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|title=Inmarsat and Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370
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<h2>Inmarsat and Malaysia Airlines flight MH370</h2><br />
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<p style="text-align:center;"><b>Inmarsat HQ, London UK</b> {{RefID:WMC-IMG-081}}</p>
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<p>Inmarsat is a telecommunications company, based in the United Kingdom, which provides satellite communication services.</p>
<p>The company name is derived from its' origin - the International Maritime Satellite Organization (INMARSAT) - which was established by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) in 1979 to provide satellite communications for ships participating in the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS). Inmarsat subsequently coordinated with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to provide satellite communications services to aircraft.</p>

<p>When Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 went missing on {{Day 001}} the satellite communications between MH370 and Malaysia Airlines was recorded by Inmarsat.</p> 
<p>At that time, Inmarsat was a publicly listed company (PLC). Inmarsat was purchased by Connect Bidco Limited in December 2019 and Inmarsat PLC information has been archived but some webpages related to MH370 remain available (as at January 2021).</p>

<p>The Inmarsat website is: <html><a href="https://www.inmarsat.com/" target="__blank">https://www.inmarsat.com/</a></html></p>
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<h3>Background</h3>
<p>Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 departed Kuala Lumpur International Airport on {{Day 001}} en route to Beijing. All normal communications with the aircraft ceased when the aircraft was in the vicinity of a waypoint IGARI and the boundary between the Flight Information Regions of Malaysia and Vietnam. Malaysian air traffic controllers did not notice the path of MH370 on civilian primary radar as the aircraft turned back across the Malaysian peninsula. Malaysian military radar operators did detect MH370 but took no action as it was not perceived to be a threat. Malaysian military radar tracked MH370 until it was out of range over the Andaman Sea. The last known position of MH370 was initially believed to be in the South China Sea and the search for the aircraft was moved to the Andaman Sea when the radar data was analysed and considered to be MH370.</p>
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<h3>INMARSAT <i>Classic Aero</i> Service and MH370</h3>
<p>Malaysia Airlines subscribed to a satellite communications service called <i>Classic Aero</i> provided by the UK company Inmarsat. This service enabled the transmission of data and voice communications. Data, such as ACARS traffic is routed through another service provider SITA. Voice communications would be routed through a telephone network by telecommunications providers.</p>
<p>The Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 9M-MRO on flight MH370 was equipped with satellite communications and prior to departure from Kuala Lumpur International Airport was in contact with a satellite ground station operated by Inmarsat and located near Perth in Western Australia.</p>
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<h3>Timeline</h3>
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<h5>{{Day 002}}</h5>
<p>Satellite communications between MH370 and Malaysia Airlines Operations Centre were routed through the Inmarsat ground station near Perth in Western Australia. Following the news that MH370 was missing, Inmarsat engineers reviewed logs of the communications with MH370 and realised that the aircraft had continued to fly for six hours after it had gone missing. Inmarsat shared the information with SITA, the company which processed ACARS messages for Malaysia Airlines via the Inmarsat satellites. SITA provided the information to Malaysia Airlines. Apparently, however, Malaysian authorities may have initially reacted with disbelief (see <b>[[INMARSAT/Folio 1|Folio 1]]</b>).  </p>
<p>Despite that setback, and realising the importance of the data, Inmarsat engineers continued to analyse the data.</p>

<h5>{{Day 006}}</h5>
<p>Inmarsat contacted the UK [[United Kingdom/AAIB|Air Accidents Investigation Branch]] (AAIB) to advise that, not only had routine automatic communications between one of Inmarsat's satellites and MH370 continued up to 08:19 MYT, but the data could be used to determine several possible flight paths for the aircraft. See the introduction on <b>[[INMARSAT/Folio 3|Folio 3]]</b>.</p>

<h5>{{Day 007}}</h5>
<p>Following attempts to convince Malaysian authorities that MH370 had continued to fly for a long time after its' apparent disappearance, Inmarsat released a short public statement - see <b>[[INMARSAT/Folio 2|Folio 2]]</b>.</p>

<h5>{{Day 008}}</h5>
<p>Inmarsat announced that the company had been appointed as a technical adviser to the UK Air Accident Investigation Branch on Malaysia Airlines flight MH370. Inmarsat could therefore fully support the Malaysia investigation. See <b>[[INMARSAT/Folio 4|Folio 4]]</b>.</p>

<h5>{{Day 017}}</h5>
<p>Inmarsat engineers continued to refine their analysis of the satellite communications data and concluded that the aircraft flew south in what has become known as the Southern Corridor.</p>
<p>The UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB), having worked closely with Inmarsat, provided the details to Malaysian authorities. See [[INMARSAT/Folio 3|Folio 3]]</p>
<p>Malaysia Airlines issued [[MH370News:2014/Day 017|Media Statement 23]], stating that 'Malaysia Airlines deeply regrets that we have to assume that MH370 ended in the southern Indian Ocean. As you will hear in the next hour from Malaysia’s Prime Minister, new analysis of satellite data suggests the plane went down in the Southern Indian Ocean.'</p>
<p>The Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak issued a similar [[MH370News:2014/Day 017|Press Statement on MH370]].</p>

<h5>{{Day 018}} </h5>
<p>The UK [[United Kingdom/AAIB|Air Accidents Investigation Branch]] (AAIB) released a joint public statement with Inmarsat which provided a description of the data and the conclusion that Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 flew towards the southern Indian Ocean. See <b>[[INMARSAT/Folio 3|Folio 3]]</b>.</p>

<h5>{{Day 073}}</h5>
<p>The Acting Minister of Transport instructed the Malaysian Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) to discuss with Inmarsat on the release of the Inmarsat ‘raw data’ for public consumption. See [[MH370News:2014/Day 081|27 May 2014 - MH370 PRESS STATEMENT BY DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL AVIATION MALAYSIA]].</p>

<h5>{{Day 074}}</h5>
<p>Inmarsat and the Department of Civil Aviation (Malaysia) issued a joint press statement indicating that they were working together on the satellite communication logs prior to public release. See <b>[[INMARSAT/Folio 6|Folio 6]]</b>.</p>

<h5>{{Day 081}}</h5>
<p>Version 1 of the <i>Data Communication Logs</i> was released to the public, with the [[MH370News:2014/Day 081|27 May 2014 - MH370 PRESS STATEMENT BY DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL AVIATION MALAYSIA]].</p>
<p>The logs have been converted to text (html) for inclusion as a reference document [[Communications:SATCOM Logs|MH370 Data Communication Logs]].</p>
<p>The 'raw data' was altered during preparation for public release:<br />
<ul class="ulNormal">
     <li>The data was grouped in a manner which was not chronological -  messages between 18:39:55 and 18:40:56 were extracted 'to ease reading'.</li>
     <li>The published version contains the metadata but not the message content. That is, information like the date, time, channel, and the significant data columns BFO and BTO, were provided but not the 'payload' such as ACARS message data.</li>
     <li>A revised version was released in December 2014. This included two additional log messages which were incorporated into the first two lines. This additional data was requested by members of the public and various analysts.</li>
</ul>

<h5>{{Day 214}}</h5>
<p>A paper authored by Chris Ashton, Alan Shuster Bruce, Gary Colledge and Mark Dickinson of Inmarsat, titled simply <i>The Search for MH370</i> was published in the <i>Journal of Navigation</i>. This paper explains the methodology used by the Inmarsat Team who analysed the satellite communications data relevant to the end of flight MH370 and includes calculations. The paper is Copyright © The Royal Institute of Navigation 2014, but may be distributed under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution licence. See <b>[[INMARSAT/Folio 7|Folio 7]]</b>.</p>
<p class="caption-center"><u>Source</u>: <i>The Search for MH370</i>, by Chris Ashton, Alan Shuster Bruce, Gary Colledge and Mark Dickinson (Inmarsat) <html><a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S037346331400068X" target="_blank">https://doi.org/10.1017/S037346331400068X</a></html><br />
Also: <html><a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-navigation" target="_blank"><i>The Journal of Navigation</i></a></html> / Volume 68 / Issue 1 / January 2015 </p>

<h5>{{Day 874}}</h5>
<p>The Royal Institute of Navigation awarded a Medal to the Inmarsat team that worked on the search for Malaysia Airlines MH370, as described in the paper  
<i>The Search for MH370</i> published on {{Day 214}} (above).  See <b>[[INMARSAT/Folio 5|Folio 5]]</b>.</p>
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<h3>Further Reading</h3>
<p><i>View from Inmarsat: the search for MH370 and using satellites for safety</i><br />
<html><a href="https://room.eu.com/article/View_from_Inmarsat_the_search_for_MH370_and_using_satellites_for_safety" target="__blank">https://room.eu.com/article/View_from_Inmarsat_the_search_for_MH370_and_using_satellites_for_safety</a></html></p>
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<h5>Sub-page List</h5>
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[[Category:INMARSAT]]
[[Category:UK Company]]
[[Category:SATCOM]]