2 days ago one of my visitors (Anonymous) to my previous post Malaysia's Annus Horribilis posted this FAA Notam or Notice to Airmen (where airmen means pilots and/or navigators):
FDC 4/2816 (A0010/14) AIRSPACE …SPECIAL NOTICE… UKRAINE
POTENTIALLY HAZARDOUS SITUATION - UKRAINE AIRSPACE, PARTICULARLY OVER CRIMEA, THE BLACK SEA, AND THE SEA OF AZOV.
DUE TO THE POTENTIAL FOR CONFLICTING AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL (ATC) INSTRUCTIONS FROM UKRAINIAN AND RUSSIAN AUTHORITIES AND FOR THE RELATED POTENTIAL MISIDENTIFICATION OF CIVIL AIRCRAFT, UNITED STATES (U.S.) FLIGHT OPERATIONS ARE PROHIBITED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE IN THE AIRSPACE OVER CRIMEA, THE BLACK SEA, AND THE SEA OF AZOV, WITHIN THE FOLLOWING LATERAL LIMITS
The last phrase 'WITHIN THE FOLLOWING LATERAL LIMITS' was accompanied by a set of coordinates (follows), which meant that it was a specific area and not the entire Ukranian airspace (as we shall see soon in this post) - regrettably I don't have an Ukraine map to chart out these coordinates:
However, what is significant have been the rest of the Notam, which states (note the ones I highlight in bold red):
HOWEVER, U.S.OPERATORS AND AIRMEN FLYING INTO, OUT OF, OR WITHIN LVOV (UKLV), KYIV (UKBV), DNEPTROPETROVSK (UKDV), AND ODESSA (UKOV) FIRS, AS WELL AS AIRSPACE IN THE SIMFEROPOL (UKFV) FIR THAT IS OUTSIDE THE LATERAL LIMITS OF THE AIRSPACE OVER CRIMEA, THE BLACK SEA, AND THE SEA OF AZOV DESCRIBED IN THE FIRST PARAGRAPH OF THIS NOTAM, MUST REVIEW CURRENT SECURITY/THREAT INFORMATION AND NOTAMS; COMPLY WITH ALL APPLICABLE FAA REGULATIONS, OPERATIONS SPECIFICATIONS, MANAGEMENT SPECIFICATIONS, AND LETTERS OF AUTHORIZATION, INCLUDING UPDATING B450; AND EXERCISE EXTREME CAUTION DUE TO THE CONTINUING POTENTIAL FOR INSTABILITY. U.S. OPERATORS MUST REPORT SAFETY AND/OR SECURITY INCIDENTS TO THE FAA AT +1 202-267-3333.
THE SAFETY CONDITIONS IN AIRSPACE DESCRIBED IN THIS NOTAM AND THE NEED FOR THIS SPECIAL NOTICE WILL BE RE-EVALUATED BY 30 JUN 2014.
03 APR 06:00 2014 UNTIL 30 JUN 23:59 2014 ESTIMATED. CREATED: 03 APR 05:55 2014
THE SAFETY CONDITIONS IN AIRSPACE DESCRIBED IN THIS NOTAM AND THE NEED FOR THIS SPECIAL NOTICE WILL BE RE-EVALUATED BY 30 JUN 2014.
03 APR 06:00 2014 UNTIL 30 JUN 23:59 2014 ESTIMATED. CREATED: 03 APR 05:55 2014
[FIRS = flight information regions]
The Notam was good until 30 June 2014. I'm not sure whether there has been an extension to its time validity or a new Notam, but it seems the main concern in the above Notam had been the potential for air mishaps due to conflicting instructions from Russian and Ukrainian ATC's.
Today I read The Star Online and obtained the following chart which content, flying frequencies by airlines along the route taken by MH017, I had discussed previously, namely that MAS was not a reckless maverick which ignored air safety warnings and went about flying through a fire zone:
The numbers depicted alongside the named airlines indicated the number of times each had flown through Ukranian airspace along the same route as taken by MH017 in the preceding 7 days (prior to MH017 being shot down).
SIA and Lufthansa are both internationally renowned for their safety standards, and so are KLM (24 times), Emirates (23 times) and Etihad Airways (26 times).
But more importantly, ...
... note in particular the two last airlines on the right hand sidebar, United Airlines and FedEx. They are US registered airlines. Each flew the route 5 times which meant the FAA Notam above was no longer effective or had expired.
Despite the above facts, it's quite sad to know that some Malaysians still want to run down MAS, our own national airlines.
"MAS, our own national airlines"
ReplyDeleteI certainly feel sad about the tragedy, and all the innocent lives lost, including the Malaysians.
Sorry to say, I have no particular sentiments regarding MAS as a national airline.
The majority of Malaysians who travel by air don't even take MAS any more, mostly for economic and practical reasons.
IF (and I emphasise IF) there was something they didn't do right, or something which they should have previously looked into, but didn't, which was a contributing factor in the loss of the plane, it needs to be independently investigated, as other visitors to your blog have stated.
'investigated'??? wakakaka
DeleteWould you visit Sipadan now ?
Deletedid MH017 fly over there?
DeleteStated as safe, right ?
DeleteBut would you go there ?
Why some airlines choose to avoid the airspace which is deemef as safe?
Deleteand why some very reputable ones flew over there?
DeleteBut they're lucky, aren't they?
Deleterather, MH017 was unlucky
DeleteNow we know any plane could have been hit by missiles in the 'safe' airspace !
DeleteIs the 'safe' airspace safe after all ?
Delete@National Airlines are not a necessity......not only wrt airlines, we also don't need NATIONAL cars ! The latter had gone private but after a few rebuffs ( rightfully !) by our government not to cave in to demands for 3 billion ringgit for so-called R&D, these pirates thought they could do with stronger cable, hence the appointment of Dr Mahathir as Chairman of Proton who never disappoints, wakakaka.......coming out with the begging bowl soon after, brazenly , making the same demand, claiming that if South Korea could do it, why not here ? Hello.....did S Korea just simply rebatch their logos onto Mitsubishi or Toyota or Nissan or whatever ? Aren't these pirates' banks so full to the brim that it's almost obscene......the ruin to our nation is this insatiable greed that's too monstrous that's incomprehensible to the ordinary mind.
ReplyDeletevirtually all aviation nations have a 'national airline', except for very-capitalistic USA.. Cars are a different kettle of fish altogether
DeleteMalaysia at our current scenario is just not viable for anything NATIONAL....remember MAS was once piratized too....see where it got us ? Recently, Dr M stated rambling about another attempt of privatization again for MAS...but have prudently shut his trap for now...at least until the whole horror of MH17 died down and will venture out again with his we-should-privatize- but - at-same-time- not-really-privatize-so-we-could-continue-to-get- subsidy plan.
DeleteWe just could NOT afford to Nationalize anything now....these crony sharks will keep biting huge chunk from any NATIONAL entity...they feel they are entitled and have the special rights to...and the Umno party too will also have their mandatory chunk bite to fill their treasury so that their party will continue to rule to ensure non stop gravy train chugging cozily along. A vicious circle which will continue until we end up in Greece.
a 'national airline' does not necessarily mean owned/operated by the state, though in most cases they would be. An airline considered or deemed as the 'national airline' like Qantas is to Aus, Thai Airways is to Thailand, SIA to Sing, JAL to Japan, British Airways to Britain, Lufthansa to Germany, KLM to Holland, etc, and MAS is to Malaysia is a 'flying banner' of the respective nation and a symbol-organization of pride to a nationality.
DeleteEven ultra-capitalistic USA. which frowns on its government owning any commercial concern, once used to take pride in its (now vanished) Pan-AM and TWA airlines. I suppose today the USA's 'sort of' national airlines must be United.
Kaytee,
DeleteActually I don't give a damn towards the so called flying banner. Have you forgotten that Malaysia and Singapore shared the same airlines? MSA.........Hahahaha! Should focus more on key airports such as KLIA
Agreed. Note also that Mufti who has declared dead Muslim passengers as "shaheed". I am sure that is of some comfort to their families. Now it is up to the Nons to declare their dead as (whatever- sorry my Inglis not so good).
ReplyDeleteI am a frequent air traveller because of my job responsibilities, which involve engagements in Europe , various Asian countries, and occasionaly Australia. There is often no substitute for a handshake and a face-to-face meeting on the spot.
ReplyDeleteMy company's travel policy requires staff to travel by MAS unless it doesn't fly to the destination country. In fact , I'm on an international flight leaving KLIA tomorrow morning.
It should have been another colleague to make this trip, but he is a Malay, and I respect the fact that it is very close to Hari Raya, and he needs to spend time with his family for the preparations.
My wife has been worried sick, and doesn't want me to go....
I'm pretty fatalistic about these things, and in any case I'm heavily insured, and I jokingly tell her she will be a rich widow if something happens to me....
There is no point scolding Malaysians who doubt the national carrier.
There is a crisis of confidence with MAS right now, and it is MAS which has to work very, very hard to regain that confidence in the travelling public, and the nation at large.
Hope I'm around to read your blog again from the hotel room tomorrow night ....
This is a problem......because of people like, you would discover why Malaysians generally seldom ask questions
ReplyDeletehttp://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/i-was-voicing-everyones-concerns-says-daps-nga-on-his-mh17-posts
Kaytee has been complaining people whacking his sweetie pie Michelle Yeoh. What about Nga Kor Ming's question? Oh I have forgotten......He is a christian.....easy to bully one right?
we know Sing looes74 is an Anglican so that's why he has brought in the Christian factor
DeleteHahahahaha......You are damn funny......why can't you consider that I am a Methodist instead? Hahahahaha!
DeleteI was protecting you as to Pommie Anglicans, Methodist sounds terrible, wakakaka. I might as well call you a Jew, wakakaka
DeleteDon't you know that Nga Kor Ming is a methodist. Ok la, methodist sounds terrible because very methodical in services ma.........Hahahaha! Sorry, my profession is affecting me to behave that way.......Hahahaha! Process! Process! Process!
Deletethis is ridiculous, i usually fly to europe and almost all airlines have gone through some conflict airspace (syria, israel, afgan,iraq), if there is any fault, the ukranians who know the current situation should have told airlines when they were flying over, they are not blameless in this tragedy. they would have given the permission and also the route over the area.
ReplyDeletethey seem to be aware of the weapon in that area and chose to keep silent over the matter, and now blaming russians (who are also to be blame for giving a gun to kids to play with)
Was this the same authority that was party to closing Europe and the North Atlantic for almost a week for Eyjafjallajökull's ‘volcanic ash cloud’ drifting out of Iceland? Canceling the flights of around 10 million passengers? Yet they fail to close a war zone where they know ground-to-air missiles are flying around?
ReplyDeleteHere's something I've picked up.
ReplyDeleteYes, many other airlines use L980, until last Thursday night, a busy air route between Western Europe and Asia.
But for some unknown reason MH170 wasn't actually on L980.
It was 300 km north , way out of the usual airliner route.
It may be a factor that lead to its tragic misindentification and targetting as a military plane.
Kaytee,because of the blood sucking Umnoputras in MAS,raping it and leaving the airlines bleeding to death,there is one word fit for these blood sucking leeches trademarked left behind,"JINKED".
ReplyDeletebut please don't condemn the innocents
DeleteThere were so many flights that day using the same route as MH 17 on that fateful day.But why MH 17 and not other airliner ? Is it because Malaysia is a small fry compared to Russkie and therefore not able to ruffled the the feathers of Putin?
ReplyDelete"To those who did this, I say - We're coming to get you" - George W. Bush after 9/11
ReplyDeleteWe need to feel that kind of outrage.
To put it in terms which ordinary people can understand -
First we need CSI
Then we need Rambo.
and if like Bush who for his political expediency (to protect his own ass from his people) went about "getting" some scapegoat, namely Iraqis and Afghans who were not responsible for 9/11, we would be just as criminal as him.
DeleteThat's not the sort of Bush's bullshit (politically opportunistic) rage we should be adopting. Bush is a war criminal for killing hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis and Afghans.
I suspect those responsible for 9/11 was some unnamed Islamic militant group in Saudi Arabia with links to someone in the Saudi royalty, but not al Qaeda. Bad boy al Qaeda (no angel at all and deserved to be punished for its numerous crimes but I suspect was not the 9/11 culprits) became the convenient scapegoat for 9/11, a military object to be chased and killed to satisfy the vengeful thirst of the American people and also to protect Saudi royalty (and Saudi oil) from the wrath of the American people.
And we certainly don't need fictitious CSI or Rambo - those sort of fantasy heroes are suitable for Americans but not us. We need real and non-politicized investigators
We need to give due recognition to Najib.
ReplyDeleteThe last 5 days has been like a horror show, especially for the grieving relatives of those who died on MH17. The remains of their loved ones were stuck in that terrible corner of Ukraine, pieces of a geopolitical chess game being played out in Moscow, Washington and London.
Najib spoke to the self-proclaimed Prime Minister of the "Donetsk People's Republic". We know they are practically a bunch of barbaric thugs, but having the Prime Minister of a sovereign country negotiate with him helped break the logjam.
This morning the train containing the recovered bodies are on the way out of the war zone, hopefully eventually to advanced forensic labs in the Netherlands. The black boxes have been handed over to Malaysian representatives.
I believe, most likely Malaysia will ask either the American NTSB or UK AAIB to take over the investigation of the Black Box contents. They are the best people in the world to do that job.
Thank you Najib. That is leadership. You have done well
- from me , a person who has frequently condemned your actions, inactions and those of your party.
Now, can Najib please show some F*king leadership at home ?
DeleteHe remains silent or even quietly encouraging the likes of Perkasa and ISMA run wild and stirring up racial and religious strife in the country.
There are now two alternative narratives to the "Western concensus" over MH17 downing.
ReplyDeleteThis report appeared in a reputable newspaper, not just some sleazy rag.
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/malaysia-airlines-mh17-was-putins-flight-original-target-missile-attack-1457170
Russia reports Ukrainian fighter jet was near to MH17 just before the shoot down.
http://www.smh.com.au/world/mh17-ukrainian-fighter-jet-near-plane-before-crash-russian-tv-blames-cia-20140722-zvho8.html
Now, MAS is flying over Syria instead....
ReplyDeletehttp://m.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/mas-diverts-flight-over-syria-to-avoid-ukraine-airspace-video
Who's in charge in MAS ? Anybody ?
MAS has already earned the title "The World's Unluckiest Airline"
DeleteAre they trying to tempt their luckagain ?
UK Guardian today.
ReplyDeleteSorry, I read a printed paper, I don't have the internet link....
AvLaw International Chairman Ron Bartsch, a former head of safety at Qantas, and former Manager Airline Operations at the Civil Aviation Safety Authority, has added to the still raging debate around whether Malaysia Airlines should have been flying over eastern Ukraine, given the conflict with Russia and closure of airspace below 32,000ft.
“I think one of the key lessons to learn from MH17 is that, whilst bodies like the International Air Transport Association (IATA) issue advisories and warnings to airlines around the world, it remains the responsibility of individual airlines to continually monitor and assess the risks on their routes,” Mr Bartsch said.
Mr Bartsch said there had been instances, such as when there was a volcano eruption in Chile, when Australian airlines had chosen not to fly even though authorities had declared the airspace safe.
“You can use the analogy of a police officer at a dangerous intersection. Police won’t tell you when to cross the road and when not to,” he said. “Individual airlines need to make an assessment of dangerous flight routes, but to do so effectively, they need the information.”
Re the Qantas case vis-a-vis the volcanic eruption when it ignored meteorological or regulatory authorities declaration of the space being safe, it didn't mean that Qantas by itself went about checking the suitability of the air in the airspace. Volcano ashes had proven to be so damn dangerous that Qantas merely just took the double precaution of not flying in the affected airspace for an extra while. Some years back, volcanic ashes in Java had caused a British Airways B747 to lose ALL its four engines - fortuitously the crew was able to restart some of its engines prior to crashing.
Deleteit's far more difficult to ascertain the potential threat within Ukrainian airspace than it would have been to determine the dangers of flying through volcanic ashes
Maybe not reckless but a bit mercenary, in my view.
ReplyDeleteBy the way the conspiracy theory that MH17 was really a mistaken attempt to shoot down Putin's plane has been debunked.
ReplyDeleteFlightradar, which has tracking of civilian flights with transponder beacons, traced Putin's flight path entering Russia by flying over Poland, safe in NATO-controlled airspace.
I'm not a big believer of conspiracy theories.
ReplyDeleteIn my working life, I have worked as an compliance auditor before, often responsible for identifying the causes of wrong-doing and the person/ persons involved.
My years of experience is that the explanation which best fits the facts is usually the right one.
Of course, sometimes important facts are missing, or some of the facts presented are not correct or not true, in which case, the whole story changes.
In terms of laws and regulations, MAS way well have been correct and proper with its flight routing decisions.
ReplyDeleteThe market is another matter.
I heard MAS is facing a massive drop in bookings from Europe.
China and Hong Kong bookings have already been anaemic since MH370..
KLM, its code share partner in Netherlands (which was the arrangement with MH17) is allowing no cost cancellations for KLM flights operated by MAS. I'm not sure how they are handling this contractually with MAS.
Malaysian bookings are holding up, which means locals , those who still travel by MAS , largely still have confidence in the airline.
All in all, a major Crisis in Confidence in the international passenger market for MAS.
Like it or not, MAS is a major international carrier. We should not just let it collapse.
Personally, I think MAS needs a major, major management and staff overhaul. But it may not be possible because of too many different "sacred cows" in the organisation, some of them are really very unSacred and unHoly.
This thing is untouchable, that thing is untouchable, that one too is untouchable, and that one Untouchable........
In the end all they can do is just Cosmetic, ineffective changes.
Ahmad Jauhari is not a bad guy, but there is just no way he can turn around the airline, given the circumstance.