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Old 03-12-2014, 12:14 PM
  #241  
ATCBob
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Joined APC: Jan 2014
Position: Separating and expediting
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What stands out is where they are reporting they "lost radar contact" with them -- "near IGARI waypoint."

Of course they lost contact with them there, they "lose" contact with everyone there! That's the boundary between Singapore and Ho Chi Minh control. Singapore uses ADS-B and Ho Chi Minh procedural control, so it would be normal for Singapore to drop the track at the boundary.

I can just see some higher up asking "where did we last have radar contact with them?" and the controller says "well, right here past IGARI, but it's more complicated than that, we drop the track and they report..." and the higher up passes up the info 7 layers to the General who only hears "right here past IGARI."

The real question is did they check in with Ho Chi Minh? Did they report over BITOD? BIBAN? Why are Malaysian officials getting all the attention when the flight really disappeared in Vietnam's airspace? I can imagine some controller is saying wait, you're searching in the wrong place, he reported passing BIBAN... and being told to shut up, the military is handling this.

And that thing about spotting them west of Malaysia going westbound. I can likewise see some higher-up asking if "you tracked any aircraft around that time" and the controller says "yea, we were tracking an aircraft then but it had a transponder. We'll have to check the tapes if there were any primary targets..." and that gets passed up the 7 layers of military to the PR person who passes it to 3 layers of journalists, none of whom knows what transponders or primary targets are, until it becomes "yes, we tracked the flight."

I hope someone is asking Ho Chi Minh the right questions, because I haven't seen anything reported about them yet. That would narrow down where to search a lot better, I think.
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