The unenviable task of MH370 search

There can be no triumph in telling the entire world that Malaysia is not looking good when it is none other than our own reflections in the mirror.

COMMENT

By The Helicopter Hobbit

The identification of a search area for a missing aircraft is subject to the last known position by communications with said aircraft, in the Malaysia Airlines MH370 case being Sigari.

From there, based on the aircraft’s last known endurance remaining, heading, altitude and airspeed, the size of the search area is plotted. There is software available to extrapolate the search area by the variables of wind and sea drift, leading to the initial search area being the South China Sea progressively moving towards the east coast of the Malaysian peninsula.

We now stand where more information has been forthcoming as a result of adducing evidence, resulting in a new search area being identified.

Again, none of these have been in real time, as they had to be sourced, analysed, confirmed as valid and then released.

I have been involved in search and rescue for the tenure of my service to King and country and by comparison to MH370, I confess that this search effort is mind bogglingly complicated in scale, collaboration and rate of effort.

I both envy everyone involved in this moment of grace, yet I know how unenviable a task it really is.

It cannot be emphasised enough that from the onset of this incident, once the final phase of SAR has progressed into actual SAR, the fog of misinformation would be the first to sink its teeth into everything.

It doesn’t matter whether you search in a five-mile radius over the jungle or hundreds of kilometers over the sea, absolutely nothing you know or own or have experienced or feel will guarantee success.

You know nothing till you hold in your hands, tangible and irrefutable evidence of a find. You need the knowledge and training to search, yes, or else efforts will be disproportionate and in disarray.

Yet, it is only after the find that you go back and consolidate your training which will help you to understand what helped you to succeed.

Most of all, it is blind determination alone that is the greatest contributor to success. Not a guarantee, but a sure contributor. Time gnaws away at all things, at spirit, at hope and at strength. Yet, search and rescue teams need to harness onto matters greater than themselves in order to press on no matter what insults await them at day’s end when they return to base once again without the tangible in their hands.

Ugly Malaysians

In the RMAF, readiness is always measured and tested. Strictly with regard to SAR, each base is required to execute a practice of the Accident Plan twice a year, once on base and once off base.

Besides that, the RMAF Inspectorate can at any time launch a search and rescue exercise. Bilateral exercises with neighbouring air forces are certain to include modules on SAR as well as Combat SAR, which involves the extrication of a downed pilot from a hostile environment (read as behind enemy lines).

Along with this the RMAF has real time experience with SAR that it would rather not, for very obvious reasons.

This is the first time in a long time that one of our civil registered aircraft has come to an undesirable end, shrouded in unknowns hitherto unprecedented in aviation history.

The dealing with conflicting information and the ravenous clamouring of people who think they know how better to handle such a crisis are the shades of the ugly Malaysian (amongst others) we have seen often in the air force, but now is in the public eye.

Many prove graceless in facing matters that they cannot grab and bend with their own hands because we have all become accustomed to being know-it-all critics even when it comes to events outside of our circle of experience.

Too much investment in conspiracy, too little faith, and the sinking inability to acknowledge the constricting finity of our personal prowess have rapidly eroded our civility.

We refused to see that Malaysian air traffic controllers followed the protocols as laid out in their manuals once the loss of communications with MH370 was confirmed.

These manuals are in accordance with international procedures. We desire to scream of incompetence, of cover up, of conspiracy. Perhaps there is in fact a conspiracy, but is it really where you detect the discrepancies?

Anyway, all that could have been done, was done. It is not merely about giving them the benefit of the doubt. It is more about giving them the benefit of good faith. After all, they are actually us.

Yet, this is not an incident devoid of recommendation.

Hoping for a conclusion soon

Perhaps the DCA airports should consider practising aircraft accident responses and SAR, even if it was a paper trail exercise or table top training.

We need to be able to recognise that sometimes, in spite of all the right mechanisms we have in place, we can and will be overwhelmed by the enormity of the agents of miscarriage of our best efforts, and worse so if we are unpractised.

Facing the crowd when tragedy strikes after our best has been given is what we need to learn.

Familiarising with Murphy’s Law may not be a bad enterprise.

The Malaysian public too has the need to enlighten itself on the fact that we cannot judge all professions, especially those that are not open to pursuit in any university we currently own.

Even experts are humbled in admitting that every air incident is an entity in its own right, with the ability to frustrate and defeat the most seasoned of veterans in this field.

There is a difference between holding our leaders accountable and being so stubbornly partisan that we fall into being knee-jerked critics when we are summoned by occasion and event to be critical instead.

There can be no triumph in telling the entire world that Malaysia is not looking good when it is none other than our own reflections in the mirror. We do not improve the integrity of our citizenship this way. Sometimes, something has got to give.

I believe, along with the many who fashionably catch wind of a conspiracy in every move that involves the government, that we should hold our leaders accountable to the electorate.

In a tragedy of this scale, we can complain that they bungled because they are “not accustomed” to answering questions. But we have not been careful enough to show discernment between being answerable and answering questions, especially over an incident where no answers could possibly be forthcoming until information has been correctly and responsibly processed.

The weeks have progressed and as the fog of misinformation thins, the international posse has narrowed down the search area to the Indian Ocean west of the Australian coast.

In all possibility, the most bizarre and baffling aircraft mishap in aviation history will soon draw to its draft of conclusions.

The Helicopter Hobbit is the pseudonym of a retired Major and former Nuri pilot who vents on his blog, with the fringe benefit of sharing his airborne and other experiences and perspectives. Currently he is serving as an offshore pilot in Malaysia’s oil and gas industry.