONY TRANSCRIPT

Departure from KLIA: 8 March 2014

ATC DELIVERY

12:25:53 MAS 370 Delivery MAS 370 Good Morning

12:26:02 ATC MAS 370 Standby and Malaysia Six is cleared to Frankfurt via AGOSA Alpha Departure six thousand feet squawk two one zero six

12:26:19 ATC ... MAS 370 request level

12:26:21 MAS 370 MAS 370 we are ready requesting flight level three five zero to Beijing

12:26:39 ATC MAS 370 is cleared to Beijing via PIBOS A Departure Six Thousand Feet squawk two one five seven

12:26:45 MAS 370 Beijing PIBOS A Six Thousand Squawk two one five seven, MAS 370 Thank You

12:26:53 ATC MAS 370 Welcome over to ground

12:26:55 MAS 370 Good Day

LUMPUR GROUND

12:27:27 MAS 370 Ground MAS370 Good morning Charlie One Requesting push and start

12:27:34 ATC MAS370 Lumpur Ground Morning Push back and start approved Runway 32 Right Exit via Sierra 4.

12:27:40 MAS 370 Push back and start approved 32 Right Exit via Sierra 4 POB 239 Mike Romeo Oscar

12:27:45 ATC Copied

12:32:13 MAS 370 MAS377 request taxi.

12:32:26 ATC MAS37..... (garbled) ... standard route. Hold short Bravo

12:32:30 MAS 370 Ground, MAS370. You are unreadable. Say again.

12:32:38 ATC MAS370 taxi to holding point Alfa 11 Runway 32 Right via standard route. Hold short of Bravo.

12:32:42 MAS 370 Alfa 11 Standard route Hold short Bravo MAS370.

12:35:53 ATC MAS 370 Tower

12:36:19 ATC (garbled) ... Tower ... (garbled)

MAS 370 1188 MAS370 Thank you

LUMPUR TOWER

12:36:30 MAS 370 Tower MAS370 Morning

12:36:38 ATC MAS370 good morning. Lumpur Tower. Holding point..[garbled]..10 32 Right

12:36:50 MAS 370 Alfa 10 MAS370

12:38:43 ATC 370 line up 32 Right Alfa 10. MAS 370 Line up 32 Right Alfa 10 MAS370.

12:40:38 ATC 370 32 Right Cleared for take-off. Good night.

MAS 370 32 Right Cleared for take-off MAS370. Thank you Bye.

LUMPUR APPROACH

12:42:05 MAS 370 Departure Malaysian Three Seven Zero

12:42:10 ATC Malaysian Three Seven Zero selamat pagi identified. Climb flight level one eight zero cancel SID turn right direct to IGARI

12:42:48 MAS 370 Okay level one eight zero direct IGARI Malaysian one err Three Seven Zero

12:42:52 ATC Malaysian Three Seven Zero contact Lumpur Radar One Three Two Six good night MAS 370 Night One Three Two Six Malaysian Three Seven Zero

LUMPUR RADAR (AREA)

12:46:51 MAS 370 Lumpur Control Malaysian Three Seven Zero

12:46:51 ATC Malaysian Three Seven Zero Lumpur radar Good Morning climb flight level two five zero

12:46:54 MAS370 Morning level two five zero Malaysian Three Seven Zero

12:50:06 ATC Malaysian Three Seven Zero climb flight level three five zero

12:50:09 MAS370 Flight level three five zero Malaysian Three Seven Zero

01:01:14 MAS370 Malaysian Three Seven Zero maintaining level three five zero

01:01:19 ATC Malaysian Three Seven Zero

01:07:55 MAS370 Malaysian...Three Seven Zero maintaining level three five zero

01:08:00 ATC Malaysian Three Seven Zero

01:19:24 ATC Malaysian Three Seven Zero contact Ho Chi Minh 120 decimal 9 Good Night

01:19:29 MAS370 Good Night Malaysian Three Seven Zero

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Missing Plane: No Pilot Suicide Notes Found

Police searching the homes of the pilots of flight MH370 have not found any suicide notes, officials have revealed.

The men at the controls of the Boeing 777 - Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah and first officer Fariq Abdul Hamid - have been one of the focuses of the investigation into the missing plane.

"The fact that there was no distress signal, no ransom notes, no parties claiming responsibility, there is always hope," Malaysian Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said at a news conference.

The home of Mr Zaharie has been searched by police

Mr Hamid is believed to have made the last communication from the flight, speaking to air traffic control before the plane vanished 10 days ago.  

Malaysia Airlines CEO Ahmad Jauhari Yahya said at the news conference that initial investigations into a recording of the exchange suggested the first officer was the one who calmly said: "All right, good night" as the plane passed into Vietnamese air space.

The plane's transponder - which relays the plane's location - was switched off just two minutes after the voice message.

Both pilots' homes have been searched and a flight simulator belonging to Mr Zaharie is now in police hands, officials said.

The missing plane could have landed at hundreds of locations. Pic: WNYC

Authorities stressed that the backgrounds of all the passengers and crew were being checked - as well as ground staff who may have worked on the plane before takeoff.

However, officials at Monday's news conference did not comment on reports that police were investigating a passenger who had aviation experience.

Mohd Khairul Amri Selamat said on social media sites he was a flight engineer working for a Swiss-based private jet charter company.

The 29-year-old's apparent experience means he would have a knowledge of in-flight computer systems and be able to carry out repairs.

A senior police official with knowledge of the investigation said: "The focus is on anyone who might have had aviation skills on that plane."

However, as an engineer specialising in executive jets, he would not necessarily have had the skills required to divert and fly a Boeing 777.

And Mr Selamat's father has told Sky News police had not approached anyone in the family about his son.

Selamat Omar added there would be no reason to suspect him: "Since he was young, my son has always been a very good boy. He's obedient, and as he grew older, it gets easier because my son became like my friend."

Mr Hamid, left, and Mr Zaharie were the pilots on the missing jet

He added: "I am very confident that this plane and its passengers are safe because this confidence came when the government announced that the plane could be detected."

The search for the plane has dramatically widened as satellite data suggests the Boeing 777, which had 239 people on board, flew for at least seven hours - more than six hours after it lost contact with air traffic control.

It has been claimed it could have landed at one of 634 runways spread across at least a dozen countries.

Researchers at WNYC searched for runways with a length of at least 0.95 miles (1.52km) within a radius of 2,530 miles (4,070km) from the aircraft's last known position.

The number of countries involved in the search for the plane has nearly doubled over the past two days to 26, after satellite and military radar data projected two large corridors the plane might have flown through.

It was announced this morning that Kazakhstan - located in the far northwest of the search area - had joined the operation.

The northern corridor stretches in an arc over south and central Asia, while the other swoops deep into the southern Indian Ocean towards Australia.

Malaysia announced that it was deploying its naval and air force assets to the southern corridor, with Australia vowing substantial assistance.

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Missing Malaysia Plane: What We Know So Far

Mystery surrounds the fate of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, even as more information emerges about the sequence of events that led to its disappearance 10 days ago.

THE FLIGHT (Malaysian time is eight hours ahead of UK time).

What we do know:

Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, with 239 people on board, took off from Kuala Lumpur at 12:41am (local time) on Saturday March 8 heading north to Beijing.

At 1.07am, the plane sent its last ACARS transmission which provides engine maintenance data to the ground.

The ACARS (Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System) was then deliberately switched off by someone on the jet.

The last words from the Boeing 777 were heard from the cockpit, where a person, believed to be the co-pilot, said: "All right, good night" to Malaysian air traffic control at 1.19am.

At 1.21am the jet, carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew, dropped off air traffic control screens after its transponder - which responds to civilian radar - was switched off on purpose by someone on board.

The plane which was north of Malaysia and flying towards Thailand was then deliberately diverted from its planned route as it is turned sharply to the west.

The plane, with 239 people on board, disappeared on March 8

At 2.15am, the flight was picked up by Malaysian military radar south of Phuket island in the Strait of Malacca, hundreds of miles west of its last known location.

At 8.11am - nearly seven hours after the plane was first thought to have gone missing - a satellite high above the Indian Ocean received the last signal from the aircraft.

The final "handshake" communication put the jet somewhere in one of two flight corridors.

One is a northern arc stretching from northern Thailand to Kazakhstan, the other is a southern one from Indonesia to the vast southern Indian Ocean.

The jet turned west as it was deliberately diverted from its planned route

What we do not know:

Who deliberately switched off the plane's two crucial communication systems - ACARS and the transponder?

Was the co-pilot under duress when he made the last verbal contact with air traffic control?

Where exactly was the plane when it sent its last signal at 8.11am?

Did the plane crash or did it land safely? A Malaysian official has said the aircraft could have been on the ground when it sent its final signal.

Many countries are helping in the search for the jet

THE SEARCH

What we know:

Some 26 countries are now looking for flight MH370, using at least 43 ships and 58 aircraft.

The nations helping in the hunt are Malaysia, Australia, Bangladesh, Brunei, China, France, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Myanmar, New Zealand, Pakistan, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, Turkmenistan, UAE, UK, US, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.

Search teams are concentrating on the northern and southern flight corridors.

It is a massive area of millions of square miles, said to cover almost 10% of the entire planet.

The northern search corridor includes countries with busy airspace that likely would have noticed an unidentified aircraft in their territory.

China, India and Pakistan are among the nations that say they have seen no sign of the plane.

Australia is leading the search efforts in the southern Indian Ocean.

It has sent two AP-3C Orion aircraft, one of which is searching north and west of the Cocos Islands. Two more search aircraft will be deployed by Tuesday.

The search area has dramatically expanded. It was previously in the South China Sea and around India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands but these operations have now been halted or suspended.

People leave messages for the missing passengers

What we do not know:

There has been speculation that the plane could have flown as low as 5,000ft using "terrain masking" to try to avoid radar.

Malaysian authorities have rejected these claims.

Of course, the main issue is that the exact location of the jet is still unknown.

THE SUSPICIONS

The investigation is focusing on the possibility the jet was deliberately diverted by the pilots or someone on board with considerable flying experience.

Police seized a flight simulator from the captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah's home on Saturday and also searched the co-pilot  Fariq Abdul Hamid's home.

Authorities have said there were no suicide notes found at the properties.

Mr Zaharie, 57, was an active supporter of Malaysia's opposition, whose leader Anwar Ibrahim was convicted of sodomy - illegal in Muslim Malaysia - just hours before MH370 took off.

But those who knew Mr Zaharie rejected media reports he was deeply upset by the Anwar case.

Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah (r) and co-pilot Fariq Abdul Hamid

Mr Fariq, 27, had his reputation called into question by a South African woman who accused him of inviting her to join him in the cockpit for a journey in 2011, in breach of security rules.

Malaysia Airlines said it was "shocked" by the reported security violation, but could not verify the claims.

Investigators are checking backgrounds of all 227 passengers and 12 crew members, as well as the ground crew, to see if links to terrorists, personal problems or psychological issues could be factors.

Authorities are considering 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 will?

Did one or more of the passengers manage to break into the cockpit or use the threat of violence to gain entry and then seize the plane?

And what possible motive could there be for diverting the jet?

Officials have not commented on reports that police were investigating a passenger who had aviation experience.

Mohd Khairul Amri Selamat said on social media sites he was a flight engineer working for a Swiss-based private jet charter company.

The 29-year-old's apparent experience means he would have a knowledge of in-flight computer systems and be able to carry out repairs.

And all the time the plane is not found, the anguish for the passengers' families goes on.

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