Non-stop work for MH370 chief investigator

The tagline "non-stop" seems to play a significant role in the life of Datuk Kok Soo Chon, the investigator-in-charge of the Malaysian ICAO Annex 13 Safety Investigation Team for missing Malaysia Airlines MH370. As a matter of fact, Kok and his wife were watching an airline thriller, "Non Stop", in a cinema in Petaling Jaya on March 8, 2014 – the day flight MH370 vanished from radar. The Boeing 777's disappearance has since become one of the greatest mysteries in aviation history. For Kok, the title of the movie has inadvertently impacted on his high-profile work. Non-stop has since been his routine after he was roped in to helm the independent international investigation team on the disappearance of the Boeing 777-200ER aircraft. "The name of the show... you believe it or not, is Non Stop. Now, this job is non-stop," said Kok, 65, the former director-general of the Department of Civil Aviation (DCA). The Malaysian ICAO Annex 13 Safety Investigation Team for MH370 comprises 19 Malaysians and seven accredited representatives of seven safety authorities from seven countries. They are the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB), Civil Aviation Administration of China, France's Bureau d'Enquetes et d'Analyses, Indonesia's National Transportation Safety Committee, Singapore's Air Accident Investigation Bureau, United Kingdom's Air Accidents Investigation Branch and National Transportation Safety Board of the United States. Flight MH370, with 239 passengers and crew on board, disappeared from the radar en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur on March 8, 2014. The jetliner has yet to be found although massive search operations were conducted in the southern Indian Ocean where the aircraft is believed to have ended its flight path after diverting from its original route. In July last year, a flaperon was found washed ashore on Reunion Island, off France, and on August 6 last year, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak confirmed it belonged to flight MH370. Kok said his working hours were non-stop as he was required to coordinate massive investigation from among team members from different part of the world. He makes full use of technology such as tele-conferecing and emails to get in touch. "We do need to communicate late at night. And the first thing I do before I go to work and before I go to bed is look at my laptop." Kok said the investigation team was committed to do its best to determine the truth behind the vanishing of MH370. – Bernama, March 9, 2016.]]>