World shipping industry agrees to halve carbon emissions by 2050

Yahoo – AFP, Dario THUBURN, April 13, 2018

Shipping and aviation are two sectors that were not covered by the United Nations
climate agreement, a deal struck in Paris in 2015 to cap global warming at "well
under" 2.0 degrees Celsius by the end of this century (AFP Photo/ARIS MESSINIS)

London (United Kingdom) (AFP) - Members of the UN International Maritime Organisation on Friday struck a deal to halve carbon dioxide emissions from shipping by 2050 in a deal that will force the industry to redesign fleets.

"The initial strategy envisages for the first time a reduction in total GHG (Greenhouse Gas) emissions by at least 50 percent by 2050 compared to 2008," the IMO said in a statement.

Major shipping nations such as Saudi Arabia and the United States had objected to earlier drafts in two weeks of discussion at the 173-member organisation based in London.

Some countries such as the Marshall Islands, which are at risk of rising seas but are also a major flag state, had wanted a stronger commitment and the EU wanted a 70 to 100 percent cut.

But the agreement was widely hailed by stakeholders.

"This is a ground-breaking agreement -- a Paris agreement for shipping -- that sets a very high level of ambition for the future reduction of carbon dioxide emissions," the International Chamber for Shipping's secretary general Peter Hinchliffe said.

Some countries like Marshall Islands, which has endured worsening storm surges

 due to global warming, are at a higher risk of rising seas and wanted a stronger 

committment to reduce carbon dioxide emssions (AFP Photo/GIFF JOHNSON)

"We are confident this will give the shipping industry the clear signal it needs to get on with the job of developing zero carbon dioxide fuels so that the entire sector will be in a position to decarbonise completely," he said.

'Watershed moment'

Marshall Islands President Hilda Heine also praised the deal.

"Today the IMO has made history. While it may not be enough to give my country the certainty it wanted, it makes it clear that international shipping will now urgently reduce emissions and play its part in giving my country a pathway to survival," she said in a statement.

Maersk, the world's largest container shipping company, tweeted: "We were pushing for stronger targets but still a great step that IMO seeks to halve the shipping sector's greenhouse gases by 2050".

Shipping and aviation are two sectors that were not covered by the United Nations climate agreement, a deal struck in Paris in 2015 to cap global warming at "well under" 2.0 degrees Celsius by the end of this century.

Marshall Islands President Hilda Heine said the deal gives her "country a pathway

 to survival" even if it " may not be enough to give my country the certainty it 

wanted" (AFP Photo/FREDERICK FLORIN)

The aviation sector reached an emissions plan two years ago but shipping has taken longer because its reliance on long-distance ships that run on bunker fuel makes it harder to cut carbon.

Shipping accounts for around 2.0 percent of global carbon emissions and that share could rise to around 15 percent if left unchecked, according to the World Bank.

The Climate Action Network said Friday's deal was "a welcome first step".

Some environmental groups have warned that a 50 percent cut may not be enough to keep global warming below 2.0 degrees Celsius.

Britain's Shipping Minister Nusrat Ghani said the deal was a "watershed moment".

"We will work with fellow member states to ensure the shipping industry makes the transition to zero emissions ships as quickly as possible," she said.

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MH370 searchers spot shipwreck instead of airliner

Another old shipwreck has been located by searchers for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370. The plane that went missing in 2014 has so far eluded an international Australian-led team scanning the Indian Ocean.

Deutsche Welle, 14 January 2016

Australia's search coordination agency announced Wednesday that a submersible vehicle deployed by a search ship spotted the remains of an old metallic ship lying on the seabed on December19, at a depth of 3,700 meters (12,140 feet).

"The Shipwreck Galleries of the Western Australian Museum have conducted a preliminary review of the some sonar imagery and advised that the vessel is likely to be a steel/iron vessel dating from the turn of the 19th century," said the Joint Agency Coordinating Centre (JACC).

A previous sonar find in May last year showed an anchor, along with other objects thought to be lumps of coal.

More than half scanned

So far, the expensive oceanic search for MH370 has covered more than 80,000 square kilometers (31,000 square miles) of mostly deep seafloor. The total area planned is 120,000 square kilometers.

JACC said that governments involved had agreed not to widen the intended area unless "credible new information" emerged.

The only tangible evidence that MH370 met a tragic end emerged last May, when a two-meter-long piece of the wing, a so-called flaperon, washed up on Reunion, an Indian Ocean island.

The airliner with 239 people on board went missing during an intended flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

Speculation

A myriad of speculative causes for the plane's disappearance has ranged from a hijacking, to mechanical failure, a terror plot to even rogue pilot action.

Analysts have said that only by pinpointing a crash site and recovering the plane's flight recorders will authorities being able to say exactly what happened to the plane.

ipj/sms (Reuters, AFP)

China hosts US military visit to aircraft carrier Liaoning

A US naval delegation has paid an official visit to Beijing's lone aircraft carrier, Chinese media sources say. The move comes as tension ratchets up between the two regional powers.

Deutsche Welle, 21 Oct 2015

China hosted the US Navy representatives earlier this week, the country's media reported on Wednesday, amid growing concern that territorial disputes in the South China Sea are leading Beijing and Washington toward conflict.

The 27-member delegation boarded the Liaoning, China's largest warship, on Monday to discuss with Chinese officials such topics as personnel training, medical support and strategies in aircraft carrier development, the Chinese navy's official blog reported.

The following day, US officials visited the navy's submarine academy.

Provocative moves

The visit comes amid heightened tension between Beijing and Washington after a series of aggressive steps taken by China to assert its authority in the South China Sea.

Earlier this month, China announced it had built two lighthouses on the contested Huayang Reef, which is also claimed by Taiwan, Malaysia, Vietnam and other countries. Beijing lays claim to most of the South China Sea, something that has been repeatedly denied by Washington and its allies in the region.

The US government has called on China to halt its construction in the region and recently said it might sail its Navy ships in the vicinity of China's man-made islands, a provocative move from Beijing's point of view.

Easing tensions

The official trip earlier this week has been interpreted as an attempt by both sides to ease tensions and increase military transparency.

An editorial in China's state-sanctioned Global Times newspaper, for example, said the visit increased mutual understanding and trust while also displaying China's military confidence.

The Liaoning, a refitted former Soviet aircraft carrier, has come to be seen by many as a symbol for China's increasing military might. Former US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel participated in Washington's first official visit to the carrier in 2014.

blc/mz (AP, AFP, Reuters)

AirAsia Search in Java Sea a Graveyard for WWII Naval Battle

Jakarta Globe – AFP,  Jan 02, 2015

An Indonesian helicopter searches for victims and debris during recovery
 operations on Jan. 1, 2015 for Indonesia AirAsia flight QZ8501 that
crashed in the Java Sea. (AFP Photo/Adek Berry)

Jakarta. The Java Sea where a massive search operation is underway for Indonesia AirAsia Flight QZ8501 is also the graveyard for one of the largest naval engagements of World War II.

Old wrecks, whether from battles or peacetime disasters, have occasionally given false leads to modern searches.

Indonesian search and rescue agency official S.B. Supriyadi said on Friday the hunt for the AirAsia plane had detected a metal structure but it proved to be a false lead, “possibly a ship which sank”.

While it is unlikely to have been an old warship, the Java Sea was the scene of a disastrous defeat for the Allied navies by invading Imperial Japanese forces as they swept through the Dutch East Indies.

In the Battle of the Java Sea on Feb. 27, 1942, a combined force of Dutch, US, British and Australian ships was hopelessly outmatched, suffering the loss of five warships and 2,300 sailors against Japanese losses of one damaged destroyer and 36 dead.

A second engagement by British and US forces on March 1 resulted in the sinking of three Allied warships with one Japanese destroyer damaged.

Wrecks from these World War II battles remain at the bottom of the Java Sea and are popular with divers.

In August last year, US Navy archeologists, working with Indonesian navy divers, identified one as the cruiser USS Houston, which sank during the Battle of the Sunda Strait in 1942.

The US Navy said the ship, nicknamed “The Galloping Ghost of the Java Coast,” was the final resting place of about 650 sailors and Marines.

During the Battle of the Sunda Strait on March 1, 1942, the Houston and Australian cruiser HMAS Perth were sunk during an engagement with a vastly superior Japanese force.

The Houston’s captain received a posthumous Medal of Honor for extraordinary heroism.

In November 2013 Indonesian researchers made a surprise discovery of what is believed to be a German submarine that was torpedoed off Java during World War II.

Researchers believe the wreck — which contained at least 17 human skeletons — is U-168, which succeeded in sinking several allied vessels before itself being torpedoed by a Dutch submarine in 1944.

“This is an extraordinary find that will certainly provide useful information about what took place in the Java Sea during World War II,” Bambang Budi Utomo, head of the research team at the National Archaeology Center that found the vessel, said at the time.

As well as the human skeletons, dinner plates bearing swastikas, batteries, binoculars and a bottle of hair oil were pulled from the wreck.

Japan occupied Indonesia during World War II, which was then still known by its colonial name of the Dutch East Indies. Tokyo and Berlin were allies during the war.

Agence France-Presse

AirAsia, Indonesia and Effective Crisis Management

Jakarta Globe, Bloomberg, Dec 31, 2014

President Joko Widodo on board a Hercules plane taking part in the
search for AirAsia Flight QZ8501, on Tuesday.(Antara Photo/Andika Wahyu)

In his run for president this year, Joko Widodo pledged to bring greater openness and accountability to Indonesia. As his administration faces its first international crisis, the mysterious crash of an AirAsia jet, he’s proving to be a man of his word.

You can tell a lot about a nation from its response to great tragedy, whether it’s Japan’s 2011 Fukushima crisis, Malaysia’s lost Boeing 777 in March or South Korea’s deadly ferry accident in April. So far, Joko has performed admirably.

Since news broke on Sunday that an Airbus A320 flying from Surabaya, Indonesia, to Singapore vanished with 162 people on board, Joko has coordinated search-and-rescue efforts, demanded a review of air safety regulations and called on weather agencies to provide timelier information. His government is giving steady updates, and Joko has sought help from Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea, Australia and, remarkably, China and the US in finding Flight QZ8501.

In contrast, last spring, Malaysia was widely criticized for the secrecy and paranoia that surrounded its search for a Malaysia Airlines flight that disappeared with 239 people aboard. Welcoming US and Chinese military ships into Indonesia’s orbit speaks to Joko’s confidence as a leader.

Let’s hope this is a harbinger of future competence. Joko is the fifth president since dictator Suharto was ousted in 1998 but the first true political outsider to run Southeast Asia’s biggest economy. Because he’s not a member of a dynastic family or the military, he isn’t beholden to vested interests looking to siphon the benefits of Indonesia’s 5 percent growth. That gives him latitude to dismantle the kleptocracy that Suharto built during his 32-year reign and raise Indonesia’s competitiveness.

As governor of Jakarta, starting in 2012, Joko brought a surprising level of transparency. He moved budget procurement and tax collection processes online. He’s now working to make national government services electronic to reduce opportunities for graft and improve efficiency. Opening up the process of granting licenses for developing infrastructure, mines and plantations alone would do much to clean up the nation’s political and business climate.

Indonesia’s aviation industry also has long cried out for greater oversight. Its carriers, air traffic controllers and the skies around the archipelago of 250 million people are notorious for their regulatory laxity. As recently as 2009, state carrier Garuda was banned from European Union airspace. That laxity is a product of decades of cronyism and institutional neglect.

While Joko’s predecessor Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono made inroads against graft, Indonesia’s still ranks behind Djibouti and Argentina and a sober 22 rungs below India in Transparency International’s latest corruption perceptions index. The daylight Joko wants to shine on the government is needed to attract more foreign investment and ensure that scarce revenues are spent on education, health care and poverty programs.

The openness and assertiveness with which Joko has responded to Flight QZ8501 gives me reason to hope that Indonesia will be prepared for whatever comes its way.

William Pesek is a Bloomberg View columnist based in Tokyo and writes on economics, markets and politics throughout the Asia-Pacific region.

President Joko Widodo, center, talks to the head of Indonesia’s national search
 and rescue agency, Soelistyo, left, and Chief of the Sea Security Coordinating
 Agency, Vice Admiral Desi Albert Mamahit, right, shortly before a news conference
 about missing Indonesia AirAsia flight QZ 8501 in Jakarta, on Dec. 29, 2014.
 (EPA Photo/Bagus Indahono)

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Indonesian Air Force Eying Russian Jet to Combat Illegal Fishing

Jakarta Globe, Dec 22, 2014

A version of the Beriev plane the Indonesian Air Force wants to buy.
(Photo Courtesy of Beriev Aircraft Company)

Jakarta. The Indonesian Air Force says it will buy Russian-designed multipurpose amphibious aircraft to help prevent illegal fishing in the country’s waters.

“This Beriev Be-200 Altair is very reliable to monitor aquatic areas. The amphibious aircraft can land on the sea so it can help us catch illegal fishermen,” Marshall Ida Bagus Putu Dunia, the chief of the Indonesian Air Force (TNI-AU), told reporters in Jakarta on Monday, as quoted by state-run news agency Antara.

“President Joko Widodo has agreed with the plan to buy the aircraft,” he added.

The Beriev Be-200 is designed by the Beriev Aircraft Company and manufactured by Irkut Corporation, another Russian company. It can be used for firefighting, search and rescue, and maritime patrols. The aircraft is able to drop 12,000 liters of water or transport up to 72 passengers.

It was not immediately clear how many planes would be bought, and how much the deal was worth.

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For Maritime Minister Susi, Work Starts Now

Jakarta Globe, Kennial Caroline Laia, Oct 28, 2014

Marine and Fishery Affairs Minister Susi
Pudjiastuti. (Antara Photo/Prasetyo Utomo)

Jakarta. Indonesia’s new Marine and Fishery Affairs Minister Susi Pudjiastuti announced she plans to issue both short- and long-term programs that will improve the welfare of the nation’s fishermen.

The ministry’s first move, she added, is to identify both current and potential problems plaguing Indonesia’s maritime sector, before mapping out targets for the next five years.

“I am neither an expert or an academic [on the matter]; I just want to work fast and show good results,” Susi told reporters in Jakarta on Tuesday.

“For a long-term program, I will focus on mapping issues related to illegal fishing, aquaculture and marketing. I will also look into matters surrounding tariff barriers and our maritime products,” Susi was quoted as saying by Kompas.com.

These campaigns have the shared aim of working towards the benefit of Indonesia’s fishermen, she explained, adding that results would not be instantaneous as she still needs to coordinate with directorate generals and division heads of her ministry and compile the necessary data.

The short-term programs, meanwhile, will strive to change the mindset of both companies and individuals involved in the country’s marine industry.

“There are several small steps that we can [immediately] take. Again, we want to focus on helping our coastal fishermen,” Susi said. “But want to teach them to become more business minded.”

Susi conceded the success of these programs would partly depend on the government’s efforts to improve and expand on the nation’s infrastructure, including airports, as transportation is key to the distribution of Indonesia’s fisheries products.

President Joko Widodo surprised the nation on Sunday when he placed the businesswoman at the helm of the ministry of maritime affairs and fisheries — an area, critics claim, she knows very little about.

The 49-year-old has made no efforts to deny or disguise her status as a high-school dropout. She established her own fish vendor in Pangandaran, West Java, at the tender age of 18, unknowingly creating a small business that would flourish into ASI Pudjiastuti Marine Products.

Susi expanded into the aviation business in 2004 with ASI Pudjiastuti Aviation and Susi Air, the latter of which has managed to settle into a niche market by flying to remote regions that are not serviced by larger commercial airlines.

IOC: Garbage having 'severe impact' on marine life

The hunt for Flight MH370 has been hampered by objects that have turned out to be trash. But the search has also revealed a wider problem that is taking a heavy toll on wildlife, says Wendy Watson-Wright.

Deutsche Welle, 3 June 2014

The fate of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 has been shrouded in mystery ever since it left Kuala Lumpur for Beijing in the early morning hours of March 8 with 239 people on board. While the Boeing 777 is believed to have crashed in the southern Indian Ocean, search efforts have repeatedly been hampered by objects spotted by radar, ships and airplanes that have turned out to be garbage, leading to growing frustration among the victims' relatives and search crews.

But the false sightings have put the spotlight on the wider garbage problem affecting the world's oceans. In a DW interview to mark World Environment Day on June 5, Dr. Wendy Watson-Wright, Executive Secretary of UNESCO's Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) talks about the consequences of these vast quantities of trash bobbing around the ocean, both for humans and wildlife, and points to what she regards as the only way to solve the problem.

DW: How serious is the marine garbage problem in the Pacific Ocean?

Dr. Wendy Watson-Wright: The problem is very serious, but not quite as graphically enticing as most commentators out there would have us think. The name "Pacific Garbage Patch" is slightly misleading, as it leads you to think of a large and continuous patch of litter – a literal island of trash that one might be able to see on aerial photos or even from space.

Watson-Wright: "Fish and other marine
 life eat plastic, resulting in irritation,
malnutrition or starvation"

The truth is less appealing, unfortunately. I say unfortunately not because an "island of trash" would be a better alternative to the "soup" of small pieces of floating plastic that comprises most of the "garbage patch," but because a solid, floating island of visible trash might be more straightforward to clean.

The truth is that the debris that accumulates in the ocean is continuously mixed by wind and wave action and widely dispersed over huge surface areas and throughout the top portion of the water column. It is possible to sail through the "garbage patch" area and see very little or no debris on the water's surface.

It is also difficult to estimate the size of these "patches" because the borders and content depend on ocean currents and winds. In the end, we are left with few certainties in regards to the size and mass of these concentrations of debris, but one thing is for sure: large portions of man-made debris in the ocean can never be a harbinger of good news.

To your knowledge, how has the large amount of garbage in the ocean affected the search for missing Malaysian airplane MH370?

The large amount of garbage has surely generated some false hopes as the satellites keep spotting large, but unrelated pieces of debris, fishing equipment, and other flotsam. If anything positive can be said to have come out of this terrible incident, let us hope that it will be a renewed attention on the part of the general public, the press, and decision-makers to the awful amounts of man-made debris dumped everyday in the ocean.

What is the most abundant type of garbage found in the ocean?

One of the main types of marine debris that you hear about today is plastic marine debris. In many places, it is the main type of debris that you will see as you walk along a beach, though perhaps not underwater. As society has developed new uses for plastics, the variety and quantity of plastic items found in the marine environment has increased substantially. From common household materials to industrial products, to lost or abandoned fishing gear, all of these plastic materials increasingly find their way to the ocean and contribute to a problem that will catch up with humankind sooner than later.

The other reason for why plastic is the most abundant type of garbage in the ocean has to do with its degradation rate. Plastics do degrade in the ocean, but there are many different types, each with a specific chemical composition and degradation rate. Research tells us that the most common types of plastics have such slow degradation rates that they never fully "go away," and instead break down into ever-smaller pieces.

To what extent are other oceans also facing a garbage problem?

The "patches" of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch are not the only open ocean areas where marine debris is concentrated. Another important area is the North Pacific, in the Subtropical Convergence Zone (STCZ). This area, located north of the Hawaiian archipelago, has a high abundance of marine life, but is also known for marine debris concentration. That said, whether the garbage is in the Pacific or the Atlantic, it matters very little. To a greater or lesser extent, the problem affects the ocean in its entirety.

What impact is this huge amount of garbage having on marine biology?

The impacts are many, and quite severe. Abandoned nets, plastic tarps, fishing gear and other debris can smother and crush sensitive ecosystems and their bottom-dwelling species. Fishing line, nets, rope and other debris can entangle and drown many wildlife species. Animals can also ingest debris, which can lead to starvation and/or choking.

Studies have shown that fish and other marine life do eat plastic, suffering from irritation, damage to the digestive system, and/or malnutrition or starvation as a result. Medical and personal hygiene debris are particularly threatening for marine biology, as they may contain harmful bacteria that will propagate in waterways.

How big a threat does the growing level of pollution in the ocean pose to people?

Animals can also ingest debris, which
 can lead to starvation and/or choking,
says Watson-Wright.

In terms of direct impacts, one can quickly think of the danger that syringes and broken glass pose to barefooted beachgoers. Grocery and trash bags, fishing line, nets, rope and other debris provide examples of threats to human life, as they can wrap around boat propellers and clog seawater intakes, causing costly damage and potentially turning into a safety hazard.

It is when speaking about the indirect impacts of marine pollution that we should be most alarmed, however. Plastic debris accumulates pollutants such as PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) up to 100,000 to 1,000,000 times the levels found in seawater. Banned in the US for some time now, PCBs could potentially make their way back into human life cycles everywhere via marine animals that have ingested plastic with high PCB levels. The negative impact on humans from consuming these infected animals is high and could result in severe poisoning.

What can be done to solve the problem?

The answer to this question is not as simple as one would think, as we can't even talk about cleaning it all up. It is not cost-effective to skim the surface of the entire ocean, and even a cleanup focusing on "garbage patches" would be challenging and financially onerous.

Taking into consideration that debris concentration in "garbage patches" moves and changes constantly, that these are incredibly large areas, and waste particles are not distributed evenly within the "patches," the whole question adds up to a huge challenge. That is without mentioning the fact that these areas of marine debris concentration may also be repositories for certain types of marine life, making a simple "skimming job" risky for marine biodiversity in those areas.

Watson-Wright: "The only solution is
to implement wise waste-disposal
management policies on land"

The only solution is to implement wise waste-disposal policies on land to make sure that plastic and other harmful materials go through appropriate waste management schemes and stay far clear of the ocean. This may seem like a large task for governments at the local and national levels, but every citizen can do his or her part by responsibly disposing of trash, participating in local cleanups, reducing your waste and rethinking overall consumption patterns. Remember the 3 R's: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!

Dr. Wendy Watson-Wright is Executive Secretary of UNESCO's Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) in Paris. The United Nations body for ocean science, ocean observatories, ocean data and information exchange, and ocean services such as Tsunami warning systems.

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Philippine Airlines Quits Flying Shark Fins Amid Outcry

Jakarta Globe – AFP,  Apr 24, 2014

A family eats shark fin soup at Vancouver's Grand Honor Chinese restaurant
 in Vancouver, British Columbia, in this file photo. Philippine Airlines (PAL) said
on April 24, 2014 it has stopped flying shark fin cargoes. (Reuters Photo/Ben Nelms)

Manila. Philippine Airlines (PAL) said Thursday it has stopped flying shark fin cargoes, joining a number of other Asia-Pacific carriers in taking a stand for marine conservation.

The fins are used in shark fin soup, a much-valued delicacy in Hong Kong and China.

Conservationists say booming demand for such fins has put pressure on the world’s shark populations, prompting calls for measures to restrict their trade.

“PAL values the issue on protection and conservation of endangered marine life seriously, recognizing that the company’s long-term interest is and should be consistent with sustainable and responsible business practices,” a PAL statement said.

Air New Zealand as well as South Korea’s two largest airlines, Korean Air and Asiana, separately announced last year that they would ban shark fins from their cargo flights, a year after Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific also stopped shipping them.

Fiji Airways announced last year it would no longer carry “shark fins and shark-related products sourced from unsustainable and unverified sources”, and would only carry fins from species not threatened with extinction.

Agence France-Presse

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China tests its fastest ship in S China Sea

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2014-04-07

The Xianzhou 1, China's first ground effect vehicle. (Internet Photo)

The Chinese version of the Lun-class ekranoplan — which can attain level flight just off the surface of the earth — has recently completed its first sea trial over the waters off the coast of Hainan in the South China Sea, reported state broadcaster China Central Television.

Like the Russian Lun-class ekranoplan, China's domestically crafted Xianzhou 1 is neither an aircraft, seaplane, hovercraft nor hydrofoil, but a ground effect vehicle. Using the aerodynamic interaction between the wings and the surface known as ground effect, Xianzhou 1 attains level flight near the earth's surface. Classified as a maritime ship by the International Maritime Organization, the ground effect vehicle is faster than any other types of vessel in the world.

The Xianzhou 1 is 12.7 meters long and 3.9 meters high, according to the report. It has a maximum takeoff weight of 2.5 tons and cruises at speeds between 140 and 160 kilometers an hour. China has been developing its own ground effect vehicle since the 1960s. Various types of smaller ekranoplans, including the DXF100, Albatross and Tianyi 1, had been previously designed in the nation. In 1999, the Tianyi became China's first ground effect vehicle to be tested on an inland river.

After the establishment of the city of Sansha in the South China Sea, the ekranoplan has taken an added role not only as a patrol ship over the South China Sea's disputed waters, but also a vehicle for merchant activities in the region. While it takes an ordinary ship 15 hours to travel between Sanya and Woody Island, located in the Paracels, it takes the Xianzhou 1 just two.

Drills such as navigation, take off, landing, ground effect level flight, climbing and rotation maneuvers were carried on during Xianzhou 1's tests. Wang Xiaodong, the test pilot of Xianzhou 1, said that flying a ground effect vehicle is actually safer than flying an aircraft because there is always runway just under its feet.

Missing MH370 likely to have disintegrated mid-flight: experts

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2014-03-09

A Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 commercial jet. (Photo/Xinhua)

The disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which lost contact with aviation authorities en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur at 1:20am on Saturday morning, is most likely due to a sudden breakup of the plane mid-flight, according to Chinese experts.

An air search and rescue mission continues in the South China Sea where the Boeing 777 — carrying 239 passengers, including 154 Chinese nationals and one Taiwanese national — is likely to have crashed. The team is on a race against time to search for the plane's black box, which records flight data and cockpit voice transmissions, though at the time of writing the box's signals have yet to be detected.

On Sunday morning, Hugh Dunleavy, commercial director at Malaysia Airlines, suggested the reason why the black box — which can ordinarily radiate signals for 200km-300km — has not yet been found may be due to the seriousness of the plane's disintegration.

Song Wenbin, an aviation expert at the Shanghai Jiao Tong University, told Chinese-language Beijing Times that it is unlikely that the disappearance of flight MH370 was caused by weather. The plane lost contact around 40 minutes after departure, which means it would have likely exceeded an altitude of 10,000 meters, where influences of the weather become minimal, Song said.

Ma Wei, a lecturer at the same university, said it is unusual for a plane's signal to be completely severed. Even if flight MH370 experienced an engine problem that affected its communication system, there are sufficient backups in place to keep the system up and running, Wei said. It is also improbable that the communication system was shut down manually as a plane has more than a single communication system and has other ways of notifying air traffic control, he added.

A hijacking has been considered another possibility, though Chinese air force test pilot Xu Yongling said it is unlikely for this to have occurred without anyone on board making contact with the land before the plane crashed. Cockpits of modern commercial flights have excellent safety features, Xu said, adding that pilots can activate the SOS system without leaving their seats.

Zhou Jisheng, an aircraft designer at Guangdong Changsheng Aircraft Design Co, told the Beijing Times that the most likely possiblity is that the plane experienced a sudden breakup which did not allow the plane's crew sufficient time to notify aviation authorities.

Song concurs with Zhou's assessment but said that if this were the case, the debris would be scattered across a large area and should have been easily spotted by rescue teams. Given that the plane has not yet been spotted, it is also possible that the entire plane, or at least most of it, crashed into the sea at the same time, he said.

Zhou said there are two possibilities if the plane did disintegrate mid-air. The first is some kind of catastrophic structural failure stemming from corrosion and wear and tear over time or the plane's pressurization and depressurization system. The other is an explosion caused by a bomb or similar device.

The Beijing-based Economic Observer reported, citing aviation experts, that the probability that flight MH370 was brought down by a terrorist attack or bomb is higher than that of mechanical failure. If there was some kind of mechanical failure which caused the plane to drop from the sky, it would still take at least six to seven minutes, providing crew plenty of time to make contact with ground control, the paper said.

Malaysia's acting Transport Minister Hishamuddin Hussein looks 

on a map of a search corridor during a press conference at a hotel

near the Kuala Lumpur International Airport, in Sepang, Malaysia,

Monday, March 17, 2014. Twenty-six countries are involved in the

massive international search for the Malaysia Airlines jetliner that

disappeared on March 8 with 239 people aboard. (AP Photo/

Vincent Thian)

Relatives of flight MH370 passengers take their protest to the

Malaysian embassy in Beijing, March 25. (Photo/CNS)

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Archangel Michael: Spring Means the Time of Rebirth and Awakening – The Golden Age of Gaia, Steve Beckow, March 22, 2014

....SB: That’s very good, Lord. Thank you. I’m going to move quickly to Flight 370, and then hopefully a short talk on global citizenry.

Ashira said that Flight 370 had exploded, but he didn’t say what the cause of the explosion was. Others have said that a secret naval weapon was used to cause it to disintegrate. And recently a prominent channel said the plane was suffering from hydraulic failure, was in an uncontrolled state, at risk of imminent destruction; whisked out of the air in mid-flight, was taken aboard an enormous spaceship from Sirius claimed to be part of the Federation fleet under the Ashtar Command whose full report is available from a certain website.

Now, Ashira said they took a few people up who still wanted to remain in form, but the rest — they passed on. What is the truth, Lord?

AAM: This is not an action — let us put it this way — this is not an action that your star brothers and sisters have been deeply involved in. This is an action of what we would refer to, or Gabrielle would refer to, as of violence, of sabotage, of subterfuge. And it has continued.

So there are lies upon lies upon lies. And what is occurring … this is a terrible situation. And it is painful to so many. But what it is also doing for humanity, it is bringing up what we would call shared compassion and grief. Because if you were to look at the grief and the confusion and the compassion component of what is being felt and emanating from the hearts of the collective, individuals all over the planet, it is out of alignment with the situation even including those who have been on the plane and who have suffered and the families that are left suffering the loss of their loved ones.

So it has amplified and shown the global community, in a time when there has been much strife and conflict on the ground, the other side of the scale, where you are seeing the global community coming together in compassion and sending healing for many. It is also bringing together the global community in saying, “We require, we demand truth.” Because there have been such significant untruths, every step of the way. And now what is occurring, among what you think are responsible agencies of many countries, is that they are looking for scapegoats. They are looking for situations to hang this on.

The truth will come out, but the function of this act of violence has been hijacked in many ways not by your star brothers and sisters but by the Company of Heaven to teach several very important, critical, timely lessons. The ship has not been taken on board a mothership elsewhere. That is false hope.

SB: Where is the ship, Lord? Is it blown to smithereens, or is it at the bottom of the ocean?

AAM: For all intents and purposes, it is not intact. We cannot give you the totality because that would be breaking our agreement.

SB: And then of course you couldn’t tell us what nation did it, either?

AAM: It is not so much a nation as individuals acting independently.

SB: All right. I’m not sure whether I should go further in trying to get more details, or…. whether….

AAM: Please do not.....

Message from Matthew and Ashtar via Suzy Ward: March 20, 2014 – Missing Malaysian Airlines Plane

Ashira on Malaysian Flight 370 and the Ukraine - The Golden Age of Gaia, Steve Beckow, March 11, 2014

On Heavenly Blessings today, Suzi Maresca asked Ashira, Commander of the Neptune, what caused the loss of Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 and Ashira replied:

 “It was not interdimensional slippage and they were not taken by us. So let us be very clear. We would not do that. Not at this point because from our perspective that would be seen as an act of war or an act of terrorism. We would not break that many hearts.

“So what happened was that there was an explosion and the ship went down. Could we have saved it? There are certain things that we are not permitted to interfere with. But let us also …. now this is what we can say … on that ship [everyone?] was taken care of. …

“There were many upon that ship who as a collective had agreed to leave together … and this is something that often happens … there is a group soul, whether you believe it or not. Now those who did not want to pass from their form were beamed up.”

"THE THREE WINDS" – Feb 23-24, 2013 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Humanity, Home - other side of the veil, Wind of Birth - Birth, Wind of Existence - Life, Wind of Transition - Death) - (Text version)