When a 33,000 flying-hour pilot says lithium batteries downed Malaysia Flight MH 370, he deserves credibility. This is especially since he has flown every Boeing airliner in current operation. Moreover, Captain Ross Aimer points to an earlier incident in which a UPS freighter caught fire and crashed near Dubai.
Captain Aimer Explains How Lithium Batteries Downed MH 370
The UAE’s official report says their investigation concludes “with reasonable certainty” that the UPS fire started in the cargo hold. And moreover this was in “an element of the cargo that contained, among other items, lithium batteries“. Captain Ross Aimer explained to Daily Star Online on 12 November 2018 how desperate these situations are.
“Although the UPS Boeing 777 had a very sophisticated cargo fire suppression system, it cannot handle this type of carnage.” Unfortunately the incident happened during a handover between Malaysian and Vietnamese air traffic controllers. Therefore, there may be gaps in radio transmissions that might have helped explain how lithium batteries downed the 777 airplane.
Captain Aimer, who currently flies for United Airlines, feels frustrated by Air Malaysia’s initial response to the incident. “I was pleading with the Malaysian authorities to let the superpowers take over the search.”
“Let’s Use Technology to Find the Aircraft”
“I warned them we only had a small window of opportunity before the (black box) pingers would go silent, after about 30 days. After which the possibility of discovery would become extremely hard. Unfortunately, because of national pride or perhaps other reasons, they did not listen.”
Once again, we have to ask questions about including large quantities of lithium batteries in cargoes of passenger aircraft. What was so urgent about the consignment that put passengers at fatal risk? Daily Star Online concludes, “The mystery continues to rumble on …” but this is not good enough.
Captain Aimer could be right when he pleads, “Let’s put some smart minds together and use the technology we have to find this thing.” Let’s find out once and for all whether lithium batteries downed Malaysia Flight MH 370.
Related
How to Extinguish Lithium Battery Fires
Is This the End of Lithium Battery Fires?
Preview Image: 9M-MRO, The Aircraft that Disappeared
