Day 31 - Efforts underway to verify pings

Latest developments:

• Ex-US ambassador slams Utusan for 'CIA did it' claim.
   
• Growing calls to make planes 'tamper proof'.
   
• 12 planes and 14 ships scour an area of 234,000 square kilometres.

Follow us as we bring the latest updates and coverage for the search of Flight MH370:

Will Najib let Utusan off the hook?

9.36am: Former US ambassador John Malott slams Utusan Malaysia after its assistant editor Ku Seman Ku Hussein, in a commentary yesterday, speculated the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was behind the disappearance of Flight MH370.

"It is yet another example that Utusan has become the laughing stock of Malaysian journalism, given to fabrication, conspiracy theories, paranoia, extremism, and racism.

Mallot queries if Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak will allow the Umno-owned daily to get away with the "absurd statement" ahead of US president Barack Obama's visit this month, warning that "Washington certainly will take note”.


'Make shutting off communications impossible'

9.11am: Following Flight MH370 incident, there are growing calls to make commercial planes “tamper proof”, with essential systems impossible to turn off by flight crew or passengers, reports Wall Street Journal.

"The primary goal is to make it practically impossible for flight crews or passengers to turn off electrical power to these devices in midair by removing circuit breakers now normally accessible in the cockpit," says the report.

However the report notes this will be a costly exercise. "(It will be extra cost) In addition to aircraft rolling off assembly lines," Aviation Partners Inc chief executive officer Joe Clark was quoted as saying.

Meanwhile, Reutersreports that US-based Air Line Pilots Association has called on the aviation industry to implement satellite-based communications system, already in some modern aircraft.

The calls come after investigators determined someone on board Flight MH370 deliberate turned off the transponder and Aircraft Communication Addressing and Reporting System (Acars) to cut communications with tower controllers before diverting the plane to an unknown trajectory.

Good weather expected as search gets underway

6am: Day 31 of search for the missing Malaysia Airlines (MAS) Flight MH370 commences with nine military planes, three civil planes and 14 ships going through a 234,000 square kilometres area in the Indian Ocean.

The Joint Agency Coordination Centre (Jaac) expects good weather albeit showers in the afternoon, but does not expect it to hamper search efforts.

HMS Echo (left), meanwhile, arrives at the location of China's Haixun 01, which on Saturday picked up a pulse signal some 1,700km north west of Perth. They will attempt to verify if it came from the black box of the missing aircraft.

Australian Defence Vessel Ocean Shield, which has a dedicated black box pinger locater hydrophone, continues to investigate in its own location where it also picked up a signal but some 300 nautical miles (556km) apart from Haixun 01.


Background

• The Beijing-bound Boeing 777-200ER aircraft went missing not long after taking off from KL International Airport in the early hours of March 8, with 12 crew members and 227 passengers.
   

• Authorities have determined the plane intentionally turned back and altered its course shortly after cutting communications with tower controllers for unknown reasons.
   
• Its whereabouts have now been narrowed to the southern Indian Ocean after employing "new analysis" methods to deduce the location based on six pings the aircraft sent out to British satellite communications provider Inmarsat.

 Adopted from:http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/259270