Thursday, January 29, 2015

Missing jet had changed course

The development injects more mystery into the investigation of the disappearance of Saturday’s flight—and raises questions about why the aircraft was not transmitting signals detectable by civilian radar.

Malaysian air force chief Gen. Rodzali Daud was quoted as saying radar at a military base had detected the airliner at 2:40 a.m. near Pulau Perak at the northern approach to the strait—a busy waterway that separates the western coast of Malaysia and Indonesia’s Sumatra island.
Authorities earlier had said the plane, which took off at 12:20 a.m. and was headed to Beijing, may have tried to turn back to Kuala Lumpur.
But they expressed surprise that it would do so without informing ground control.
The search for the plane initially focused on waters between the eastern coast of Malaysia and Vietnam—the position where aviation authorities last tracked it.

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