2 years wasted searching for MH370 in wrong area, says Aussie pilot

Malaysia Airlines MH370 has not been found because the search area is several hundred kilometres or more off the mark, says an Australian veteran commercial pilot. In an article in The Australian, Byron Bailey criticised the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) for wasting two years searching for the missing Boeing 777 by relying on a "nonsensical end-of-flight theory", which resulted in the search area being several hundred kilometres or more too far to the north and east. Bailey spent 15 years as a senior captain in Emirates and had flown the same model Boeing 777 passenger jet as the MH370 flight and was a former Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) fighter pilot and trainer. "I and my coterie of colleagues – highly experienced airline and former airline pilots from A380 Qantas, B777 British Airways, Emirates B777/A380 and others – think the ATSB dropped the ball with the nonsensical end-of-flight theory and as a result the search area is several hundred kilometres or more too far to the north and east. "This is why MH370 has not yet been located. Two years wasted. The search area has now progressed south and west, getting closer to the probable correct area," he said in the broadsheet today. "If MH370 is not found in the remaining few months and the search is suspended due to cost, which overall must now be well more than AUS$200 million (RM604 million) of taxpayers' money, then MH370 will pass into legend like the ghost ship Mary Celeste. "A movie will probably be made. The ATSB will not be in the credits. I wonder what the title would be?  'The longest and costliest search in aviation history' or 'the biggest farce in aviation history'." –March 5, 2016. MORE TO COME]]>