MH370: Kata-Kata Akhir Sebelum Hilang Bukan “all right, good night” Tetapi “Good night, Malaysian three seven zero”

Bright orange objects potted by Australian searchers as hunt for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 continues

THE last words from the cockpit of MH370 before it disappeared from civilian radar were actually “Good night, Malaysian three seven zero”, not “all right, good night” as Malaysian authorities had previously claimed.

The sign off is much more formal than that of the informal words said to have been used earlier.

The words were said as the plane left Malaysian airspace and was about to enter that of Vietnam at 1.19am on March 8.

The Malaysia Airlines plane then turned around, flew back over Malaysia and disappeared over the southern Indian Ocean, off Perth.

Previously authorities had said the final words, possibly said by the co-pilot, were

But Malaysia’s Defence and acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein, clarified this via Twitter.

He tweeted the correct words from the cockpit after being repeatedly asked to clarify confusion at an earlier press conference.

But it is not clear whether the sign off was said by the pilot or co-pilot.

Mr Hussein said authorities are currently conducting forensic investigations to determine whether it was pilot Capt Zahari Ahmad Shah or the co-pilot who said them.

And he said the full transcript of the final conversations between the cockpit of MH370 and air traffic controllers would be released to relatives families at the next briefing.

Monday proved to be another disappointing day in the search. Orange objects spotted by a plane searching for the missing Malaysia Airlines jet turned out to be nothing more than fishing equipment.

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority said the objects had been analysed and spokesman Jesse Platts said “they have nothing to do with the missing flight.’’

An Australian P-3 Orion search plane spotted at least four orange objects in waters west of Perth on Sunday and were described by Orion pilot Russell Adams as the most promising lead in the search so far.

But despite yet another false alarm, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said the search will not be scaled down.

“I’m certainly not putting a time limit on it ... We can keep searching for quite some time to come,’’ Mr Abbott told reporters today at RAAF Pearce, the Perth military base coordinating the operation.

“We owe it to the families, we owe it to everyone that travels by air, we owe it to the anxious governments of the countries who had people on that aircraft. We owe it to the wider world which has been transfixed by this mystery for three weeks now.’’

Prime Minister Najib Razak will travel to Perth on Wednesday to visit the Pearce airbase and see the MH370 search operations first hand and thank the search teams.

Malaysia’s Defence and acting Transport Minister, Hishammuddin Hussein, said Chinese families who have flown to Kuala Lumpur will be given a high-level briefing from international experts about the search for the plane. This will be broadcast live to families in Beijing as well.

He said the authorities understood that many families of those on board want to see the physical evidence before they accept that MH370 ended in the southern Indian Ocean

In their thoughts ... a volunteer from an NGO called Malaysians For Malaysia gets ready to release balloons as a symbol of remembrance for the victims of the ill-fated flight MH370. Source: Getty Images

Mr Hussein would not be drawn on the words or the details of the recording of the conversation with Malaysian air traffic control, saying it was part of the investigation.

However he said of the transcript: “I don’t think it is going to show anything sinister.”

The Australian vessel with the job of finding MH370 conducted sea trials of hi-tech detection equipment today before its 1850km journey to a tract of the southern Indian Ocean west of Perth.

The trials included a US Navy black box detector, an unmanned underwater vehicle and other acoustic detection equipment.

While the support vessel Ocean Shield is expected to take up to four days to reach the huge, 319,000 square kilometre search zone, another navy ship, the frigate HMAS Toowoomba, at top speed reached the area by midmorning today after two days at sea.

Malaysian Guided Missile Frigate KD Lekiu arrived at HMAS Stirling this evening to receive briefings on the MH370 search operations west of Perth.

A P3 Orion helping in the search. Source: AP

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It’s a race against time, given the box’s low-frequency acoustic beacon has a limited battery life. That has extended from an estimated 30 days to roughly 45 days, according to Captain Mark Matthews, a US Navy equipment specialist.

“These are rated to last 30 days, but that is a minimum. In my experience, they do last a little bit longer than that,’’ Capt Matthews said yesterday.

But the operation remained an extraordinarily difficult exercise, Mr Abbott said.

“We are searching a vast area of ocean and working with quite limited information,’’ he said after touring the Pearce base, where search planes from seven nations are being deployed, involving 550 personnel.

Defence Minister David Johnston said about 1000 sailors were looking for debris at sea — but the task was still onerous.

While each country involved was currently bearing its own costs, Australia was paying for running the co-ordination centre, which will have about 20 staff and be led by retired air chief marshall Angus Houston from Perth CBD headquarters.

Mr Abbott also said his Malaysian counterpart was not too hasty in announcing last week — before any debris had been recovered or confirmed as being from MH370 — that the plane was lost in the southern Indian Ocean and all on board were assumed dead.

“That’s the absolute overwhelming weight of evidence and I think that Prime Minister Najib Razak was perfectly entitled to come to that conclusion,’’ he said. - sumber