IRAN - Protests Over Downing of Ukrainian Jetliner

NOTE:  This article was copied from the e-newspaper, therefore no link to article.

"Iranian rage over downing airliner intensifies" by Jon Gambrell, San Diego Union-Tribune 1/14/2020

Security forces appear to fire on protesters with live ammunition

Popular anger swelled Monday in Iran over the accidental shoot down of a Ukrainian jetliner and the government’s attempt to conceal its role in the tragedy, as online videos appeared to show security forces firing live ammunition and tear gas to disperse protests in the streets.

Iranians, already suffering under crippling U.S. sanctions, expressed shock and outrage over the plane crash that killed scores of young people.  They also decried the misleading statements from top officials, who only admitted responsibility three days later in the face of mounting evidence.

The country began last week engulfed in mourning after a U.S. drone strike killed Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who led Iran’s regional military interventions.  Then on Jan. 8, it responded with a ballistic missile attack on two bases housing U.S. troops in Iraq, although there were no casualties.

U.S. commanders at the base said Monday they believe the attack was intended to kill American personnel, an act that could have pushed the two powers to outright war.

Hours after that barrage, as it braced for a U.S. counterattack that never came, Iranian forces accidentally shot down the Ukraine International Airlines jetliner, killing all 176 people aboard shortly after it took off from Tehran for Kyiv.

For a growing number of critics — from ordinary citizens to notable athletes and artists — the events have revealed a government that is incapable of following through on its incendiary rhetoric and willing to mislead its own people about a national tragedy in order to avoid embarrassment.

Those sentiments first boiled over late Saturday, shortly after the Revolutionary Guard admitted shooting the plane down by mistake.  A candlelight vigil at a university rapidly turned into an anti-government demonstration.

“They are lying that our enemy is America! Our enemy is right here!” students shouted.

On Sunday night, protesters massed in Tehran’s Azadi, or Freedom, Square.

Videos sent to the New York-based Center for Human Rights in Iran and later verified by The Associated Press show a crowd of demonstrators near Azadi Square fleeing as a tear gas canister lands among them.  People cough and sputter while trying to escape the fumes, with one woman calling out in Farsi: “They fired tear gas at people!  Azadi Square!  Death to the dictator!”

Another video shows a woman being carried away in the aftermath of the violence, a trail of blood visible on the ground.  Those around her cry out that she has been shot in the leg.

“Oh my God, she’s bleeding nonstop!” one person shouts.  Another shouts: “Bandage it!”

Photos and video after the incident show pools of blood on the sidewalk.

Tehran’s police chief, Gen. Hossein Rahimi, later denied that his officers opened fire.

“Police treated people who had gathered with patience and tolerance,” Iranian media quoted Rahimi as saying.  “Police did not shoot in the gatherings since broad-mindedness and restraint has been the agenda of the police forces of the capital.”

President Donald Trump has openly encouraged the demonstrators, even tweeting messages of support in Farsi and warning the government not to fire on them.

Trump, meanwhile, added to the controversy over his justification for killing Soleimani, saying Monday that “it doesn’t really matter” whether it was in response to an imminent threat to the United States.

In a tweet, Trump criticized Democrats for trying to determine whether Iranian attacks the administration has said were planned by Soleimani against U.S. targets were imminent.

“It doesn’t really matter because of his horrible past,” Trump wrote.  The administration has held Soleimani, as head of Iran’s Quds Force, responsible for orchestrating Iran’s use of proxy forces in terrorist attacks throughout the Middle East, and the deaths of hundreds of U.S. soldiers over the years, long before the threat it has said justified the Jan. 3 U.S. drone strike that killed him.

In a separate tweet, Trump emphasized Soleimani’s past actions rather than the threat of future attacks.  “The Democrats and Fake News are trying to make terrorist Soleimani into a wonderful guy, only because I did what should have been done for 20 years,” he wrote.

Trump promoted a manipulated image of Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) wearing a turban and a headscarf in front of an Iranian flag, claiming it showed “the corrupted Dems trying their best to come to the Ayatollah’s rescue #NancyPelosiFakeNews.”

Many Democratic lawmakers and some Republicans have questioned the administration’s claims about the immediacy of the threat — and the targets — and charged that it has failed to provide full and accurate information about an action that brought the U.S. and Iran to the brink of war.

Gambrell writes for The Associated Press, The Washington Post and
The New York Times contributed to this report.

AIRLINES INDUSTRY - The Not So Friendly Skys

"How did United Airlines' startling passenger confrontation happen?" PBS NewsHour 4/11/2017

NOTE:  There was a policy change announced a few days later.  Employees needing to board a flight must show up 60 minutes BEFORE the flight, therefore they would be seated prior to other passengers boarding.  Not that is an excellent fix.

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  The forced removal of a passenger from a United Airlines flight Sunday has caused an international uproar.  Video posted via social media showed passenger Dr. David Dao being dragged from his seat by officers.  How could this have happened?  Ben Mutzabaugh of USA Today joins Jeffrey Brown to discuss what airlines are allowed to do and what United could have done differently.

JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour):  The international uproar continued over the forced removal of a passenger from a United Airlines flight.

Today, the airline's CEO, Oscar Munoz, issued an apology, saying — quote — “No one should ever be mistreated this way.  I want you to know that we take full responsibility, and we will work to make it right.”

Along with the outrage, many were asking, how could this happen?

Our Jeffrey Brown picks up the story.

JEFFREY BROWN (NewsHour):  Well, by now, the video has been watched hundreds of millions of times, including more than 270 million on social media in China, where many wondered if the passenger had been singled out because he is of Asian descent.

The cell phone video shows a bloodied man identified as Dr. David Dao being pulled from his seat on a plane set to depart from Chicago on Sunday night.  The flight was sold out, and passengers were first offered vouchers to take another flight, so members of a United crew could board.  When that didn't work, Dao and three other passengers were asked to leave.

Questions remain about what happened, and what's supposed to happen in a situation like this.

Ben Mutzabaugh is covering it for USA Today, and joins me now.

And welcome to you.

BEN MUTZABAUGH, USA Today:  Thanks for having me.

JEFFREY BROWN:  One thing that was clarified today was that the flight was actually not overbooked, but oversold, right, sold out?

BEN MUTZABAUGH:  Right.  That's correct.

So, it won't move the needle a whole lot, given the video that we saw, but what technically happened was, the plane was full.  United had four employees of their affiliate Republic Airlines that needed to make it to Louisville so more flights didn't end up getting canceled down the line.

They had to make space for them.  They needed four volunteers.  Three were OK with being voluntarily kicked off the plane.  One wasn't, and here we are.

FLIGHT SECURITY - Carry-On Electronics

"What sparked a new carry-on electronics ban on some flights?" PBS NewsHour 3/21/2017

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Passengers flying out of 10 specific airports in the Middle East can no longer take large electronic devices in their carry-on luggage, according to a new rule from the Department of Homeland Security.  The British announced a similar rule, but included different airports.  William Brangham gets insight from Matthew Olsen, former Director of the National Counterterrorism Center.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM (NewsHour):  Passengers flying out of these airports can no longer take large electronic devices, things like laptops or mobile gaming devices or tablets, on board with them.  Those devices have to be in checked luggage only.  Cell phones are still allowed on board.

The new restrictions apply to flights from 10 specific airports in Jordan, Egypt, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Morocco, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates.  The British today announced a similar move, but they included some different airports in their ban.

We turn now to Matthew Olsen for more on this.  He was the Director of the National Counterterrorism Center during the Obama administration.  And he now teaches at Harvard University.

Welcome.

I wonder if you could just tell me a little bit, what is going on here?

MATTHEW OLSEN, Former Director, National Counterterrorism Center:  Well, it would appear that, almost certainly, there is some new intelligence that the intelligence community has gathered, whether on its own or from one of our partners in the region, that has given the government, in particular the Department of Homeland Security, increased concern about the possibility that a terrorist organization has developed some type of bomb that it can hide in a device like a laptop.

You know, whether that is brand-new intelligence or maybe just new analysis of existing intelligence, it's hard to say, but, certainly, there is some new piece of information that has given the government more cause for concern in this particular context.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM:  I mean, clearly, it also seems that we have lost faith in these particular airports, either in their ability to screen luggage or their ability to weed out infiltrators amongst their staff.  Is that right?

MATTHEW OLSEN:  Well, we have always had concern about airports in this region, and we have always placed additional screening requirements on flights that leave from these airports and don't stop before reaching the United States.

But the truth is that the best place to stop a terrorist attack, a plot like this, is at the earliest possible stage, where you can have intelligence that allows you to identify those individuals who are responsible for the plot.

The last opportunity really is at those airports, and really you are at least hoping that you're going to be able to stop a bomb once it reaches the airport gate.

EGYPTAIR MS804 - Scrambling for Answers

"Solving the mystery of vanished EgyptAir Flight 804" PBS NewsHour 5/19/2016

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  The mysterious disappearance of EgyptAir Flight 804 and its 66 passengers somewhere over the Mediterranean Sea has left the international community scrambling for answers.  For more on what could have happened to the flight, Hari Sreenivasan talks to former National Transportation Safety Board chair Deborah Hersman and former Deputy National Security Adviser Juan Zarate.

HARI SREENIVASAN (NewsHour):  We return to EgyptAir Flight 804 and what could have happened to it.

Deborah Hersman served as chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board from 2009 to 2014 and is now president of the National Safety Council, a nonprofit organization devoted to reducing preventable deaths and injuries.  And Juan Zarate was deputy national security adviser for combating terrorism during the President George W. Bush administration.  He's currently the chairman of the Financial Integrity Network, a consulting firm.

Deborah Hersman, I want to start with you.

At this stage, what are investigators thinking about?  What are they looking for?

DEBORAH HERSMAN, Former Chairman, National Transportation Safety Board:  Really, the first 24 hours, they're focused on response, recovery, and search for the aircraft, and so you can see clearly that's something that was a focus in this investigation.

But you want to gather any perishable evidence that might exist.  You want to make sure you know who needs to be interviewed, that you're able to connect all of the dots very early in the investigation and grab any of that information.

Analyzing the radar data is going to be important, because what they need to do now is pinpoint where that aircraft is, so they can identify not just the aircraft, the parts and take care of the humans, but also get those black boxes, which are really important to the investigation.

HARI SREENIVASAN:  Juan Zarate, given what little evidence has come out so far, what are the signs that point to fowl play?

JUAN ZARATE, Former Deputy National Security Adviser:  Well, there aren't many signs.

And part of the reason you want to gather as much data and forensics as possible early on is try to give you clues.  But authorities are indicating there weren't signs in terms of intelligence that a threat was pending or threatening this particular airline or this route.

There has been no claim of responsibility yet, and certainly we don't have any evidence that we have seen physically that would demonstrate this is terrorism.  But we know terrorists have historically targeted aircraft.  It has psychological, human and economic impact.

We know that al-Qaida and ISIS have been perfecting technologies and trying to hit us on aircraft over the years, whether it's the underwear bomb plot out of Yemen, the shoe and liquid bomb plots out of the U.K., or even the downing of the Metrojet, the Russian airliner out of the Sinai by ISIS.

They have been trying to do this.  And they have had expert bomb-makers trying to figure out ways of evading the security technology that we have, Ibrahim al-Asiri, the master bomb-maker in Yemen who has been training individuals for years, as well as the Khorasan group, a senior group of al-Qaida figures in Syria that up to 2014 were trying to perfect non-metallic devices that could get on aircraft.

"Families weep as debris from EgyptAir disaster found in the Mediterranean Sea" PBS NewsHour 5/20/2016

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Authorities on Friday said they found debris from EgyptAir Flight 804, which a day earlier plunged 38,000 feet into the Mediterranean Sea.  Relatives of the 66 people on the plane mourned as harsh reality set in.  Mystery still surrounds the cause — terrorism or catastrophic mechanical failure?  John Yang reports, and science correspondent Miles O'Brien gives his analysis of what we know so far.

Aviation Herald

AIRLINES - The 'Black Box' is Obsolete

"Ban the Black Box:  We Have Better Ways to Capture Plane Crash Data" by Jerry Adler, Wired Magazine 6/28/2011

Excerpt

The black boxes were sitting on the ocean floor in what would have been plain sight, if there were any light at a depth of 12,800 feet.  They were guarded by silent corpses, the passengers and crew of an Airbus A330 that plummeted to the bottom of the Atlantic in June 2009.  For nearly two years, the boxes—not black, actually, but bright orange—had lain amid some of the most rugged undersea terrain in the world, 11,500-foot mountains rising from the ocean floor, covered with landslides and steep scarps.  Until the days in May when an advanced robotic submersible, the Remora 6000, brought the two black boxes from Air France flight 447 to the surface, they were among the world’s most sought-after artifacts, the keys to understanding why a state-of-the-art widebody jet fell out of the sky on a routine flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris, killing all 228 aboard.  Since no one knew the exact coordinates of the crash, the searchers had to extrapolate their grid from the plane’s last known location.  It took a team led by the king of undersea searchers, Dave Gallo of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, to find the wreckage; Phoenix International, a deepwater recovery company, finally brought the recorders home.  Why did it take so long?  “You can find a needle in a haystack,” Gallo says, “but you have to find the haystack first.”

French accident investigators removed the memory cards, carefully dried them, plugged in the right cables, and soon announced that the boxes had preserved nearly all the data they had captured—two hours of audio recorded from the cockpit and a complete record of thousands of measurements taken between takeoff and the moment the Airbus crashed.  It was regarded, rightly, as a technological triumph.  Although voice and data recorders are built to withstand the most extreme conditions of shock, fire, and pressure—they get fired from an air cannon as part of the testing regimen—they are not designed to preserve data for so long at such depths.  The black boxes, built by Honeywell, had greatly exceeded their specifications.

But this elaborate and expensive undersea search could have been avoided; the technology has long existed that could make the recorders obsolete.  As the BEA, the French agency that investigates air accidents, struggled to explain the crash in two inconclusive interim reports in 2009, the question was already being asked:  If real-time stock quotes can be transmitted to anyone with a smartphone, why does the vital work of investigating an airplane crash still depend on reading physical memory chips that must be rescued from the wreckage?

The tragedy of Air France The tragedy of Air France 447 might have been on the minds of executives from Bombardier, the Canadian aircraft manufacturer, when they announced in 2010 that their new C-Series narrow-body jets, scheduled to come to market in 2013, would be the first commercial airliners built with the capability to transmit telemetry data instead of merely recording it.  The idea—to stream black box data in real time, either directly to a ground station or by satellite relay—isn’t new, even though there remains no consensus on whether to call it an uplink, which is conceptually accurate, or a downlink, which expresses the physical relationship of an airplane to the ground.

Bombardier is advertising the innovation not as a way to improve crash investigation—survivability of data after a crash isn’t something airplane manufacturers like to boast about—but as a way to give airlines a central database for routine information on airplane operations and mechanical performance.  At a minimum, the data could be stored securely as a backup to black boxes in the event of an accident.  One company, Calgary-based FLYHT AeroMechanical Services, already provides this service as an aftermarket retrofit; so far, smaller carriers and charters have been the main customers.

FLIGHTS TO PARADISE - Norwegian Airlines

"How a low-cost airline cashed in on cheap flights to paradise" PBS NewsHour 5/5/2016

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Sometimes called "the Southwest Airlines of Europe," Norwegian Airlines makes a profit even though it undercuts prices of U.S. and foreign competitors.  Economics correspondent Paul Solman reports from the islands of Guadeloupe on how the low-cost airline took a risk that the bigger carriers wouldn't touch.

PAUL SOLMAN (NewsHour):  France in the Caribbean, the islands of Guadeloupe.  Pretty much as paradisal as their P.R. footage portrays them:  French, exotic, with more than a hint of spice.  All just four hours from New York and, if you book early, for $69 or less, November through April.

WOMAN:   Flying to Guadeloupe?

PAUL SOLMAN:  Because upstart Norwegian Airlines, some call it the Southwest Airlines of Europe, is now undercutting the few big post-merger carriers and their few foreign partners, which among them control U.S. skies for travel abroad.

Anders Lindstrom of Norwegian.

ANDERS LINDSTROM, Norwegian Air:  So the fare is not unique for a European airline, it just that really highlights how overpriced the American aviation market really is.

PAUL SOLMAN:  Founded in 1993, the low-cost airline is profitable, due to several advantages: high load factors; our plane was 90 percent full; brand-new Boeings, the most fuel-efficient planes on earth.  But mainly, says Lindstrom —

ANDERS LINDSTROM:  We don't have all the decades of maintenance costs and labor costs that the airlines traditionally do.  So, we're starting with new aircraft, new crew, which really keeps fares low.

PAUL SOLMAN:  And, of course, low fares tend to mean full planes.  But in the end, says aviation industry watcher Michael E. Levine —

MICHAEL E. LEVINE, New York University:  The main difference is labor arrangements.  They're a new airline, their pilots have low seniority, they have more productive labor arrangements.

PAUL SOLMAN:  Arrangements like not using hubs and instead flying non-stop point to point so pilots and crew can live near the airports they fly from.  And that's the Southwest model, right?

One type of aircraft, all the pilots qualified to fly it.

ANDERS LINDSTROM:  Yes, it's a simplified version, and that's something goes across all low cost airlines around the world.

MH17 - The Crash Report

"MH17 crash report findings sharpen suspicions and denials" PBS NewsHour 10/13/2015

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, which crashed last July in Eastern Ukraine, was likely blown apart by a Russian-built missile, according to Dutch investigators.  The safety board also concluded that the missile was shot from an area controlled by Russian-backed separatists.  But the Russian state arms producer that makes Buk missiles disputed the findings.  Judy Woodruff reports.

"How Dutch investigators traced the MH17 missile back to its source" PBS NewsHour 10/13/2015

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Dutch investigators say evidence from the blast that brought down Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 points to a Russian-built missile.  Judy Woodruff discusses the findings with Peter Goelz, former managing director of the NTSB.

AIR SAFETY - Lessons From AirAsia Flight 8501 Crash (Update)

"Using AirAsia Flight 8501’s mistakes to prevent future crashes" PBS NewsHour 1/29/2015

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  The black box from AirAsia Flight 8501 provided some answers about what caused the crash, but also opened up questions about automation and why mistakes from past accidents haven’t been corrected.  Science correspondent Miles O’Brien joins Gwen Ifill to discuss eerie similarities between AirAsia’s flight and past crashes and why the still-missing Malaysia Airlines flight was declared an accident.

GWEN IFILL (NewsHour):  Now an update on aviation stories from around the world.

In Malaysia, the government has officially declared the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 last March an accident.  In Indonesia, investigators now say the co-pilot was in control when AirAsia Flight 8501 crashed into the Java Sea last month.  And U.S. officials are reporting a spike in online threats against major airlines.

I’m joined now by science correspondent Miles O’Brien.

Let’s take these one at a time, Miles.

Declaring this flight an accident, is that something we kind of knew?

MILES O’BRIEN (NewsHour):  Yes, we did.

And, really, this is not based on any new information about the investigation.  This is more bookkeeping.  There are international treaties which require airlines to declare an aircraft missing or an accident or whatever the case may be.  And this makes it possible for the victims, for the families to seek redress.  And so…

GWEN IFILL:  We should remind people, this has never been found, this particular air…

MILES O’BRIEN:  That’s correct.

So, I mean, missing is considered an accident, by technical terms.  Here we are approaching the one-year anniversary of this event, and I think that it was time to allow these families to move on and seek their claims.

And so, meanwhile, the search continues in the Southern Indian Ocean.  That will continue until the weather gets too bad, probably in May or so, but we don’t know anything new.  So when people say it’s been declared an accident, remember, it’s based on the same information we have had for quite some time.

INDONESIA - AirAsia Flight 8501, Crash Recovery Update

"Search teams find victims, mangled metal of AirAsia plane – Part 1" PBS NewsHour 12/30/2014

HARI SREENIVASAN (NewsHour):  We begin with that missing airliner in Indonesia.

The mystery came into better focus today when search teams found the remains of victims and mangled metal off the coast of Borneo.  Shaken, grieving relatives of the victims filed out of a crisis center in Surabaya after their agonizing wait ended with a jolt.

A short time earlier, as they watched Indonesian television, images of bodies and wreckage flashed on screen with no warning.  The multinational search had found what it was looking for in the Java Sea, as Indonesia’s national search-and-rescue chief confirmed.

HENRY BAMBANG SULISTYO, Chief of National Search and Rescue, Indonesia (through interpreter):  The area was where the plane crashed, and the debris came from the missing plane that we have been searching for.

HARI SREENIVASAN:  The drama began Sunday when AirAsia Flight 8501 left Surabaya, Indonesia, on a two-hour trip to Singapore; 162 people, mostly Indonesians, were on board.  But the plane disappeared off radar, without warning, about halfway into its route, traveling through stormy weather.

Searchers found the first debris about 10 miles from the plane’s last known location in less than 100 feet of water.  Initial efforts brought back a blue suitcase, an oxygen tank and aircraft parts matching the serial number of the lost plane.

Even after the discovery, some refused to give up on the chance their loved ones might have survived.

KRISTIN MAUREN, Friend of Passenger (through interpreter):  I still hope that they can find the plane, and, from the bottom of my heart, I want them to still be alive.

HARI SREENIVASAN:  But, for most, the grim reality set in, and the Indonesian president arrived at the Surabaya airport to offer what comfort he could.

PRESIDENT JOKO WIDODO, Indonesia (through interpreter):  My deep condolences go out to the families of the passengers and crew.  I am feeling their loss and pray that they are given all the courage and strength to face this tragedy.

HARI SREENIVASAN:  AirAsia’s CEO, Tony Fernandes, also spoke again today, expressing deep regrets over the carrier’s first fatal crash.

TONY FERNANDES, CEO, AirAsia Group:  I apologize profusely for what they’re going through.  I am the leader of this company, and I have to take responsibility.  It is the worst feeling one could have.  But we stay strong for the families out there to ensure that we can look after them even after this incident.

HARI SREENIVASAN:  The search operation now shifts to retrieving more bodies and finding more of the plane.  About 30 ships, 15 aircraft, and seven helicopters from six countries are assisting in the effort, and the destroyer USS Sampson is heading to the scene.

Dozens of elite military divers will also comb the underwater site, looking especially for the plane’s black box recorders.  Their data may tell exactly what happened to Flight 8501.

"Will AirAsia crash lead to better tracking systems? – Part 2" PBS NewsHour 12/30/2014

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Now that search teams have located wreckage and remains from the missing AirAsia flight, the mission shifts to retrieving more bodies and combing the underwater site for the plane’s black box recorders.  Andy Pasztor of The Wall Street Journal talks to Hari Sreenivasan about the process of piecing together the cause of a plane crash.

HARI SREENIVASAN (NewsHour): There’s also almost been this collective moment where the world wonders, why is it that I can find my smartphone with such precision and I can’t find something that’s 1,000 times as big?

ASIA - AirAsia Flight 8501

"What we know (and don’t) about the missing AirAsia jetliner" PBS NewsHour 12/28/2014

Excerpt

ZACHARY GREEN (NewsHour):  At Singapore’s Changi airport, friends and relatives gathered to await news about AirAsia flight 8501, which disappeared early this morning.  Among those waiting, the fiancée of a young man who had been traveling with relatives.

FIANCEE:  It was supposed to be their last vacation, before we got married.  It was to be his last vacation with his family.

ZACHARY GREEN:  The flight took off at 5:35 am local time from Surabaya, Indonesia’s second-largest city.  The scheduled flight time to Singapore was 1 hour 55 minutes.

But at 6:13 am, 38 minutes after takeoff, the pilot radioed air traffic control, asking to change course and increase altitude to avoid storm clouds.  There were reports of lightning in the area.

The flight was last seen on radar three minutes later at 6:16 am, near Belitung island in the Java Sea.

A minute later, it was gone.  According to an Indonesian transportation official, no distress signal had been sent out.

Search and rescue teams from Indonesia, Singapore, and Malaysia spent several hours Sunday searching for any sign of the plane, an Airbus A320.  But as night fell, officials halted the search until morning.  The United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, South Korea, and India have all volunteered search and rescue teams.

TATANG KURNIADI:  I heard many rumors from people and I said the rumors are not true that the plane has been found and wreckage has been found — this is not true.

Tony Fernandes, chief executive of AirAsia, a budget carrier based in Malaysia, also cautioned against speculation.

TONY FERNANDES:  We do not know what’s happened yet, so we’ll wait for the accident investigation to really find out what’s happened.  Our concern right now is for the relatives and for the next of kin.  There is nothing more important to us for our crew’s family, and for our passengers’ families that we look after them.

ZACHARY GREEN:  AirAsia has had a clean safety record since the company began operating in Malaysia 13 years ago.  The plane that went missing had undergone maintenance just the month before.

Last march, Malaysia Airlines flight 370 disappeared with 239 people aboard, en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.  It’s never been found.

In July, Malaysia Airlines flight 17 was shot down over eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board.

"Search widens for missing AirAsia flight – Part 1" PBS NewsHour 12/29/2014

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  An AirAsia jetliner disappeared Sunday morning off Indonesia without a trace.  So far the international search effort has been fruitless and officials have said that the plane is likely at the "bottom of the sea."  Alex Thomson of Independent Television News reports.

"Was weather to blame for AirAsia disappearance? – Part 2" PBS NewsHour 12/29/2014

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Gwen Ifill interviews The Wall Street Journal’s Guarav Raghuvanshi from Singapore about the missing AirAsia jetliner, how monsoon season may factor into the disappearance and if there are similarities to Malaysia Airlines 370.

MALAYSIA - 6mths After Disappearance of Flight MH370

"Will flight tracking evolve in wake of Malaysia Air mystery?" PBS NewsHour 10/8/2014

Excerpt

GWEN IFILL (NewsHour):  Now the continuing search for a missing jetliner that captured the attention of the world.

More than six months ago, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 mysteriously disappeared en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, triggering a massive search.  The plane was thought to have crashed somewhere in or near the Southern Indian Ocean with 239 people on board.  A nearly two-month-long search for wreckage and clues proved futile, yielding no definitive answers about just what happened to the plane.  It’s been months, but now the search is back on.

Jeffrey Brown has more.

JEFFREY BROWN (NewsHour):  The break gave investigators time to create a kind of map of the understood water seabed, and the search resumed on Monday.  Three ships will be involved in this next phase, which could last as long as a year.

Last spring, ships and planes from 14 countries served vast areas of the South China Sea and other regions.

Tonight’s “NOVA” focuses on the continuing investigation and many questions that remain and the technology of tracking planes.

Our science correspondent, Miles O’Brien, is the producer and reporter for the report titled “Why Planes Vanish” and he joins me from Boston.

So, Miles, as the search restarts, where do things stand?  What exactly are they focused on now?

MILES O’BRIEN (NewsHour):  Well, they’re focused on a very big area.

And, Jeff, it’s hard not to say that we’re sort of still at square one on this one.  And that’s an amazing thing to say so many months after the loss of MH370.  The search zone has been defined by some ingenious mathematics.  Essentially, engineers in this company Inmarsat, which operates communications satellites, which was part of what was equipped on MH370, were able to turn a communications capability into a positioning tool and were able to define this location in the Southern Indian Ocean as a search zone for the flight, which flew on seven hours after it disappeared from radar screens.

But we know it’s in that hemisphere by virtue of this mathematics, but it’s in a very, very big region, a big swathe.  They can’t define a bullseye.  So we have got to be ready for a long search here.

AIRCRAFT - How Passenger Planes Are Built

Post by Sudhindra Rajkumar

WEST AFRICA - Air Algerie Crash

"Bad weather seen as probable cause of fatal Air Algerie crash" Reuters 7/25/2014

Poor weather was the most likely cause of the crash of an Air Algerie flight in the West African state of Mali that killed 118 people on board, French officials said on Friday.

Investigators at the scene of the crash in northern Mali concluded the airliner broke apart when it hit the ground, the officials said, suggesting this meant it was unlikely to have been the victim of an attack.

"French soldiers who are on the ground have started the first investigations.  Sadly, there are no survivors," French President Francois Hollande told reporters.

A column of 100 soldiers and 30 vehicles from the French force stationed in the region arrived early on Friday morning to secure the crash site near the northern Mali town of Gossi and to recover bodies, a Defense Ministry official said.

Hollande said one of the black box flight recorders had already been recovered and would be analyzed quickly.

"The plane's debris is concentrated in a small area, but it is too early to draw conclusions," Hollande said of the wreckage of the plane carrying at least 51 French nationals that crashed near the border with Burkina Faso, from where it had taken off.

"There are theories, especially the weather, but I'm not excluding any theory."

The death toll was revised to 118 from 116 after a final passenger manifest was issued.

"They have to do everything to reassemble the bodies and bring them home so that we can mourn properly," said Alidou Ouedraogo, whose daughter was among the 27 citizens of Burkina Faso killed in the crash.

MH17 - Putin Changing Course?

"Will the MH17 disaster cause Putin to change course in Ukraine?" PBS NewsHour 7/21/2014

Excerpt

GWEN IFILL (NewsHour):  When the Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down, the stakes in the fight for the future of Ukraine went up.  At the center of what has rapidly become a global flash point is the deteriorating relationship between the U.S. and Russia.  But what, if anything, can the U.S. or Russia do in the face of international grief, recrimination and derailed diplomacy?

Stephen Sestanovich was U.S. ambassador-at-large for the former Soviet Union during the Clinton administration.  He’s now senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.  And Eugene Rumer was the national intelligence officer for Russia and Eurasia during the Obama administration from 2010 to 2014.  He’s now director of Russia and Eurasia Programs at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Stephen Sestanovich, how much — how much good can international pressure do?

STEPHEN SESTANOVICH, Council on Foreign Relations:  Well, there’s no doubt that Russia faces the most appalling public relations predicament that it’s been in, in decades.  And it is going to be responding to international pressure.

No government wants to have the kind of criminal reputation that the Russians are acquiring for their handling of this.  And the result is — you already see — is a kind of backing off of some of the positions that they have taken.  They supported a U.N. Security Council resolution today.  The separatists have been urged to release the bodies.  There is that kind of minimal level of cooperation that is meant to rescue their international position right now.

UKRAINE - The Shooting Down of Passenger Plane MH17 (4 parts)

"MH17 crash in war zone poses security challenges, but may be aided by more ‘eyes’" (Part-1) PBS NewsHour 7/18/2014

Excerpt

JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour):  Leaders from around the world called for an investigation into who shot down the Malaysian passenger plane.  But how can that be done in the middle of a war zone?

Hari Sreenivasan has that.

HARI SREENIVASAN (NewsHour):  For that, we turn to New York Times reporter Mark Mazzetti, and P.J. Crowley, who served as assistant secretary of state during the first Obama administration and is now a fellow at George Washington University.

Mark, I want to start with you.

From your sources in the intelligence community, is there any certainty on whether the surface-to-air missile was from Russia or from the rebels?

MARK MAZZETTI, The New York Times:  Not total certainty on that point.

You heard President Obama say — put the blame pretty squarely on Moscow today, saying either they did it themselves or they gave it to the rebels and they were doing this by proxy.  Either way, the president said, and as intelligence officials are sort of pointing out, it’s — Russia is escalating the conflict by introducing these surface-to-air missiles.

But you raise a good point.  Exactly how this happened, exactly how the missiles got there and when they got there is still an important point to — question to answer.

"Understanding the risks of flying in unfriendly skies" (Part-2) PBS NewsHour 7/18/2014

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  For a closer look at the challenges on the ground at the site of the downed Malaysia Airlines plane in Eastern Ukraine, Judy Woodruff talks to Matt Frei of Independent Television News from Donetsk.  Science correspondent Miles O’Brien (NewsHour) joins in to discuss why the jetliner was on a flight path over a conflict zone.

"Did Russia destroy key evidence from the MH17 crash site in Ukraine?" (Part-3) PBS NewsHour 7/19/2014

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Ukraine accused Russia and pro-Russian separatists today of destroying evidence that could offer clues about the downing of the Malaysian Airlines plane that went down in Ukraine earlier this week.

"Kerry:  Evidence mounts pointing blame at pro-Russian separatists for MH17" (Part-4) PBS NewsHour 7/20/2014

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Pro-Russian separatist leader Alexander Borodai said today that critical evidence has been recovered from the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 that is believed to have been shot down Thursday near the Ukrainian-Russian border.  Secretary of State John Kerry said there was overwhelming evidence that pro-Russian separatists shot down the plane.

MALAYSIA - Flight MH370, 10th Day

"Pilot’s political views raise fresh questions in search for missing Malaysian airliner" (Part-1) PBS NewsHour 3/17/2014

JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour):  The latest now on the investigation into Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.  There were more questions raised today about the pilot himself after reports confirmed he attended the trial of a leading jailed political opposition figure just hours before the flight.

New video also showed the pilot and co-pilot passing through security detectors before they took off.

Lucy Watson of Independent Television News begins our coverage.

LUCY WATSON, Independent Television News:  Little did they know that such routine movements would be so scrutinized.  This is Zaharie Shah, the pilot, and Fariq Abdul Hamid, the co-pilot of MH370.

Mohd Othman has known Captain Zaharie for 40 years, but now his friend’s anti-government views are being cited as a reason why he may have taken control of the flight.

MOHD NASIR OTHMAN, Friend of Pilot:  He’s just a normal, typical Malaysian who has his own political beliefs.  But to say he’s obsessed, I don’t think so.  He’s a professional.  He wouldn’t endanger the passengers.

LUCY WATSON:  But 10 days on, speculation is great, with the focus on the crew.  The airline doesn’t want us to talk to their families.  And the families aren’t being given a say.

We have just been escorted out of this hotel by Malaysia Airlines, because this is where the families of the 12 crew members are being held.  And they have been here for just over a week and they’re not allowed to talk to the media.  Malaysia says the plane was deliberately diverted.

A vast area is now being searched by teams from 26 countries with particular focus on two possible flight paths.  The last voice message from the aircraft was from the co-pilot, who said, “All right, good night,” at 1:19 a.m. local time, 12 minutes after tracking systems sent their last transmission before they were disabled.

Since then, these men continue to confront criticism.

Is it not time for the Malaysian government to admit that they have made some mistakes and at least apologize to the families?

DATUK SERI HISHAMMUDDIN HUSSEIN, Transport Minister, Malaysia:  That’s purely erroneous, because I have also got a lot of feedback that in the circumstances that they are facing, we have been very responsible in our actions.

LUCY WATSON:  But actions yet to show results and many questions, with few real answers.

"26 countries searching for missing airliner face lack of big breaks, vast terrain" (Part-2) PBS NewsHour 3/17/2014

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Confusion reigns and theories abound on the 10th day of the burgeoning search for the missing Malaysian jet.  Officials offered contradictory information about the timing of the disabling of the jet’s communications, while investigators and the press chase information on the pilot’s political activity.  Judy Woodruff gets an update from Andy Pasztor of The Wall Street Journal.

MALAYSIA - Flight MH370 an Act of Piracy?

"Window may be closing on possibility that Malaysian jetliner disappearance was aviation accident" PBS NewsHour 3/14/2014

Excerpt

HARI SREENIVASAN (NewsHour):  After nearly a week, the search and speculation continue to grow.  Ships and planes from a growing number of nations have expanded the hunt to the west and the east.  Various news accounts today quoted unnamed officials, both Malaysian and U.S., that it’s increasingly likely the Boeing 777 changed course, possibly in an act of piracy.

What’s now known is the plane left Kuala Lumpur bound for Beijing, reached an altitude of 35,000 feet, and then stopped communicating with air traffic controllers around 1:30 in the morning last Saturday, somewhere over the South China Sea.  One possibility, it made a hard left turn.  The search areas now encompass thousands of miles, stretching further into the South China Sea and also pushing Westward into the Andaman Sea and the Indian Ocean.

That’s in keeping with reports the plane traveled several hours after disappearing, although Malaysia won’t confirm or deny it.

"New details on missing plane emerge shifting investigation’s direction" PBS NewsHour 3/16/2014

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  With new information released Sunday about the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, authorities have taken both the search and investigation in a new direction.  Where are investigators focusing their efforts?  Hari Sreenivasan speaks with Michael Schmidt, who has been covering the story for the New York Times, about the current focus on the pilot and other recent developments.

MALAYSIA - Security Failure on Malaysia Airlines Flight 370

"Security failures of missing Malaysian flight spark concern" PBS NewsHour 3/9/2014

Excerpt

HARI SREENIVASAN (NewsHour):  For more about whether the crash of that Malaysian jetliner was an act of terrorism, we are joined now from Washington by Rafi Ron.  He is an aviation security expert and former director of security at Tel Aviv Ben Gurion International Airport.

So, Mr. Ron, of what we do know we have a few things confirmed:  We had good weather.  We had experienced pilots.  We had solid safety records for both the airline and the aircraft.  We had no distress signal.  And then we have the incidence of these stolen passports.  Does it all point toward a security failure and terrorism.

RAFI RON:  There’s no question that there is a security failure by the fact that two people were allowed to board the flight with identities that do not belong to them.  But whether this security failure is connected in any way to the destruction of the aircraft – or the disappearance of the aircraft – it is still yet to be determined.  At this time there is no direct evidence to tie up the two events.

"How does a modern jetliner vanish without a trace?" PBS NewsHour 3/10/2014

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  There are still many more questions than answers in the mysterious disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.  Judy Woodruff asks former NTSB investigator Alan Diehl and former NTSB board member John Goglia to speculate on different known factors and possible theories.

AIRCRAFT INDUSTRY - New Boeing Union Contract

"With money and jobs on the line, Boeing workers vote on critical labor contract" PBS Newshour 1/3/2014

Excerpt

JEFFREY BROWN:  In November, machinist union workers at Boeing voted down a new contract extension.  Pensions were the most contested issue.  After Boeing offered several revisions, a new vote is taking place today, with results expected tonight.

The stakes are high: thousands of jobs and the building of Boeing's new 777X plane.  If the union approves the contract, Boeing says it will go ahead and build the plane in unionized factories in Washington State, the company's historic manufacturing home.  If there's another no-vote, Boeing says it may well go elsewhere.  And 22 other states responded to a solicitation from the company with proposals to build the new jet in their areas.

Joining us now:  Harley Shaiken, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, who specializes in labor issues, and Richard Gritta, a professor of finance at the University of Portland, an expert on the airline industry.

Well, Harley Shaiken, and start us off.  Explain the pension and other issues here and the dilemma for the union members voting on this.

AIRLINES - U.S. Justice Department Puts Kibosh on Merger

So the expectation is that DoJ had approved airline mergers in the past so they would approve this one?  DUH, there is no limit to mergers?  We can expect mergers until there is only one, really?  Not hardly.

"Justice Department: Anti-Competitive Airline Merger Will Make Flight Prices Soar" PBS Newshour 8/13/2013

Excerpt

JEFFREY BROWN (Newshour):  It was all smiles and backslaps six months ago as the airlines' CEOs announced plans to merge.

DOUG PARKER, U.S. Airways:  This really is about taking two airlines, putting them together and providing better service to customers.  Our view is, it increases competition; it doesn't decrease competition.

JEFFREY BROWN:  But, today, the Justice Department said it will hurt competition.  Justice and attorneys general from six states plus the District of Columbia filed suit in federal court to ground the $11 billion merger at the 11th hour.  The department said such a merger would leave just three so-called legacy carriers and make flying more expensive.

The new American would have been the world's largest carrier, dominating some U.S. domestic markets.  At Washington's Reagan National Airport, it would control 69 percent of the space and 63 percent of the routes.

In a conference call with reporters, Assistant Attorney General William Baer said the merger would -- quote -- "substantially lessen competition."  He labeled the deal "pretty messed up.  It's bad for consumers."