Five Years after MH370, Malaysia Airlines Is Tracking Planes in Flight

 

About once a month, a group of Malaysians gather at a coffee shop or a home in Kuala Lumpur. They meet to support each other and to keep the memory of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 alive.

Five years ago, the Malaysia Airlines plane disappeared on its way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. Search efforts covered an area from Southeast Asia to the coast of Africa. But neither the plane nor any of the 239 people it carried were found.

Investigators¹ became hopeful when, in July 2015, a piece of the plane’s wing was found in the Indian Ocean east of Madagascar. But authorities officially suspended the search in January 2017.

Jacquita Gonzales’ husband, Patrick Gomes, was an inflight supervisor² on the plane. Gonzales’ home is often the meeting place for family members of the missing.

“It goes beyond a group waiting for answers,” she told the Reuters news agency. “It has become a family as well, an extended family.”

Calvin Shim is raising his two children without his wife, Christine Tan. She was a crew member on flight MH370. “The other families know exactly how each of us feel,” he said at a recent meeting at Gonzales’ home.

New satellite tracking system

Since the 1940s, ground-based radar³ systems have been used to follow planes and other aircraft in flight. But this kind of system cannot track aircraft over large areas of the world’s oceans.

This is one reason why the Malaysia Airlines plane has not been found.

The disappearance⁴ of MH370 renewed the world’s attention on tracking aircraft around the world. Shortly after the disappearance, the International Civil Aviation⁵ Organization (ICAO) pushed for quick action “to improve tracking of aircraft in flight.”

The United Nations organization is now asking that aircraft be fitted with a tracking system that reports its position every 15 minutes. By 2021, the organization also wants aircraft to be able to send information once every minute when in trouble.

In April 2017, Malaysia Airlines announced that it would be one of the first airlines to use Aireon's space-based system to track its planes in flight. Aireon says its system uses 66 satellites to cover the world. It's system includes areas that lacked air traffic service in the past -- like over oceans and the North and South poles. The system uses Global Positioning System (GPS) and signals from aircraft to determine locations in real-time.

Aireon chief Don Thoma said in a statement: “Malaysia Airlines has taken a lead role in the industry since the tragic⁶ events of 2014. Real-time, global flight tracking, anywhere on the planet, will further its safety goals, by allowing Malaysia Airlines to track its aircraft anytime, anywhere.”

I'm Ashley Thompson.

Words in This Story

wing - n. one of usually two long flat part of an airplane that extend from the sides and make it possible for that plane to fly

authorities - n. people who have power to make decisions

inflight - adj. provided while you are flying in an airplane

track - v. to follow or watch the path

tragic - adj. causing strong feelings of sadness

1 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 supervisor   

n.监督人，管理人，检查员，督学，主管，导师

参考例句：

• Between you and me I think that new supervisor is a twit.我们私下说，我认为新来的主管人是一个傻瓜。
• He said I was too flighty to be a good supervisor.他说我太轻浮不能成为一名好的管理员。

3 radar   

n.雷达，无线电探测器

参考例句：

• They are following the flight of an aircraft by radar.他们正在用雷达追踪一架飞机的飞行。
• Enemy ships were detected on the radar.敌舰的影像已显现在雷达上。

4 disappearance   

n.消失，消散，失踪

参考例句：

• He was hard put to it to explain her disappearance.他难以说明她为什么不见了。
• Her disappearance gave rise to the wildest rumours.她失踪一事引起了各种流言蜚语。

5 aviation   

n.航空，航空学，飞机制造业

参考例句：

• Ten years ago,they began to develop the aviation. 十年前，他们开始发展航空工业。
• Pilots of large aircraft are masters of aviation.大型飞行器的驾驶员是航空学方面的专家。

6 tragic   

adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的

参考例句：

• The effect of the pollution on the beaches is absolutely tragic.污染海滩后果可悲。
• Charles was a man doomed to tragic issues.查理是个注定不得善终的人。