652 Maldives residents sight 'low flying jet'. 'Fanatical' pilot is RELATED to jailed Malaysian opposition leader

Maldives residents sight 'low flying jet'. 'Fanatical' pilot is RELATED
to jailed Malaysian opposition leader

Newsletter published on 19-03-2014

(1) Maldives reports low-flying jumbo, Malaysia Airlines plane still
missing
(2) Possible MH370 sighting as Maldives residents report 'low-flying jumbo'
(3) Maldives island residents report sighting of 'low flying jet'
(4) Flight MH370 may have been 'cyber-hijacked': expert
(5) Daily Mail: Revealed - 'Fanatical' pilot is RELATED to jailed
Malaysian opposition leader
(6) Captain of MH370 attended Anwar Ibrahim's Sodomy trial 7 hours
before flight, very upset
(7) Captain of MH370 is related to Anwar Ibrahim son’s in-laws -
Malaysia Star
(8) Missing Malaysian plane: Cops find data on Indian Ocean runways in
pilot's simulator
(9) Police to check whether Captain practised landing in Maldives or
Diego Garcia, on his Simulator
(10) Missing MH370: On-board computer programmed to turn before
co-pilot’s sign-off, sources claim
(11) 634 Runways where MH370 (a Boeing 777) could have landed
(12) Here Are the 634 Runways Where the Malaysia Airlines Plane Could
Have Landed
(13) not Asian mainland

(1) Maldives reports low-flying jumbo, Malaysia Airlines plane still missing

http://www.afr.com/p/world/malaysia_airlines_flight_might_have_iCSkyZgQaQcgvbBc1pw52K

by JOHN KERIN

Australian Financial Review, May 19, 2014

Residents of the Maldives have reported a “low flying jumbo jet’’ on
March 8 that might have been the missing Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777.

Residents of Kuda Huvadhoo in Dhaal Atoll in the Maldives reportedly saw
what has been described as a “low-flying jumbo jet” over their houses
early in the morning on March 8, the same morning the Malaysia Airlnes
flight MH370 was reported as missing.

Maldivian daily Haaveeru has reported residents describing the aircraft,
which flew over their houses at around 6.15am (local time), as white in
colour, with red stripes across it. This colour scheme is typically the
livery used in Malaysian Airlines flights, least to mention, the one
that went missing.

Eyewitnesses have reportedly agreed that the aeroplane was travelling
north to south-east, towards the Southern tip of the Maldives.

They also noted the incredibly loud noise the flight made when it flew
over the island. “I’ve never seen a jet flying so low over our island
before. We’ve seen seaplanes, but I’m sure this was not one of those. I
could even make out the doors on the plane clear,” one witness was
quoted as saying.

The witness added that several other residents had to come out of their
houses to see what was causing the tremendous noise.

The development comes as the newly discussed theory that the airplane
could have used the ‘Terrain Masking’ technique to avoid being detected
by the radar, is gaining credibility.

The newly explored theory points towards the possibility that whoever
was in control of the plane when it veered off its course deliberately
flew the jet closer to the ground, in order to avoid detection.

The so-called “terrain masking” could potentially explain why flight
MH370 was apparently able to evade being detected, after reaching the
area which was reported to have been the last point of contact.

RADARS ELUDED

The New Straits Times reported that shortly after the plane took off
from Kuala Lumpur and then veered off course towards the west, the plane
was flying at an altitude as low as 5,000 feet, during most of the eight
hours it was missing from the radar. The plane managed to elude the
radars of at least three countries.

“The person who had control of the aircraft has solid knowledge of
avionics and navigation and left a clean track,” an official told the
paper.The terrain masking technique is a clever means to avoid active
radar, by positioning the airplane in such a way that there is natural
earth hiding the aircraft from the radio waves sent by the radar system.

Meanwhile a local aviation expert told Haveeru that it is “likely” for
MH370 to have flown over the Maldives adding that the possibility of any
other aircraft flying over the island at the reported time was extremely
unlikely. [...]

With AP, agencies

(2) Possible MH370 sighting as Maldives residents report 'low-flying jumbo'

http://www.smh.com.au/world/possible-mh370-sighting-as-maldives-residents-report-lowflying-jumbo-20140319-hvkb0.html

March 19, 2014 - 9:54AM

A search area the size of Australia is being scoured by 26 countries as
authorities try to piece together why missing Malaysia Airlines flight
MH370 changed course.

As an Australian-led search for a missing Malaysia Airlines passenger
jet swings into action in the southern Indian Ocean, reports have
emerged of a possible sighting of MH370 thousands of kilometres away in
the Maldives.

Residents on the island nation, in the Indian Ocean about 700 kilometres
south-west of Sri Lanka, have reported seeing a ‘‘low-flying jumbo jet’’
on the morning that the missing plane with 239 people on board vanished
from civilian radar and lost contact with ground controllers.

The large plane was reported to be white with red stripes, which is
consistent with the Malaysia Airlines fleet, and was said to have made
an incredibly loud noise as it flew over the the island of Kuda Huvadhoo
at about 6.15am on March 8, according Maldives newspaper Haveeru Daily.

  "I've never seen a jet flying so low over our island before,’’ one
unnamed witness told the newspaper.

‘‘We've seen seaplanes, but I'm sure that this was not one of those. I
could even make out the doors on the plane clearly... It's not just me
either, several other residents have reported seeing the exact same
thing. Some people got out of their houses to see what was causing the
tremendous noise too."

Mohamed Zaheem, the island councillor of Kuda Huvadhoo, told the
newspaper that other residents had also spoken of the incident.

The residents claimed the plane was flying towards the southern tip of
the Maldives, the Addu Atoll.

Investigators have not commented on the reported sighting in the
Maldives, which is thousands of kilometres away from where an
Australian-led search has begun in a massive stretch of ocean west of Perth.

That search operation, covering an area the size of France, began on
Tuesday afternoon when an Australian P-3 Orion surveillance plane set
off from RAAF base Pearce, outside Perth.

Aircraft from the US and New Zealand will join the search on Wednesday,
and China has expressed interest in helping.

On Wednesday morning, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA)
said three merchant ships near the search area also had responded to a
broadcast issued by AMSA’s rescue co-ordination centre.

The search area is more than 600,000 square kilometres, and the search
is likely to take weeks.

John Young, from AMSA’s rescue co-ordination centre, said that search
area was the ''best estimate'' of where the plane may have came down.

It is a considerably smaller area than the massive arc previously
outlined by Malaysian authorities.

But Mr Young said it would still be a massive job, and repeated several
times it was only a ''possible search area'', underscoring the
uncertainty that still surrounds the whole episode.

''A needle in a haystack remains a good analogy,'' he said. ''The sheer
size of the search area poses a huge challenge.''

(3) Maldives island residents report sighting of 'low flying jet' -
Haveeru Online (Maldives newspaper)

http://www.haveeru.com.mv/news/54062

Maldives island residents report sighting of 'low flying jet'

by Farah Ahmed and Ahmed Naif

Haveeru Online, The Maldives

Mar 18, 2014 - 02:55

A map showing the route that the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370
is believed to have travelled. PHOTO/ BBC

Residents of the remote Maldives island of Kuda Huvadhoo in Dhaal Atoll
have reported seeing a "low flying jumbo jet" on the morning of the
disappearance of the Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.

Whilst the disappearance of the Boeing 777 jet, carrying 239 passengers
has left the whole world in bewilderment, several residents of Kuda
Huvadhoo told Haveeru on Tuesday that they saw a "low flying jumbo jet"
at around 6:15am on March 8.

They said that it was a white aircraft, with red stripes across it –
which is what the Malaysia Airlines flights typically look like.

Eyewitnesses from the Kuda Huvadhoo concurred that the aeroplane was
travelling North to South-East, towards the Southern tip of the Maldives
– Addu. They also noted the incredibly loud noise that the flight made
when it flew over the island.

"I've never seen a jet flying so low over our island before. We've seen
seaplanes, but I'm sure that this was not one of those. I could even
make out the doors on the plane clearly," said an eyewitness.

"It's not just me either, several other residents have reported seeing
the exact same thing. Some people got out of their houses to see what
was causing the tremendous noise too."

Mohamed Zaheem, the Island Councilor of Kuda Huvadhoo, said that the
residents of the island had spoken about the incident.

A local aviation expert told Haveeru that it is "likely" for MH370 to
have flown over the Maldives. The possibility of any aircraft flying
over the island at the reported time is extremely low, the expert added.

The Malaysia airlines jet disappeared on March 8 with 239 people on
board after taking off from Kuala Lumpur bound for Beijing.
Investigators say it was deliberately diverted off course.

Twenty-six countries are now helping to hunt for the plane after
satellite and military radar data projected two huge corridors through
which it might have flown.

Satellite data suggests that the last "ping" was recieved from the
flight somwhere close to the Maldives and the US naval base on Diego Garcia.

But the Maldives is not amongst the countries that Malaysian authorities
had sought help from in its search for the missing jet. Malaysia has
listed the countries that it had appealed for assistance: Kazakhstan,
Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, India,
China, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Australia and France.

(4) Flight MH370 may have been 'cyber-hijacked': expert

http://www.wantchinatimes.com/news-subclass-cnt.aspx?id=20140318000132&cid=1103

Staff Reporter 2014-03-18 17:28 (GMT+8)

Missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 could be the world's first case
of "cyber-hijacking," according to a British anti-terrorism expert.

{CORRECTION: 9/11 was the first care - Peter Myers}

Former British Home Office scientific adviser Sally Leivesley told the
Sunday Express in London that hackers could have potentially taken over
the plane with malicious codes triggered by a mobile phone or USB stick.

Once the hackers override security systems and take control of the
plane, they would be able to change its speed, altitude and direction by
sending radio signals to its flight management system, and perhaps even
land or crash the jet by remote control, Leivesley said.

"There appears to be an element of planning from someone with a very
sophisticated systems engineering understanding," Leivesley said, adding
that it is looking likely that someone had taken over the plane "in a
deceptive manner," either manually or via a remote device.

The UK's Sunday Express also reported that Hugo Teso, a German security
consultant and commercial pilot, revealed last April a way to hijack a
plane remotely using malicious codes on a mobile phone app that could
hack into an aircraft's security system.

Cees Bil, an associate professor at RMIT University in Melbourne, told
the Sydney Morning Herald, however, that he did not believe it was
possible to hijack a plane with a mobile phone.

"I believe this is very far-fetched and with all the regulations, checks
and safety systems in place, I don't believe something as simple as a
phone can interfere with the security system," Bil said. [...]

(5) Daily Mail: Revealed - 'Fanatical' pilot is RELATED to jailed
Malaysian opposition leader

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2583217/Revealed-Pilot-RELATED-jailed-Malaysian-opposition-leader-families-lost-relatives-threaten-hunger-strike.html

Revealed: 'Fanatical' pilot is RELATED to jailed Malaysian opposition
leader as families of lost relatives threaten hunger strike if they
don’t get answers

By JILL REILLY

PUBLISHED: 08:48 GMT, 18 March 2014 | UPDATED: 18:45 GMT, 18 March 2014

The 'fanatical’ pilot aboard the missing Malaysia Airlines plane is
related to Malaysia's jailed opposition leader, it was revealed today.

After previously denying he recognised the pliot's name, opposition
leader Anwar Ibrahim admitted that Malaysia Airlines MH370 Captain
Zaharie Ahmad Shah is related to his son-in-law.

'I am not denying that he (Zaharie) is related to one of my in-laws and
that I have met him on several occasions,' he said.

After previously denying he reconigsed his name, opposition leader Anwar
Ibrahim, left, has admitted that Malaysia Airlines MH370 pilot Captain
Zaharie Ahmad Shah, right, is related to his son in law

He also admitted Zaharie is a close friend of PKR supreme council member
and Subang MP R. Sivarasa.

Anwar further admitted that Zaharie was a staunch opposition supporter
and that he had met the pilot on a few occasions at party functions.

He said: 'I am not one to hide my associations with others. I have met
him once or twice but I do not remember how many times.'

(6) Captain of MH370 attended Anwar Ibrahim's Sodomy trial 7 hours
before flight, very upset

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2581817/Doomed-airliner-pilot-political-fanatic-Hours-taking-control-flight-MH370-attended-trial-jailed-opposition-leader-sodomite.html

'Democracy is dead': 'Fanatical' missing airliner pilot pictured wearing
political slogan T-shirt

By SIMON PARRY and AMANDA WILLIAMS and WILLS ROBINSON

UK Daily Mail

PUBLISHED: 22:08 GMT, 15 March 2014
UPDATED: 18:54 GMT, 16 March 2014

An image has emerged of the pilot of the missing Malaysia Airlines jet
wearing a T-shirt with a 'Democracy is Dead' slogan as it has been
revealed he could have hijacked the plane in an anti-government protest.

Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah, a father-of-three, was said to be a
'fanatical' supporter of the country's opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim -
jailed for homosexuality just hours before the jet disappeared.

It has also been revealed that the pilot's wife and three children moved
out of the family home the day before the plane went missing.

It comes as FBI investigators say the disappearance of MH370 may have
been ‘an act of piracy’ and the possibility that hundreds of passengers
are being held at an unknown location has not been ruled out.

Officials also revealed that it is possible the aircraft could have
landed and transmitted a satellite signal from the ground. If the plane
was intact and had enough electrical power in reserve, it would be able
to send out a radar 'ping'.

Peter Chong (left) with best friend Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah, pilot of
the missing Malaysia Airlines plane. He is pictured in a T-shirt with a
Democracy is Dead slogan as police investigate claims he could have
hijacked the plane as an anti-government protest

Captian Shah was an ‘obsessive’ supporter of Ibrahim. And hours before
the doomed flight left Kuala Lumpur it is understood 53-year-old Shah
attended a controversial trial in which Ibrahim was jailed for five years.

Campaigners say the politician, the key challenger to Malaysia’s ruling
party, was the victim of a long-running smear campaign and had faced
trumped-up charges.

Police sources have confirmed that Shah was a vocal political activist –
and fear that the court decision left him profoundly upset. It was
against this background that, seven hours later, he took control of a
Boeing 777-200 bound for Beijing and carrying 238 passengers and crew.

Yesterday, Malaysian police searched his house in the upmarket Kuala
Lumpur suburb of Shah Alam, where he had installed a home-made flight
simulator. But this newspaper can reveal that investigators had already
spent much of last week examining two laptops removed from Shah’s home.
One is believed to contain data from the simulator

Confirming rising fears, Malaysia’s prime minister Najib Razak announced
yesterday that MH370 was deliberately steered off course after its
communication system was switched off. He said it headed west over the
Malaysian seaboard and could have flown for another seven hours on its
fuel reserves.

It is not yet clear where the plane was taken, however Mr Razak said the
most recent satellite data suggests the plane could have been making for
one of two possible flight corridors. The search, involving 43 ships and
58 aircraft from 15 countries, switched from the South China Sea to the
Bay of Bengal in the Indian Ocean.

In another dramatic twist early Sunday Indian officials however, said
the search was on hold until 'fresh search areas' were defined by
Malaysia. It is unclear what the reason was for the delay.

Data showing the number of plausible runways where the plane could have
touched down - which need to be at least 5,000ft - offer a baffling
number of potential locations. [...]

(7) Captain of MH370 is related to Anwar Ibrahim son’s in-laws -
Malaysia Star

http://www.thestar.com.my/News/Nation/2014/03/18/Missing-MH370-Capt-Zaharie-related-to-Anwar-inlaws/

Published: Tuesday March 18, 2014 MYT 2:25:00 PM Updated: Tuesday March
18, 2014 MYT 3:38:18 PM

Missing MH370: Anwar now admits Capt Zaharie related to son's in-laws

BY MARTIN CARVALHO, FLORENCE A. SAMY, AND L. SUGANYA

KUALA LUMPUR: Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has now
admitted that MH370 pilot Capt Zaharie Ahmad Shah is related to his
son’s in-laws.

“I am not denying that he (Zaharie) is related to one of my in-laws and
that I have met him on several occasions. In fact, he is a close friend
of (PKR supreme council member and Subang MP) R. Sivarasa, as we said
before,” Anwar told reporters at the Parliament lobby here Tuesday.

“However, to politicise it is not right. We should respect the family’s
rights and pray for them instead of prosecuting him before the
investigation is completed.”

Anwar further admitted that Zaharie was a staunch opposition supporter
and that he had met the pilot on a few occasions at party functions.

“I am not one to hide my associations with others. I have met him once
or twice but I do not remember how many times,” he said.

Anwar then hit out at pro-Umno bloggers for attempting to tarnish
Zaharie’s reputation despite so many others painting him as a
“professional, a decent family-oriented man and someone who believed in
fighting for justice”.

When asked to comment on speculation that Zaharie may have committed
“pilot suicide” on account of Anwar’s recent conviction by the Court of
Appeal, the opposition leader said that it was illogical as there were
many other Malaysians who were not happy with his sodomy conviction.

“I believe 90% of taxi drivers support me and are not happy with the
decision. But they did not hijack their taxi to Kajang,” he said.

He added that the sense of disappointment over his sodomy conviction was
also noted by foreign media who may have drawn their own conclusion.

Earlier, Anwar was quoted by South China Morning Post as saying: “I
don’t recollect the name (Zaharie), but when the photographs were shown,
I remembered I had seen him at party meetings.”

He also said they had had no personal contact, but Zaharie was a
follower of his Twitter account.

A report on Sunday in the UK’s Daily Mail had linked MH370’s Capt
Zaharie to PKR.

(8) Missing Malaysian plane: Cops find data on Indian Ocean runways in
pilot's simulator

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/rest-of-world/Missing-Malaysian-plane-Cops-find-data-on-Indian-Ocean-runways-in-pilots-simulator/articleshow/32256080.cms

Reuters | Mar 19, 2014, 12.31 AM IST

[...] Among the items taken for examination was a flight simulator
Zaharie had built in his home.

A senior police officer with direct knowledge of the investigation said
the programs from the pilot's simulator included Indian Ocean runways in
the Maldives, Sri Lanka, Diego Garcia and southern India, although he
added that US and European runways also featured.

"Generally these flight simulators show hundreds or even thousands of
runways," the officer said. "What we are trying to see is what were the
runways that were frequently used."

(9) Police to check whether Captain practised landing in Maldives or
Diego Garcia, on his Simulator

http://www.thestar.com.my/News/Nation/2014/03/19/Simulator-could-hold-clues-Cops-to-probe-if-Zaharie-practised-landing-in-the-two-arcs/

Published: Wednesday March 19, 2014 MYT 12:00:00 AM Updated: Wednesday
March 19, 2014 MYT 10:10:19 AM

Missing MH370: Simulator could hold clues

BY RAZAK AHMAD

PETALING JAYA: Police investigations into the disappearance of MH370
will likely zoom in on whether Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah had practised
landings on his home flight simulator at airports located in the two
vast tracts of territory where the search is focused.

A pilot trainer with experience flying the Boeing 777-200 said
off-the-shelf simulators such as the one Zaharie set up in his home
could help a pilot familiarise himself with any airport in the two arcs
that stretch from the southern part of the Indian Ocean up north to
Kazakhstan.

“My guess is that the police, who have reconstructed his simulator, are
trying to see if there is a flight path recorded in the simulator
similar to the one where MH370 may have flown.

“Police could also be looking for any ‘unusual’ airport in the simulator
that was used for landing practice,” said the pilot trainer.

He was commenting on a report yesterday quoting a source saying that
police found five airports on Captain Zaharie’s simulator.

The airports were Male in Maldives, at the Diego Garcia United States
air base, an airport in Sri Lanka and others in southern India, all of
which have runways of at least 1km in length.

Diego Garcia is an atoll in the Indian Ocean where the United States
Military has a naval base as well as an air base and runway able to
accommodate large aircraft.

The report has not been confirmed but the pilot trainer said that if it
was true that the five airports were found on the simulator, “then it
doesn’t look good for Captain Zaharie.”

CNN reported on March 13 that Zaharie may have posted on the German
online forum, X-Sim.de, that he had built a flight simulator himself in
November 2012.

“About a month ago I finish assembly of FSX and FS9 with six monitors”
in a message signed Capt Zaharie Ahmad Shah BOEING 777 MALAYSIA AIRLINES.

FS9 and FSX are short for Micro soft Flight Simulator (Version 9) and
Flight Simulator X (Version), two of the most recent versions of a
flight simulator which are popular among gamers and flight enthusiasts.

The current version FSX is marketed not just as a game for hobbyists but
as a useful training aid for pilots. The simulator is able to re-create
a B777-200 aircraft cockpit and flight from take off to landing.

The simulator can realistically re-create any one of 20,000 airports
worldwide and all routes flown can be saved on a hard-disk.

Many of the controls are simplified, but the simulator provides basic
features that recreate some of what an actual pilot experiences.

“Microsoft Flight Simulator X includes many features and capabilities
that make it an ideal complement to formal flight training and
real-world flying,” read a descrip tion of the game’s benefits on the
Microsoft Flight Simulator X website.

The game website said that FSX is currently being used in various pilot
training programmes including those conducted by US Navy, FlightSafety
International, and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

(10) Missing MH370: On-board computer programmed to turn before
co-pilot’s sign-off, sources claim

http://www.thestar.com.my/News/Nation/2014/03/19/Missing-MH370-Onboard-computer-programmed-to-turn/

NEW YORK: The on-board flight computer on missing MAS flight MH370 was
programmed to turn 12 minutes before co-pilot Fariq Abdul Hamid said
“All right, good night”.

NBC News, quoting sources, is reporting that the plane’s abrupt u-turn
was programmed into the on-board computer well before the co-pilot
signed off with air traffic controllers.

A former National Transportation Safety Board crash investigator and NBC
News analyst Greg Feith told the channel: “Some pilots program an
alternate flight plan in the event of an emergency.

“We don’t know if this was an alternate plan to go back to Kuala Lumpur
or if this was to take the plane from some place other than Beijing.”

The revelation suggest that MH370’s turnaround was planned and executed
in the cockpit before controllers lost contact with the plane. This
doesn’t, however, suggest foul play.

The course of the flight was changed by entering navigational
instructions into the Flight Management System (FMS).

NBC News quotes sources as claiming that whoever turned the plane around
programmed the FMS.

“This would be a very elaborate scheme,” and whoever did it would have
needed “very, very extensive training to pull this off,” Ross Aimer, a
retired United Airlines pilot who few the Boeing 777 told the news channel

(11) 634 Runways where MH370 (a Boeing 777) could have landed

http://project.wnyc.org/runways/

Malaysia Airlines Flight 370: Runways in Range

On March 8, 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappeared from civilian
radar. Amid unusual (some say unlikely) theories that the flight may
have landed, can we figure out how many runways might be available?

Data from X-Plane provides coordinates for runways around the world. A
Boeing 777 pilot is quoted in Slate as estimating a runway length
requirement of 5,000 feet. A recent Wall Street Journal article quoted
sources stating the flight could have continued for 2,200 nautical miles
from its last known position.

The WNYC Data News team found 634 runways that meet these criteria,
spread across 26 different countries, including such far-flung places as:

Gan Airport (Maldives), Dalanzadgad Airport (Mongolia), Yap Airport
(Micronesia), Miyazaki Airport (Japan)

(12) Here Are the 634 Runways Where the Malaysia Airlines Plane Could
Have Landed

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2014/03/15/mh370_the_634_runways_where_malaysian_airlines_flight_could_have_landed.html

As speculation grows that there may be a slim chance Malaysia Airlines
Flight 370 landed somewhere after it suddenly disappeared from radars,
WNYC published a map to illustrate all the possible runways that could
have been used. The WNYC Data News team used information from X-Plane
that provides runway coordinates from around the world to determine all
the possible spots that could be available for the plane to land within
2,200 nautical miles, considering a Boeing 777 would need a runway of at
least 5,000 feet. There are a total of 634 runways that fit the
criteria, spread out across 26 countries. But of course the number of
places the plane could have landed is much larger as it assumes the
plane used a formal runway in the first place. Slate's Jeff Wise spoke
to a pilot who flies 777-200s who said the plane could be landed on a
highway. "A runway wouldn't even necessarily have to be paved," wrote
Wise, "hard-packed dirt would likely be good enough."

(13) not Asian mainland

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/19/world/asia/experts-see-robust-radar-along-missing-jets-potential-path.html

Radar on Mainland Too Robust to Miss a Jet, Experts Say

By MICHAEL FORSYTHEMARCH 18, 2014

HONG KONG — If the missing Malaysia Airlines jetliner flew north over
the Asian mainland after it lost contact with ground controllers on
March 8, it would have had a difficult time avoiding detection by
Chinese, Indian or American radar, current and former military officers say.