Posted on 04/12/2014 6:06:11 AM PDT by Uncle Chip
but he 'was abruptly cut off'
The co-pilot of missing flight MH370 made a call from his mobile phone as the aircraft flew low over the west coast of Malaysia.
Investigators have learned that the call was made from Fariq Abdul Hamid's mobile phone as the Boeing 777 flew low near the island of Penang, on the north of Malaysia's west coast.
The New Straits Times reported today that it was understood the aircraft, with 239 people on board, was flying low enough for the nearest telecommunications tower to pick up Fariq's signal.
The call ended abrupty, however it has been learned that contact was definitely established with a telecommunications sub-station in Penang state.
The paper said it had been unable to ascertain who Fariq was trying to call 'as sources chose not to divulge details of the investigation.'
It added: 'The telco's (telecommunications company's) tower established the call that he was trying to make. 'On why the call was cut off, it was likely because the aircraft was fast moving away from the tower and had not come under the coverage of the next one,' the paper said, quoting 'sources'....
The dramatic revelation that Fariq tried to make a phone call after regular communication from the aircraft to ground control was lost opens up a new field of speculation - and more questions about the mysterious disappearance of the jet.
If Fariq was able to make a call, why was there no attempt by the pilot, Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah, 53, to also make a mobile phone call?...
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Note that the investigators release just enough information about this co-pilot’s cellphone so that they can point an accusing finger at him and take the heat off Captain Shah.
And yet in this previous article from March 24 investigators throw cold water on the most important cell phone call of all — made by Captain Shah from the cockpit before the flight:
Malaysian police have denied two British media reports that they are investigating a mobile phone call from the cockpit of Malaysia Airlines MH370 before take-off.
Police Inspector-General Kahlid Abu Bakar on Monday dismissed reports in Britain’s Mail on Sunday that police were investigating a call senior pilot Zaharie Ahmad Shah made on his mobile phone shortly before the plane took off from Kuala Lumpur.
The story was the second in a week to make claims about a pre-flight phone call, following a similar one in fellow UK newspaper The Sun.
Police initially declined to comment on the existence of the two-minute call made from the cockpit of the Boeing 777 aircraft.
But Inspector-General Kahlid said that if the newspaper could provide the telephone number “that would be helpful”.
“If not ... it is mere speculation,” he said.
Everyone else who spoke to the pilot on his phone in the hours before the flight took off has already been interviewed.
Oooops!!!!! Now the denial —
Malaysia says no mid-flight phone call from MH370 cockpit
http://news.asiaone.com/news/malaysia/malaysia-says-no-mid-flight-phone-call-mh370-cockpit
Note: “from MH370 cockpit” — just the cockpit???
Hows about from the galley or the bathroom???
No freedom of leak to be tolerated in Malaysia:
KUALA LUMPUR, April 13 — Authorities must penalise the New Straits Times (NST) over its report that a Flight MH370 pilot had “desperately” tried to call for help now that this was disputed by Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein, the DAP said today.
Accusing the Umno-linked daily of a “bare-faced lie” in claiming co-pilot Fariq Ab Hamid had made a “desperate attempt to call for help” on the day the Malaysia Airlines flight disappeared, DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said this was later picked up by international media to the country’s detriment.
“Such lies and baseless information may not only affect search operations but also the families of the passengers and the crew of the aircraft.
“The federal government must be both unforgiving and punishing towards NST, more so when it is owned by Umno and a mouthpiece for the [Barisan Nasional] leaders,” Lim said in a statement today.
The Penang chief minister warned that failure to reprimand the newspaper over the report would further dent the country’s image, which was already battered on the global stage due to the repeated contradictions surrounding the investigation and search for MH370.
He also demanded the NST publish a front page apology for engaging in “gutter journalism” in the report.
In a “world exclusive” yesterday, the newspaper published on its front page an article titled “Desperate call for help” based on anonymous sources that claimed Fariq’s mobile phone had made connections to a cellular communications tower.
It is unclear how the newspaper determined a phone call was actually placed or that it was “desperate” in nature, as another source also told the newspaper that the “attachment” to the cellular tower was not indicative of a phone call.
The report also did not specify who, if anyone, Fariq is supposed to have called.
Subsequent to the report, Acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin rejected the claim, saying that investigators would have learnt of the matter if it had indeed occurred.
“I cannot comment (on the newspaper report) because if it is true, we would have known about it much earlier,” Hishammuddin, who is also defence minister, was quoted as saying by state news agency Bernama yesterday.
He also said it was irresponsible for any quarters to take the opportunity to make a baseless report.
Hishammuddin previously said the government was compiling “false” media reports on the MH370 crisis with an eye on legal action against the responsible news outlets.
But the Malaysian daily also quoted another source saying that while Fariq Abdul Hamid’s “line was reattached”, there was no certainty that a call was made from the Boeing 777...
Investigators last month indicated that the flight was deliberately diverted and its communication systems manually switched off as it was leaving Malaysian airspace, triggering a criminal investigation by police that has revealed little so far....
There have been unconfirmed previous reports in the Malaysian media of calls by the captain before or during the flight but no details have been released.
The NST report said that Flight 370 flew low enough near Penang island on Malaysia’s west coast — after turning off course — for a telecommunications tower to pick up the co-pilot’s phone signal.
The phone line was “reattached” between the time the plane veered off course and blipped off the radar, the government-controlled paper quoted the second source as saying.
“A ‘reattachment’ does not necessarily mean that a call was made. It can also be the result of the phone being switched on again.”
Malaysia’s transport ministry told AFP that it was examining the NST report and will issue a response.
The Malaysian government and media have repeatedly contradicted each other and themselves over details of the search and criminal investigation.
http://www.ndtv.com/article/world/mh370-co-pilot-made-mid-flight-phone-call-report-507606
Actually, it's just the opposite. The hijacker(s) would have wanted to maintain radio silence (forgetting to turn off the plane's Inmarsat transceiver was obviously an oversight). Turning on your cell phone violates radio silence. Thus, it argues against the copilot being one of the hijackers and points the finger at the captain or somebody else who knew a lot about triple-sevens.
E.g., perhaps the copilot found himself locked out of the cockpit by the captain. He turns on his phone to send out a mayday, no longer having access to the airplane's VHF. But there's no service. He and others set about trying to break into the cockpit. The pilot depressurizes the cabin, knocking out his tormentors. Then the plane comes within range of a cell tower and the copilot's phone checks in, but its owner is knocked out, so no call is made.
I think that the more conservative bet is found in the Indian article posted at #104 that the “line reattached” as it passed over the island and then just as quickly disattached as it passed out of range with no call being made.
After spending the last 23 minutes at 45000ft without oxygen I’m sure the co-pilot was dead.
And if a call had been attempted there is no guarantee that it wasn’t the pilot using the dead co-pilot’s phone to try to notify whomever — “mission is accomplished”.
Why else would the pilot be flying so low over an island with cell towers unless he was the one who wanted to make an untraceable cell call??? He does everything he can to avoid radar detection but then flies low over a cell tower with 200 cellphones onboard???
Either way this bottom line of the article seems to sum it all up:
“The Malaysian government and media have repeatedly contradicted each other and themselves over details of the search and criminal investigation.”
U.S. Official sets the record straight:
Malaysia Airlines Flight 370: Co-pilot’s cell phone was on, U.S. official says
(CNN) — The phone of the co-pilot of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 was on and made contact with a cell tower in Malaysia about the time the plane disappeared from radar, a U.S. official told CNN on Monday.
However, the U.S. official — who cited information shared by Malaysian investigators — said there was no evidence the co-pilot, Fariq Abdul Hamid, had tried to make a call.
The official told CNN’s Pamela Brown on Monday that a cell-phone tower in Penang, Malaysia — about 250 miles from where the flight’s transponder last sent a signal — detected the co-pilot’s phone searching for service roughly 30 minutes after authorities believe the plane made a sharp turn westward.
The details do appear to reaffirm suggestions based on radar and satellite data that the plane was off course and was probably flying low enough to obtain a signal from a cell tower, the U.S. official said.
U.S. officials familiar with the investigation told CNN they have been told that no other cell phones were picked up by the Penang tower.
Pilots are supposed to turn off their cell phones before pushing back from the gate.
“It would be very rare in my opinion to have someone with a cell phone on in the cockpit,” safety analyst David Soucie said. “It’s never supposed to be on at all. It’s part of every check list of every airline I am familiar with.”
When the plane first went missing, authorities said millions of cell phone records were searched, looking for evidence that calls had been made from the plane after it took off, but the search turned up nothing.
Fox News reports that the search officials are admitting its a possibility the plane did land on the ground someplace else and that they have been searching in the wrong places.
Something tells me the there has been a leaked rumor of an impending or upcoming “revelation” about the whole scenario.
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