Letter to the Editor of The Australian I am writing to express my concern regarding the manner in which The Australian journalist Ean Higgins continues to inaccurately report on the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 – in particular I am concerned at the negative impact this inaccurate reporting is having on the knowledge of the search by the families of those on board the aircraft. To reiterate, under the International Civil Aviation (ICAO) Annex 13 provisions, the government of Malaysia is responsible for…

An article, The Case for Pilot Hijack by Byron Bailey, appearing in the 9-10 January 2016 edition of The Weekend Australian, contained significant inaccuracies and misunderstandings about the ATSB’s role in the search for MH370. Many of those inaccuracies were repeated in subsequent items both in The Australian and other media outlets. It is important that the ATSB corrects the record. It is the responsibility of the Government of Malaysia, as the state of registration of the aircraft, to establish why MH370 disappeared and it has established an Annex 13 Investigation…

Recent articles suggesting that sonar images gathered during the underwater search for MH370 could be aircraft debris are incorrect. The sonar contacts mentioned in the articles are old ones that were already assessed and discounted months ago. As well, the articles incorrectly describe ‘Category 3’ sonar contacts as being the most likely to be aircraft debris. In fact, they are the least likely to be aircraft debris. Category 3 is assigned to sonar contacts that are of some interest as they stand out from their surroundings but have low probability of being significant to the search. The…

The article by Martin Aubury, ‘Luck stops an air disaster waiting to happen’, published in several Fairfax publications on 11 July 2016 contains factual errors and misunderstandings. In the interests of ensuring truth and transparency, the ATSB considers it necessary to correct the record. In the article, Mr Aubury cites the ATSB’s on-going investigation into an in-flight pitch disconnect involving a Virgin Australia Regional Airlines (VARA) ATR 72 aircraft while descending into Sydney, NSW on 20 February 2014. Mr Aubury claims that it took the ATSB several years to publicly…

An article published in The Australian by Mr Ean Higgins on 12 August 2016 falsely accuses the ATSB of ‘secretly retracting’ information from a Joint Agency Coordination Centre operations update on 27 July. In recent weeks the ATSB has been very careful to accurately describe the Defence Science and Technology (DST) Group’s analysis of the accident aircraft’s rates of descent at the final satellite handshake (known as the 7th arc). This analysis concludes that the metadata associated with the final two satellite communications from the aircraft to the ground earth station indicates…

An article published in The Australian today by Byron Bailey in relation to the search for MH370 contains inaccurate information and false assertions. In the interests of providing a transparent and accurate account, the ATSB considers it necessary to correct the record. Firstly, Mr Bailey claims that the company contracted by the ATSB to conduct the search, Fugro, believes they are looking in the wrong place. In fact, Fugro has publicly denied this claim and issued a statement to say: Fugro wishes to make it very clear that we believe the search area to have been well…

An article, Inquiry into MH370 to probe ‘years of wasted effort’ by Byron Bailey which appeared in The Australian on 8 September 2016 contains inaccuracies that require correction and clarification. Firstly, the article says that “the Australian Transport Safety Bureau decided on an unresponsive pilot scenario…” The ATSB's suggested end-of-flight scenario only applies to the final segment of MH370’s flight when it was heading in a southerly direction into the Indian Ocean. This was for a period of about five-and-a-half hours. …

It has been reported by the ABC and news.com.au that the purpose of the First Principles Review meeting in Canberra on 2-4 November 2016 is for the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) to seek additional funding from the Australian Government to extend the search for MH370. This is not correct. The First Principles review meeting consists of experts from the Search Strategy Working Group including Australian Defence Scientists, Boeing, Thales, Inmarsat, the…

On 17 April 2017, The Australian published an article, “ATSB shuts down details on MH370 search” by Ean Higgins. That article contained misrepresentations. Mr Higgins stated that “(the) Australian Transport Safety Bureau has invoked draconian legislation in refusing to release material about its search for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, warning that any bureau employee who provides such information to the public or a court could face two years in jail.” The ATSB did not issue any such warning. The Transport Safety Investigation Act 2003 (TSI Act) applies to ATSB investigations and…

A story on ABC’s 7.30 program (7 March 2017) and an article on the ABC news website, “Air safety watchdog clearly failing”, contains inaccurate and misleading claims that require correction. Firstly, the reports quote Mr Neil Hansford as saying: "Until a case is resolved, there can be no remedial action taken by the relevant authorities, CASA (Civil Aviation Safety Authority) or the Department of Transport or even private airport operators." In fact, the ATSB does not wait for an investigation to be completed to bring safety matters to the attention of…