CONFIDENTIAL FAMILY BRIEFING Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 Family Briefing Malaysia, 8 March 2014 “Stewarts Law LLP’s claimant-based Family Briefing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 aviation practice On Saturday 8 March 2014, a Boeing 777- is considered 200ER aircraft with registration 9M-MRO, ‘responsive and operated by Malaysia Airlines on flight unsurpassed in MH370 departed from Kuala Lumpur International Airport at 00:41 (local time) its knowledge of en route for Beijing Capital Airport. Subang aviation’” Air Traffic Control reported that it lost contact - The Legal 500 with the aircraft at 2.40am (local Malaysia time). There were 227 passengers and 12 crew members on board. The search for the aircraft is ongoing. What we know There has been conflicting information being released from the Malaysian Authorities and a significant amount of false reporting. Filtered down, we know the following: 1. Corroborated radar data shows that the aircraft may have changed course while over the South China Sea. 2. The transponder (used to indicate the location of an aircraft to Air Traffic Control) onboard the aircraft was switched off one hour into the flight. It has been suggested that this was done manually; Wisner Law Firm 3. A Inmarsat satellite located in the Indian Ocean recorded a routine automated signal released from the Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) six 514 West State St., hours and forty one minutes after the last transmission from the transponder. It has been Suite 200 reported that the ACARS was manually switched off earlier in the flight (as the aircraft Chicago, IL 60134 reached the east coast peninsula of Malaysia), but automated signals are released from U.S.A. the system intermittently during standby mode to confirm connectivity to a satellite Tel: + (630) 513-9434 network Fax: + (630) 513-6287 All other information currently available appears to be speculation and misreporting. Website: www.wisner-law.com Email: [email protected] The Search Effort Stewarts Law LLP The search for the aircraft is ongoing. Currently the potential area in which the aircraft may have landed or crashed is extremely extensive rendering any underwater searches impractical 5 New Street Square and inadvisable. It is likely that the search effort will concentrate on finding two pieces of London information: EC4A 3BF U.K. 1. A secondary satellite source which has recorded the automated ACARS signal. This will assist in narrowing the search effort through triangulation. Tel: + 44 (0)20 7822 8000 Fax: +44 (0)20 7822 8080 2. A sighting of the aircraft or wreckage (most likely in the Indian Ocean). Website: www.stewartslaw.com Email: [email protected] CONFIDENTIAL FAMILY BRIEFING Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 Family Briefing Malaysia, 8 March 2014 “The Client service In the event that wreckage is sighted in the Indian Ocean an underwater search will is excellent. The commence. All modern aircraft have locator beacons in the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) and the Flight Data Recorder (FDR), known as the “black boxes”, which are triggered when team places client immersed in water. The locator beacons send out an acoustic signal at 37.5 kHz; a “ping”, communication at the which can be picked up by pinger locators to identify the location of the CVR and FDR. They centre of everything. have a battery life of 30 days and can be located by ships fitted with appropriate receiver systems within a range of approximately 1.6km (an area of 8.04 square kilometres). Given The lawyers are the small range of the beacon, it will be necessary to significantly narrow the search area always available before ships can scan the area. and respond to We assisted families in the case of Adam Air Flight 574 and Air France Flight AF447. In Adam queries rapidly and Air, it took over a week to locate the wreckage and three weeks to locate the black boxes. effectively.” In Air France, the wreckage was not located for nearly two years. In Air France we, and the Families of Flight 447, have been calling for the mandatory installation of live streaming -Chambers and data systems in all commercial passenger jets. These systems are now affordable and Partners 2014 reliable, and would mean that the aircraft could be exactly located immediately. This would effectively remove the heartache and trauma to family members caused by the search efforts. Boeing already offers such a system called the Airplane Health Management System (AHM). This system is fitted to all 787 models and can be installed in 777 models by request at a cost. The system records 146,000 digital parameters which are streamed live. 2,000 Boeing aircraft fly with AHM, including 777 aircraft operated by Air China and Aeroflot. We strongly believe that Malaysia Airlines should have upgraded this Boeing 777 with AHM. Had Malaysia Airlines bought this system we would know the location of the aircraft immediately and families would not suffer this trauma. Wisner Law Firm Potential causes 514 West State St., There are usually a number of contributing factors that cause an accident. As the search Suite 200 operation is ongoing, with the aircraft yet to be found, the investigation is solely focused on Chicago, IL 60134 this element. The search effort is being led by Malaysian authorities with assistance from U.S.A. other countries, including the National Transport Safety Board (NTSB) based in the United Tel: + (630) 513-9434 States, the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) based in the UK, and the Bureau Fax: + (630) 513-6287 d’Enquêtes et d’Analyses (BEA) from France who led the search effort for Air France AF447. Website: www.wisner-law.com Email: [email protected] Once the aircraft has been located, an official investigation will begin, led by the Malaysian Authorities. Families will be excluded from that investigation. We believe that is wrong, as Stewarts Law LLP the families deserve to be included in the process. Based upon the information available at this early stage we expect that it is likely the following factors will be considered: 5 New Street Square London EC4A 3BF U.K. Tel: + 44 (0)20 7822 8000 Fax: +44 (0)20 7822 8080 Website: www.stewartslaw.com Email: [email protected] CONFIDENTIAL FAMILY BRIEFING Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 Family Briefing Malaysia, 8 March 2014 In the last three 1. Terrorism / Hijacking years, Stewarts There have been numerous press reports relating to speculation that the cause of the Law has acted for accident was an act of terrorism or hijacking. families in 90% of Terrorism all international Reference was initially made to the fact that two passengers were travelling under stolen passports. Where an incendiary device is used on an aircraft, one would expect to find airline disasters, a debris field on the surface of the water with items that had been expelled from the and represented a ruptured aircraft fuselage, charred material, and ruptured metal. None of this has been seen so far. The current absence of a large debris field in this accident is suggestive that total of 20% of all this may have not been an act of terrorism. affected families Hijacking worldwide. There are currently three pieces of corroborated evidence (set out above) that support the possibility of a hijacking. This possibility needs to be taken seriously and fully investigated, however we would advise caution in assuming that this is the definite cause of the accident. There has been no statement of hijacking intent released from any credible organisation and no statement of ransom. It is possible that one or more of the pilots were responsible for taking control of the aircraft. However in most previous cases, such as SilkAir Flight 185 in 1997 and EgyptAir Flight 990 in 1999 where investigation revealed the disputed cause was pilot control inputs, pilots have used the aircraft to commit suicide rather than attempt an elaborate hijacking. Until the aircraft is located and the black boxes analysed we cannot be certain that a hijacking event took place. However, we know from our experience of SilkAir Flight 185 that the black boxes were manually disabled. If that is the case with Wisner Law Firm MH370, we may well never know the truth. In the event that the cause of the accident is found to be terrorism or hijacking, Malaysia 514 West State St., Airlines has war, terrorism, and hijack insurance with London Aviation Insurers that covers Suite 200 Chicago, IL 60134 the aircraft as well as passengers and third parties. U.S.A. 2. Electrical/Oxygen Hose Fire Tel: + (630) 513-9434 While we share the hope that passengers are still alive, in our professional opinion, hijacking Fax: + (630) 513-6287 is not the only explanation for the three pieces of evidence discussed earlier. We believe Website: www.wisner-law.com that the most probable cause of the accident is an electrical or oxygen hose fire which Email: [email protected] resulted in crew incapacitation. Stewarts Law LLP In December 2011, Boeing released a service bulletin (777-35A0027) which was followed up by an airworthiness directive, released by the Federal Aviation Authority of the US 5 New Street Square in July 2012 which provided for the mandatory replacement of the low-pressure oxygen London EC4A 3BF hoses as a result of instances in which they had caught fire because of current passing U.K. through the internal spring. A cockpit fire resulting from either the oxygen hose or an electrical fire which could not be contained could cause the transponder/ACARS onboard Tel: + 44 (0)20 7822 8000 Fax: +44 (0)20 7822 8080 Website: www.stewartslaw.com Email: [email protected] CONFIDENTIAL FAMILY BRIEFING Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 Family Briefing Malaysia, 8 March 2014 “James Healy-Pratt to be disabled and/or the crew could disable transponder/ACARS while attempting to of Stewarts Law LLP troubleshoot the problem.