McConnell claims that Cameron and Serco's National Security Adviser Maureen Baginski used the PFI model to fund the development of a virtual hijack service with imputed ad hoc waypoints by Electronic Data Systems in the Oceanic control center and Serco in FAA Contract Towers.
McConnell recommends that Serco shares be suspended until Abel Danger has completed its investigation into Cameron and Baginski's apparent role in the private-equity funding of the MH Flight 370 and Flight 17 hijacks through Serco's virtual air traffic control towers.
Prequel 1: MH370 - BOEING UNINTERRUPTIBLE AUTOPILOT - 5 Critical Questions - Sir Tim Clark - Don't Be Surpised to Lose Another B777
Serco... Would you like to know more?
"All warfare is based on deception. Hence, when we are able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must appear inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near."
"Missing Plane: Emirates Head Critical of MH 370 Investigation
Interview Conducted by Andreas Spaeth
REUTERS/Australian
Defence Force
Despite months spent
searching for Malaysia Airlines flight MH 370, not a trace has been found.
Why is there still no
trace of flight MH 370? In an interview, Sir Tim Clark, head of Emirates
Airline, is sharply critical of the investigation thus far. He believes someone
took control of the plane and maintained it until the very end.
Tim Clark has been a
senior manager at the airline Emirates since 1985 and has been instrumental in
developing it into one of the world's largest airlines. Today, the 64-year-old
is seen as a knowledgeable expert and critic of the aviation industry. His view
of the vanished Malaysian Airlines flight MH 370 is a provocative one. The
plane that disappeared was a Boeing 777 and Emirates operates 127 such
aircraft, more than any other airline in the world.
ANZEIGE
SPIEGEL ONLINE: It's
now October, seven months after the disappearance of Malaysian Airlines flight
MH 370, and we still don't know what happened. What can still be done to gain
some degree of clarity?
Clark: MH 370
remains one of the great aviation mysteries. Personally, I have the concern
that we will treat it as such and move on. At the most, it might then make an
appearance on National Geographic as one of aviation's great mysteries. We
mustn't allow this to happen. We must know what caused that airplane to
disappear.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: And
what do you think happened?
Clark: My own
view is that probably control was taken of that airplane.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: By
whom? What do you think happened?
Clark: It's
anybody's guess who did what. We need to know who was on the plane in the
detail that obviously some people do know. We need to know what was in the hold
of the aircraft. And we need to continue to press all those who were involved
in the analysis of what happened for more information. I do not subscribe to
the view that the Boeing 777, which is one of the most advanced in the world
and has the most advanced communication platforms, needs to be improved with
the introduction of some kind of additional tracking system. MH 370 should
never have been allowed to enter a non-trackable situation.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: What
do you mean by that?
Clark: The
transponders are under the control of the flight deck. These are tracking
devices, aircraft identifiers that work in the secondary radar regime. If you
turn off that transponder in a secondary radar regime, that particular airplane
disappears from the radar screen. That should never be allowed to happen.
Irrespective of when the pilot decides to disable the transponder, the aircraft
should be able to be tracked.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: What
about other monitoring methods?
Clark: The other
means of constantly monitoring the progress of an aircraft is ACARS (Eds. Note:
Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System). It is designed
primarily for companies to monitor what its planes are doing. We use it to
monitor aircraft systems and engine performance. At Emirates, we track every
single aircraft from the ground, every component and engine of the aircraft at
any point on the planet. Very often, we are able to track systemic faults
before the pilots do.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: How
might it have been possible to disable that tracking system?
Clark: Disabling
it is no simple thing and our pilots are not trained to do so. But on flight MH
370, this thing was somehow disabled, to the degree that the ground tracking
capability was eliminated. We must find systems to allow ACARS to continue
uninterrupted, irrespective of who is controlling the aircraft. If you have
that, with the satellite constellations that we have today even in remote ocean
regions, we still have monitoring capability. So you don't have to introduce
additional tracking systems.
Sir Tim Clark, 64, has
been a senior manager of Dubai-based Emirates Airline since 1985 and has been
the president and CEO of the company since 2003. In recognition of his services
to air travel, Clark, a British citizen, was recently knighted.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: What,
then, are you proposing?
Clark: My
recommendation to aircraft manufacturers that they find a way to make it
impossible to disable ACARS from the flight deck. And the transponder as well.
I'm still struggling to come up with a reason why a pilot should be able to put
the transponder into standby or to switch it off. MH 370 was, in my opinion,
under control, probably until the very end.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: If
that is the case, then why would the pilots spend five hours heading straight
towards Antarctica?
Clark: If they
did! I am saying that all the "facts" of this particular incident
must be challenged and examined with full transparency. We are nowhere near
that. There is plenty of information out there, which we need to be far more
forthright, transparent and candid about. Every single second of that flight
needs to be examined up until it, theoretically, ended up in the Indian Ocean
-- for which they still haven't found a trace, not even a seat cushion.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: Does
that surprise you? The possible crash area west of Australia is vast and the
search there only began following considerable delays.
Clark: Our
experience tells us that in water incidents, where the aircraft has gone down,
there is always something. We have not seen a single thing that suggests categorically
that this aircraft is where they say it is, apart from this so-called
electronic satellite "handshake," which I question as well.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: At
what point on the presumed flight path of MH 370 do your doubts begin?
Clark: There
hasn't been one overwater incident in the history of civil aviation -- apart from Amelia Earhart in 1939 --
that has not been at least 5 or 10 percent trackable. But MH 370 has simply
disappeared. For me, that raises a degree of suspicion. I'm totally
dissatisfied with what has been coming out of all of this.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: What
can be done to improve the investigation's transparency?
Clark: I'm not in
a position to do it; I'm essentially an airline manager. But I will continue to
ask questions and make a nuisance of myself, even as others would like to bury
it. We have an obligation to the passengers and crew of MH 370 and their
families. We have an obligation to not sweep this under the carpet, but to sort
it out and do better than we have done.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: Malaysia
Airlines has experienced two tragic catastrophes this year, the disappearance
of MH 370 and the apparent shooting down of MH 17 over
eastern Ukraine in July. If you led the company, what would you do?
Clark: Very
difficult one. None of us has been in such a situation before, having to deal
with two tragedies within a few months of each other. It will be very difficult
for Malaysia Airlines to deal with the stigma. They need to take a fresh look
at what they do, revisit their business model, possibly (consider) a
rebranding. We as an industry need to find a way to help these guys sort out
their problems. But with that kind of brand damage, it's extraordinarily
difficult.
“EDS TO WIN PFI CONTRACT FOR AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL
Wednesday 25 June 1997
| 00:00 CET | News
Electronic Data
Systems (EDS), computer services concern, will win on 26 June 1997 a GBP53 mil
private finance initiative (PFI) contract which will radically alter air
traffic control across the N Atlantic. EDS will install a system aimed at
reducing travel times, improving safety, and providing for a rise in
transatlantic traffic of 4-6%/y. The Civil Aviation Authority has selected EDS
to install an air traffic control system in the Oceanic control centre, UK.
Aircraft positions will be able to be monitored by satellite."
“Battlespace is a term used to signify a unified military
strategy to integrate and combine armed
forces for the military theatre
of operations, including air, information, la
“The PFI is ultimately a kind of project finance, a form of private
sector delivery of infrastructure that has been used since the Middle Ages.
However, the pedigree of the current private finance initiative (PFI) was in
Australia in the late 1980s.
In 1992 PFI was implemented for the first time in the UK by [David
Cameron and Norman Lamont in] the Conservative government of John Major. It
immediately proved controversial, and was attacked by the Labour
Party while in opposition. Labour critics such as the
future Cabinet Minister & Deputy Leader of the Labour
Party, Harriet Harman, considered that PFI was really a
back-door form of privatisation (House of Commons, 7 December 1993),
and the future Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair
Darling, warned that "apparent savings now could be countered by the
formidable commitment on revenue expenditure in years to come".[8] For
several years the number and value of PFI contracts were small. Nonetheless,
the Treasury considered
the scheme advantageous and pushed Tony Blair's
Labour government to adopt it after the 1997 General Election. Two
months after the party took office, the Health Secretary, Alan
Milburn, announced that "when there is a limited amount of
public-sector capital available, as there is, it's PFI or bust".[8] PFI
expanded considerably in 1996 and then expanded much further under Labour,[9] resulting
in criticism from many trade unions, elements of the Labour Party, the Scottish National Party (SNP), and
the Green Party,[10] as
well as commentators such as George
Monbiot. Proponents of the PFI include the World Bank, IMF and (in the UK)
the CBI.[11]
Yours sincerely,
Field McConnell, United States Naval Academy, 1971; Forensic Economist; 30 year airline and 22 year military pilot; 23,000 hours of safety; Tel: 715 307 8222
David Hawkins Tel: 604 542-0891 Forensic Economist; former leader of oil-well blow-out teams; now sponsors Grand Juries in CSI Crime and Safety Investigation
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