This presentation has been given in AeroDAY'14 in Tunis Tunisia in May the 3rd, 2014. It's another point of view about what happened to Malaysian Boeing B777 crashed in the indian ocean in march the 3rd, 2014.

1. Malaysia Airlines flight MH370*
What went wrong ?
Aerotunisie.com Vice-Manager
By
* Vanished in the indian ocean in March the 3rd 2014

2. 2
About us
AeroDAY’14 Mai the 03rd 2014 Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 What went wrong ?
• First aviation portal in Tunisia
started in 2012.
• Very attractive website and
updated aviation news.
• Over 200K page views and
42K monthly visits.

3. 3
Plan
Motivation
1. Good airline, Good airliner
2. Things you need to know
3. What happened ?
4. Possible Scenarios
5. Most possible Scenario
6. J. Reason’s Swiss Cheese Model
Conclusion
AeroDAY’14 Mai the 03rd 2014 Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 What went wrong ?

4. 4AeroDAY’14 Mai the 03rd 2014 Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 What went wrong ?
Motivation

5. 5
Motivation
AeroDAY’14 Mai the 03rd 2014 Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 What went wrong ?
• The MH370 flight makes the headlines of worldwide press.
• People start to ask questions about the sudden vanishing
of the aircraft : rumour, inaccurate news…
• Democratize some basics about aircraft functions and air
transport safety.

6. 6AeroDAY’14 Mai the 03rd 2014 Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 What went wrong ?
1. Good airline, Good airliner

7. 7
1. Good airline, Good airliner
AeroDAY’14 Mai the 03rd 2014 Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 What went wrong ?
• The Malaysia Airlines is one of
the best compagnies in south east of Asia.
• Fleet of 108 aircrafts, 14 of which are Boeing 777-200ER.
• 61 destinations are served.
• Only two fatal crashs occured in 67 years of service : 134
are killed.
Good airline

8. 8
1. Good airline, Good airliner
AeroDAY’14 Mai the 03rd 2014 Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 What went wrong ?
• The biggest wide-body
twin-engine jet airliner
in the world.
• 1 147 units have been delivered, 1 473 units on order.
• Fully computerized, huge engines, world records of longest
non-stop distance flown…
• Very strong safety record : until 2014, Not a single disaster
Good airliner

9. 9AeroDAY’14 Mai the 03rd 2014 Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 What went wrong ?
2. Things you need to know

10. 1
0
2. Things you need to know
AeroDAY’14 Mai the 03rd 2014 Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 What went wrong ?
• Each aircraft has several radio sets : the Boeing B777 has 5.
• Use VHF or HF
frequencies.
• Can be used in Data
mode or Voice mode.
Radio Communication System

11. 11
2. Things you need to know
AeroDAY’14 Mai the 03rd 2014 Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 What went wrong ?
• Use VHF, HF frequencies and satellite channels.
• Can be used for both voice and data transmission.
• Provide many services : ATIS messages, ATC instructions,
operations messages, ACARS.
• Operated with a MFD central panel.
SATCOM System

12. 12
2. Things you need to know
AeroDAY’14 Mai the 03rd 2014 Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 What went wrong ?
• Every Aircraft has a radar signature (even birds!! )
• Radars can “see” objects in the sky and assign for each a
point in the radar scope without any identification.
• Radar operator can monitor only the position and the
speed of aircrafts in regular time lapse.
• Used today for emergencies and training.
Primary surveillance radar

13. 13
2. Things you need to know
AeroDAY’14 Mai the 03rd 2014 Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 What went wrong ?
Primary surveillance radar

14. 14
2. Things you need to know
AeroDAY’14 Mai the 03rd 2014 Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 What went wrong ?
• With the help of a Transponder, an aircraft transmits vital
navigation informations.
• Allows to monitor an increasing number of planes at once.
• Compare Aircraft navigation with planned flight plan.
• Each aircraft is identified with a 4 digit Code (exp : 7700 )
Secondary surveillance radar

15. 15
2. Things you need to know
AeroDAY’14 Mai the 03rd 2014 Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 What went wrong ?
Secondary surveillance radar

16. 1
6AeroDAY’14 Mai the 03rd 2014 Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 What went wrong ?
3. What happened ?

17. 17
TAKE-OFF
00:41MYT
CRUISING
Last ACARS
Last ATC
01:19MYT
Lost Transponder.
01:21MYT
Lost Radar
02:15MYT
Last
Handshake
ping
08:11MYT

18. 18
3. What happened ?
AeroDAY’14 Mai the 03rd 2014 Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 What went wrong ?
Why is it so mysterious ?
• Only 2 minutes between the last Voice contact and the
start of contact systems shutdown !
• No sign of an emergency or alert indication before the
crew radio silence.
• No attempt to land in nearest airport or flying back to K.L.
• ACARS pings were still responding after 6 hours.

19. 19
3. What happened ?
AeroDAY’14 Mai the 03rd 2014 Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 What went wrong ?
Search.. and we search again…
• 3, 000, 000 square miles
is the surface of
search operations !!

20. 20
3. What happened ?
AeroDAY’14 Mai the 03rd 2014 Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 What went wrong ?
What we are looking for ?
• Crash site (wreckage)
• 2 Black Boxes (CVR & DFDR ).
• Engines
• Wires
• Fuselage remains

21. 21
3. What happened ?
AeroDAY’14 Mai the 03rd 2014 Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 What went wrong ?
Availables informations
• Primary/Secondary Radar informations.
• ATC conversations.
• Aircraft maintenance history and other B777 in the fleet.
• Pilots/Crew/Passengers backgrounds.
• Possible flight path (ACARS…)

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2AeroDAY’14 Mai the 03rd 2014 Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 What went wrong ?
4. Possible Scenarios

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4. Possible Scenarios
AeroDAY’14 Mai the 03rd 2014 Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 What went wrong ?
Why Hijacking can be the cause ?
• Two passengers have boarded with 2 stolen passports.
• Systems shutdown, silent navigation.
• No radio communication.
• Aircraft still flying for extra 6 hours.
• It’s not the first time: B737 Flight 653 in 1977.

24. 24
4. Possible Scenarios
AeroDAY’14 Mai the 03rd 2014 Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 What went wrong ?
Exemples of Hijacking accidents
• 9/11 events : 4 aircrafts have been hijacked
and turned toward four targets.
• Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961.
• Federal Express
Flight 705.

25. 25
4. Possible Scenarios
AeroDAY’14 Mai the 03rd 2014 Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 What went wrong ?
Why Hijacking can’t be the cause ?
• Possible Hijackers don’t belong to any terrorist group.
• They should be trained to ask pilots to shutdown systems
or/and they did it by themselves. ( circuit breakers )
• What were their intentions ?

26. 26
4. Possible Scenarios
AeroDAY’14 Mai the 03rd 2014 Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 What went wrong ?
Other scenarios..
• Cyber Hijack ( electronic signal jam ).
• Explosive decompression (Bomb, Fuselage Fatigue…).
• Missile strike.
• Suicide

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7AeroDAY’14 Mai the 03rd 2014 Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 What went wrong ?
5. Most possible Scenario

28. 28
5. Most possible Scenario
AeroDAY’14 Mai the 03rd 2014 Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 What went wrong ?
Electric system failure..
• Electric system failure caused by wire sparks ( or fire ) can
explain the shutdown of transponder and the malfunction
of ACARS, radios..
• Navigation systems and MFD screens could be disabled
too.
• Dark night without a moon has conducted to fly the plan in
blind configuration and cause “Vertigo” to pilots.

29. TAKO-OFF
00:41

30. Climbing
00:50

31. Wire Sparks
00:55

32. Cruising
01:01

33. Possible Fire
01:05

34. Last ACARS
01:07

35. Last ATC « Good night MH370 »
01:19

36. Lost transponder and ADS-B
01:21

37. Other pilots try to establish contact
01:30

38. Lost ACARS
01:37

39. ALL MFD Screens go black
01:40

40. Lost of altitude
02:00

41. Lost Primary Radar signature
02:14

42. Satellites continue to receive pings
until 08:11

43. Crash in the south of indian ocean
+08:20

44. 4
4AeroDAY’14 Mai the 03rd 2014 Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 What went wrong ?
6. J. Reason’s Swiss
Cheese Model

45. 4
5AeroDAY’14 Mai the 03rd 2014 Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 What went wrong ?
“A series of Human Factor problems forms an error chain.
If any one of the links in this chain had been broken the
incident may have been prevented. It might be done by
building in measures/defences, which may not permit an
error at one or more of the stages”
- James T Reason -

46. Aircraft
46
6. J. Reason’s Swiss Cheese Model
AeroDAY’14 Mai the 03rd 2014 Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 What went wrong ?
CRASH
Airport ATC Pilots
Maintenance

47. 4
7AeroDAY’14 Mai the 03rd 2014 Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 What went wrong ?
Conclusion

48. 48
Conclusion
AeroDAY’14 Mai the 03rd 2014 Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 What went wrong ?
• Investigators could never solve the tragedy until they found
solid clues such CVR, DFDR or wreckage.
• Fire on board is a strong possible cause of electronic
systems’ loss.
• Flying Blind ( no light, dark night ) causes navigation
problems.

49. Manager : Nidhal CHOGRANI
nidhal.chograni@aerotunisie.com
contact@aerotunisie.com
Tél : (+216) 20 738 378
Vice-Manager : Khaled TOUEL
khaled.touel@aerotunisie.com
Tél : (+216) 97 87 90 06
Thank you !