MH370 likely experienced sudden power failure, says report

(THEONLINESTAR)AnewreportbyAustralianauthoritiessaysthatmissingMalaysiaAirlinesflightMH370likelyexperiencedasuddenpowerfailure,paralysingtheplane'svitalsystems.

Beforelosingpower,thecrewhadregularcontactwithairtrafficcontrollersandtheairplanewasabletoautomaticallytransmititsposition.

Butafterthepowerfailure,communicationwiththepilotsstopped.

Theaircraft'stransponder,thatcontinuallysendstheaircraft'sposition,andaseparatesystemreportingtheconditionofitscriticalsystemsathalf-hourlyintervals,bothstoppedworking.

Accordingtothe22-pagereportbytheAustralianTransportBureau,therearefourpossiblecausesforpowerdisruptiontotheSatelliteDataUnit(SDU).

Thefirstbeingasuddenfailurethatcausedtheplane’sAuxiliaryPowerUnit(APU)toauto-start.

Thesecondpossiblecausewasanactioncarriedoutinthecockpitusingoverheadswitches.

Thethird,someonepullingoutcircuitbreakersintheelectronicandequipmentbayandlaterresettingthem.

Andlastly,intermittenttechnicalfailures.

Afterthepowerfailure,thereportsaidthatasmallamountoffuelwasavailabletotheAPUaftertheleftengineflamed-out.

ItsaidthatthisfuelwouldbesufficienttosupplytheAPUlongenoughfortheSDUtoinitiatealog-onrequest.

HoweveroncetheSDUlog-inwascompleted,thereportsaidthattheexpectedIn-FlightEntertainment(IFE)systemtransmissionwasnotreceived.

Thismaybeduetofourreasons,firsttheIFEsystemcouldhavebeenselectedofffromthecockpitoverheadpanel.

ThesecondpossiblecauseisthattheIFEand/orSDUunitlostpower(APUflame-out).

OrtheIFEand/orSDUcouldhavebecomeinoperativeduetoimpactwiththewater,beforetheconnectionscouldbesetup.

Lastly,itcouldhavebeenduetotheaircrafttransmissionnotreceivedbysatellite.

Thereportfromthebureauthatwasreleasedlastweek,wastoreinforceconfidencethattheunderseasearchforMH370isbeingcarriedoutintherightpartoftheIndianOceanandhasahighchanceofsuccess.

MH370disappearedonMarch8lastyearwhileflyingfromKualaLumpurtoBeijing.

TheBoeing777-200ERwascarrying12Malaysiancrewmembersand227passengersfrom15nations.