Thai Air Force asserts it did not cover up anything on MH370

[webfact]

Air Force asserts it did not cover up anything on MH370



BANGKOK, 20 March 2014 (NNT) – The Royal Thai Air Force made clear on Wednesday (March 19th) that it did not try to withhold radar information, after the incident where a Malaysia Airline's Boeing 777 went missing during an international flight.

Air Marshal Monthon Satchakon, spokesperson for the Air Force, said the Thai Air Force's inspection of its radar data came only after a request was made by Malaysia on March 11.

It was not certain if the aircraft picked up by the Air Force's radar was MH370, but its flight path conformed to Malaysia's suspicion that the aircraft may have been flown south toward the Malacca Strait. This radar information was given to Malaysia on March 18.

Air Marshal Monthon added that there was no hidden agenda and the Air Force was not collaborating with Malaysia to cover up anything.


-- NNT 2014-03-20

[Credo]

A plane flies by in Malaysia. The Thais happen to see it. Later a plane goes missing. Now it looking back, it might have been the missing plane. I see no cover-up, nor any reason for Thailand to try to cover it up.

[Lancelot]

The Malaysians themselves spotted the flight shortly after it changed directions from its flight plan- but they took no action...

The Malaysian military spotted the missing jet passing through three military radars over the country’s far northeast, before it headed out over the Strait of Malacca. But despite its erratic behavior, the American-made F-18s and F-5 fighters on alert at Butterworth Air Force base sat idle.

Had the jets been scrambled, the world would have been saved a massive and extraordinary search operation.

“There was clearly a significant failure of response on behalf of the Malaysian Air Force. There’s no real way around it and you might imagine heads would roll for that,” says Anthony Davis, Bangkok-based analyst for defense-and-security-intelligence firm IHS-Jane.

http://time.com/26883/malaysian-air-force-slammed-for-failing-to-intercepted-mh370/

[khwaibah]

Defently slow of the mark and NO grey matter between the ears.

Edited March 20, 2014 by khwaibah

[doctorproc156]

ABC reported this 5 days ago:

In Thailand, secondary radar, which requires a signal from aircraft, runs 24 hours a day, but primary surveillance radar, which requires no signal, ordinarily shuts down at night at some locations, said a Royal Thai Air Force officer who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to talk to the media on the issue.

This is the flight path reported by Reuters:

Who is telling the truth?

[NongKhaiKid]

Maybe there wasn't a cover up as such but presuming someone in the RTAF / government knew the MH 370 situation they didn't bother to pass on their information in case it was of assistance.

More proof the Thais don't give a damn about the outside world, except when they need something like selling their tourism, and don't forget that in 2015 they are joining the AEC to promote economic CO-OPERATION.

Watch out AEC, The Thais Are Coming !

[LomSak27]

This comment as e mailed to me as I am supposed to Explain all los matetrs to friends and assorted lowlife bums

Thai's who didn't report they got pings from radar from what may have been the missing plane. Their comment: No one asked us.

Sounds typically Thai to me

[seajae]

nothing was hidden, we know that but what we also know is that whoever was in charge didnt bother to pass on important information, this could have saved untold delays but the lack of willingness to do anything that is prevalent with many thais, was once again brought to the fore. Just a little bit of logical thinking could have very useful here, instead we again see Thailand made out as a joke.

[Just1Voice]

nothing was hidden, we know that but what we also know is that whoever was in charge didnt bother to pass on important information, this could have saved untold delays but the lack of willingness to do anything that is prevalent with many thais, was once again brought to the fore. Just a little bit of logical thinking could have very useful here, instead we again see Thailand made out as a joke.

While I agree with you, I do have to ask: Since when has "logical thinking" ever been an attribute associated with Thais?

[expat888]

Just another confirmation of Thai incompetence. Apparently the Thai RAF doesn't feel embarrassed by exposing their incompetence.

Nothing exist outside Thailand so no one will notice.

[BKKBrit]

Request from Malaysia was made on the 11th. They gave the data on the 18th. Jeesh....they must have some real whizzkids working the radar systems in Thailand

[JoePai]

He may be the local Sheriff but has he got enough medals to make these statements ?

[Thai at Heart]

nothing was hidden, we know that but what we also know is that whoever was in charge didnt bother to pass on important information, this could have saved untold delays but the lack of willingness to do anything that is prevalent with many thais, was once again brought to the fore. Just a little bit of logical thinking could have very useful here, instead we again see Thailand made out as a joke.

While I agree with you, I do have to ask: Since when has "logical thinking" ever been an attribute associated with Thais?

As ridiculous as this seems, just think about how much time in an average day, a Thai person takes reading a newspaper or watching the news. Maybe no one at the radar base knew there was a plane missing from Malaysia.

[Chicog]

I don't believe they did cover anything up, I just think they were too stupid to work it out.

[spidermike007]

A plane flies by in Malaysia. The Thais happen to see it. Later a plane goes missing. Now it looking back, it might have been the missing plane. I see no cover-up, nor any reason for Thailand to try to cover it up.

Yes, not only is what you are saying true, the onus is entirely on the Malaysian military. Is it not? The plane did not even enter Thai airspace. There have to be major radar installations in Northern Malaysia. Why did they not pick it up? especially now that we learnt the Malaysian govt. was alerted the plane changed direction. Would they not alert all radar facilities, to be on the lookout? Was someone sleeping on the job? I sense all the cover up is being done by the Malaysian govt. which is starting to look really bad. They are accustomed to not be questioned by anyone, and you can tell by their behavior they do not enjoy all this scrutiny, especially since the airline lost money three years in a row, leading up to this. And those were banner years for most other airlines. Inefficiency? Ineptitude? Poor management? Bad government?

[Carl64]

news from Australia

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-03-20/raaf-en-route-to-possible-debris-from-mh370-in-indian-ocean/5334314

May or may not be the plane.

[Ulic]

We are not even really sure Thai primary radar picked anything up. They may have reported it well after the fact

to save face as they should have seen it on radar.

[thailandbeachisland]

2 solutions, they really are totally monkeys or they are totally liars

[JoeThePoster]

I'm picking up a radar signal from those epaulettes. It's a bogey.

[Just1Voice]

They probably thought it was a UFO blip, and thought it best not to say anything in case people thought they were stupid.

[marcusd]

A plane flies by in Malaysia. The Thais happen to see it. Later a plane goes missing. Now it looking back, it might have been the missing plane. I see no cover-up, nor any reason for Thailand to try to cover it up.

says a lot for those in ALL COUNTRIES. Protecting us. Oops I don't recognize that blip. Oh well back to sleep now. Then bang!!!!we are blown to bits.

I thought these guys are meant to identify what is not supposed

to be in their area and INVESTIGATE

Marcusd. Via tapatalk

[GAZZPA]

So, aircraft goes missing. Request made on the 11th for Thailand to check their radar data as a plane full of nearly 300 people has gone missing,, so clearly very urgent. Thai air force agrees and responds "7 days later" with the information.

Terrible, I have no other words for these people.

[thepool]

There are so many here that appear to believe that Thai ATC is less than competent that none of them will ever fly within or away from Thailand ever again.

Correct ?

[soalbundy]

He looks like that picture of the guy from MAD,"what,me worry" of course there was no cover up,nothing gets covered up in Thailand

[bangon04]

Request from Malaysia was made on the 11th. They gave the data on the 18th. Jeesh....they must have some real whizzkids working the radar systems in Thailand

Probably no-one qualified to interpret radar data available.

Likely to be cockup instead of conspiracy....

Edited March 20, 2014 by bangon04

[BudRight]

...but they were pretty damn indifferent.

[Halion]

Perhaps not a cover up however under the prevailing circumstances just the inability to wake up.

[nong38]

Apparently they did not take it to seriously the radr ablips on its own territory, that is worrying for the integrity of Thai air space. In the UK the Rusians regularly try to penetrate K air space and jets have to be scrambled, if not the possibilities are the the RAF have poor systems and the RAF are weak. Does the Thai air force have good systems and do they know how to operate them? Same applies to Malayasia and they have the twin towers as well, seems to me like this is a wake up call for the forces in the area to get boned up on the equipment they have and how to use it.

The UK always has jets on stand by around the country, RAF Cottesmore provides security for LHR and has 4 minutes to launch and be on station, from my Kitchen I have seen Tornados and Typhoons race by at low altitude, how many times did I not se this?

The western countries seem to take these sort of situations far more seriously then in this region, ets hope this is a wake up call for all our sakes.

[nong38]

Apparently they did not take it to seriously the radar blips on its own territory, that is worrying for the integrity of Thai air space. In the UK the Rusians regularly try to penetrate UK air space and jets have to be scrambled, if not the possibilities are the the RAF have poor systems and the RAF are weak. Does the Thai air force have good systems and do they know how to operate them? Same applies to Malayasia and they have the twin towers as well, seems to me like this is a wake up call for the forces in the area to get boned up on the equipment they have and how to use it.

The UK always has jets on stand by around the country, RAF Cottesmore provides security for LHR and has 4 minutes to launch and be on station, from my Kitchen I have seen Tornados and Typhoons race by at low altitude, how many times did I not see this?

The western countries seem to take these sort of situations far more seriously then in this region, lets hope this is a wake up call for all our sakes.

[noitom]

Let's see now. We have a drawing above that shows a confirmed unidentified flight path turning in the Gulf to fly directly over Thailand's south provinces at 1"30AM in the morning thereabouts. Thailand's southern provinces are the location for a ten year long muslim insurgency with almost daily bombings and reported 6,000 killings and tens of thousands of injuries. Yet the Thai air force sees a jet plane on its radar and makes no inquiries with neighboring countries ie. Malaysia, Vietnam, and or Indonesia. Thailand sends out no alert to other air control facilities anywhere in the world.

Over a week to ten days later after dead silence, Thailand acknowledges that it had radar that morning identifying an unknown jet over flight at the appropriate time. Along with the acknowledgement of the radar spotting, The Thai Air Force also states that the reason they didn't report the radar sighting for ten days, despite on going and costly international massive searches in the Gulf of Thailand for a previous week was that "nobody asked us."

Armed with that information, how would you like to put your hands in the care of Thailand as a tourist or a business or as an allied partner?