MH370 Investigators cast doubt on catastrophic fire evidence 
ROD McGUIRK, Associated Press

 

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Accident investigators on Thursday cast doubt on the possibility that blackened debris found on Madagascar is evidence of a catastrophic fire aboard the missing Malaysian airliner that went down more than two years ago.

 

Wreckage hunter Blaine Gibson hand-delivered five pieces of debris last week to officials at the Australian Transport Safety Bureau who are searching for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.

 

The bureau said in a statement Thursday that investigators had yet to determine whether the pieces were from the Boeing 777 that is thought to have plunged into the Indian Ocean with 239 people on board southwest of Australia on March 8, 2014.

 

But a preliminary examination found that two fiberglass-honeycomb pieces were not burnt, but had been discolored by a reaction in resin that had not been caused by exposure to fire or heat, the statement said.

 

There were three small areas of heat damage on one of the pieces which created a burnt odor. However, that odor suggested the heat damage was recent, it said.

 

"It was considered that burning odors would generally dissipate after an extended period of environmental exposure, including salt water immersion, as expected for items originating from" the missing plane, the statement said.

 

Gibson has collected 14 pieces of debris potentially from the missing plane, including a triangular panel stenciled "no step" that he found in Mozambique in February. Officials say that panel was almost certainly a horizontal stabilizer from a Flight 370 wing.

 

Gibson had said the darkened surfaces of the latest debris could be evidence that a fire ended the flight far from its scheduled route from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Beijing. But he conceded he had no idea when the apparent heat damaged had occurred.

 

A sonar search of 120,000 square kilometers (46,000 square miles) of seabed which is calculated to be the most likely crash site in the southern Indian Ocean is almost complete without any trace of the plane being found.

 

-- © Associated Press 2016-09-22

how with all the technology available is every plane in the air not being tracked?

1 hour ago, williamgeorgeallen said:

how with all the technology available is every plane in the air not being tracked?

the tracking device was switched OFF

10 minutes ago, dieseldave1951 said:

the tracking device was switched OFF

so that makes me wonder why the tracking device can be switched off mid flight.

58 minutes ago, williamgeorgeallen said:

so that makes me wonder why the tracking device can be switched off mid flight.

 

Several reason. First is it is an electrical device that requires a breaker or fuse. Second is they are switched off while aircraft is sitting at gate to minimize radio transmissions. Also, the transponders can malfunction making them effectively radar jammers. Finally,  pilots are inherently trusted due to their control of the aircraft.  Because there have been a just very few pilots that purposely crashed their planes should not lessen the trust in all pilots. 

TH 

This bloke Blaine Gibson is a whackjob.