Tuesday, July 22: Pro-Russian rebels turned over MH17’s black boxes on Tuesday to investigators as international monitors finally received unmitigated access to the wide-spread crash site in eastern Ukraine. According to reports, what they have found is far from heartening.
Evidence of tampering was said to be rampant on-site. The cockpit was found inexplicably sawed in half, while rear fuselage sections were discovered to have been hacked into. Other sections had been moved and altered.
Exactly why such actions were taken remains the central question. The pro-Russian rebels were already suspected of being responsible for Thursday’s attack, accidentally or otherwise, and the actions at the crash-site have only bolstered those accusing the rebels of staging a cover-up.
Yesterday several sections of fuselage were found with damage consistent with a SA-11 SAM blast.
Malaysia Airlines flight 17 was en route Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it was shot down over eastern Ukraine on July 17th. All 298 souls aboard were lost.
July 17, 2014 at 1730 EST: At a press conference in Amsterdam, officials held a press conference, but there is still a lot not known. Currently, officials are assisting the passenger’s families in Amsterdam.
In Malaysia, the Prime Minister held a press conference and explained that there was no distress signal. Also, they are ready to help, and they have dispatched people to assist in Kiev. Additionally, Ukrainian officials are working to ensure that people will be able to access the crash site safely.
It is being reported that there were 154 Dutch on board; 27 Australian; 23 Malaysia; 11 Indonesia; 6 UK; 4 Germany; 4 Belgium; 3 Philippines; 1 Canada. However, this is not the full list of passengers on-board.
Lastly, it is reporting that U.S. officials have concluded that the plane was shot down because they were able to detect a surface to air system that was tracking an aircraft about the time the plane went down. However, it is not known who shot the plane.
Buried deep in Google’s earnings release this afternoon was word of a pretty big management shift: Nikesh Arora, the company’s Chief Business Officer, is leaving after a decade with the company. He will be taking a role at SoftBank as their Vice Chairman, and as CEO of their SoftBank Internet and Media subsidiary.
Omid Kordestani, who has been an adviser to Larry Page since stepping down from his role as Senior VP of Worldwide Sales in 2009, will take over Nikesh’s role for the time being.
After almost ten years, Nikesh Arora our Chief Business Officer, has decided to leave Google to join one of our partners, SoftBank, as Vice Chairman of SoftBank Corp. and CEO of SoftBank Internet and Media. I remember first meeting him at the British Museum, which for some reason Sergey had decided would be a good interview location. Nikesh has been a tremendous leader, adviser and mentor to many Googlers — including me. We have learned a lot together, and had a lot of fun along the way.
Omid Kordestani, who was our business founder and led our sales teams for many years, will be stepping in to lead our business organization for now. When we hired Omid we had no business people so we had all the engineers interview him around a ping pong table. I think he survived because he is actually an engineer! Omid has always been one of my closest advisors, especially since I became CEO again in 2011. He personifies the entrepreneurial spirit that is so important to Google. There is nothing Omid doesn’t know about Google, our customers and partners, and I know that under his leadership the team will excel.
Google Starts Selling Its Aerial Imagery To Maps For Business Users
Google Maps for Business is a service for enterprises and government organizations that need to visualize their assets on a map. Today, the company has announcedthat customers can now purchase Google’s aerial imagery directly from the company and use it to map public service projects, study the environmental impact of a project, or evaluate a property.
Google’s aerial and satellite imagery was already available to Maps for Business through the Maps API, but users could only view these images; they didn’t get access to the images directly and couldn’t manipulate them. “We hear from organizations that they want to own and have access to aerial imagery for their business,” a Google spokesperson told me.
For the first time, Google’s customers will now be able to use the Google Maps Engine to get access to these images. It’s worth noting that this new program doesn’t make Google’s satellite imagery available for purchase — only its aerial imagery.
For now, the Google Maps for Business imagery will only display imagery covering the continental U.S. Google says this will “help customers like government agencies get the imagery they need without collecting their own aerial photography.” Google argues that this new purchase option will also give them a way to get around the usual delivery systems for this kind of information (FTP and discs).
Purchasers will be able to import this imagery into their desktop geographic information systems, include it in their web apps using the Google Maps JavaScript API, or overlay it within Google Earth. Google tells me that pricing will vary by organization.
Pro-Moscow separatists released a train packed with bodies from the downed Malaysia Airlines plane and agreed to hand over its black boxes today, bowing to heavy international pressure four days after the jet plunged into rebel-held eastern Ukraine.
With body parts decaying in sweltering heat and signs that evidence at the crash site was mishandled, anger in Western capitals has mounted at the rebels and their allies in Moscow.
The train car is locked as a refrigerated train loaded with bodies of the passengers prepares to depart the station in Torez. Photo / AP
Their reluctant cooperation will soothe mourning families and help investigators, but may do little to reconcile the East-West powers struggling over Ukraine's future.
Russia's Defense Ministry said it saw no evidence a missile was fired and denied involvement in the downing of Flight 17 - and suggested the Ukrainian military was at fault.
President Vladimir Putin spoke out but showed no sign of abandoning the separatists as fighting flared anew near the site of the crash.
President Barack Obama accused the rebels of tampering with evidence and insulting victims' families, warning of new sanctions. Europeans will consider their own sanctions later today.
A satellite image shows the primary crash site of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17. Photo / Airbus DS/AllSource Analysis/AP
Bodies held hostage
The bodies of the 298 victims, most from the Netherlands, have become a part of the conflict in Ukraine because they could hold evidence of what brought the plane down on July 17 as it was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur.
Grief turned to anger as families begged to get the bodies of their loved ones back, while the separatists held on to the remains.
"Bodies are just lying there for three days in the hot sun. There are people who have this on their conscience," said Silene Fredriksz-Hoogzand, whose son, Bryce, and his girlfriend Daisy Oehlers died on their way to a vacation in Bali, in an interview with The Associated Press in the Netherlands.
"When I am in my bed at night, I see my son lying on the ground. ... They have to come home, not only those two. Everybody has to come home."
International forensics experts finally gained access to the crash site on Monday - an emotional experience for the head of the Dutch National Forensic Investigations Team, Peter Van Vliet. Seeing the wreckage gave him goosebumps, he said.
The team stumbled across remains that had not yet been removed and inspected the perished passengers' luggage.
Flowers placed in front of the Asian Glories restaurant, after a walk to commemorate victims of Flight 17 in Rotterdam. Photo / AP
Stand-off over death train
In Torez, a rebel-held town 15km from the crash site, inspectors bowed heads and clasped hands before climbing aboard refrigerated train cars holding the collected bodies. Armed rebels surrounded them, while commuters boarded other trains nearby.
The smell of decay was overwhelming. Workers wore masks, while passersby twisted their faces in horror at the odor. Temperatures hit 84 degrees F (29 degrees C), and a train engineer told the AP that a power outage had hit the refrigeration system temporarily overnight.
The rebels in Torez did not appear too conciliatory as the tense day wore on. They repeatedly tried to block reporters from access to the visiting experts, growing more aggressive throughout.
Trucks arrived at the Torez station with plastic bags apparently filled with body parts, as well as piles of luggage - suitcases, backpacks, a purse with a Louis Vuitton label.
Ukrainian authorities said the total number of bodies recovered was 282.
Dutch investigators demanded the separatists transfer the bodies immediately, and the rebels complied after several hours.
With a long whistle and puff of smoke, the train bearing the bodies pulled slowly out of the station. Rebels holding automatic rifles walked alongside as it chugged away, a cluster of children on bicycles looking on.
It was headed through troubled territory, its destination not 100 percent clear.
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte told reporters the train was heading for the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk, controlled by rebels, and then on to Kharkiv, site of a crisis center controlled by the Ukrainian government.
He said Ukrainian authorities have agreed to let the bodies be transferred from there to the Netherlands for identification, but gave no time frame.
Malaysia's prime minister said the rebels agreed to hand over both black boxes from Flight 17 to Malaysian investigators in Ukraine later today.
Toys and flowers placed at the crash site of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17. Photo / AP
'Strange behaviour' at crash site
A team of international observers at the sprawling crash site described strange behavior by workers.
"When we were leaving, we observed workers there hacking into the fuselage with gas-powered equipment," OSCE spokesman Michael Bociurkiw told reporters in Donetsk.
He said there was no security perimeter Monday at one of the bigger debris fields, and monitors saw that one of the largest pieces of the plane "had somewhat been split or moved apart."
In Washington, Obama asked, "What exactly are they trying to hide?"
"This is an insult to those who have lost loved ones. This is the kind of behavior that has no place in the community of nations," he said.
Yesterday the US said there was "powerful" evidence that the rebels had shot down the plane with a Russian surface-to-air missile, including video of a rocket launcher, one surface-to-air missile missing, being driven away from the likely launch site; imagery showing the firing; phone calls claiming credit for the missile strike and phone recordings said to reveal a cover-up at the crash site.
Russian officials held a press conference to claim a Ukrainian fighter jet flew close to the passenger plane before it was downed. Photo / AP
The Russian Defense Ministry offered its own evidence Monday, showing photos it said proved that Ukrainian surface-to-air systems were operating in the area before the crash - nine times alone the day the plane was brought down.
Russian officials also said they had evidence a Ukrainian Su-25 fighter jet had flown "between 3 to 5km" from the Malaysia Airlines jet.
"(The plane) is armed with air-to-air R-60 rockets, which can hit a target from a distance of up to 12km and guaranteed within 5km," said the chief of Russia's General staff, Lt Gen Andrei Kartopolov.
Defense ministry officials insisted Russia had not given the rebels any surface-to-air missiles - and said they have no evidence that any missiles were launched at all. They asked the US to share any satellite images of the launch.
Putin accused others of exploiting the downing of the plane for "mercenary objectives." He said Kiev authorities had reignited the fighting after a unilateral cease-fire expired without progress on peace talks.
At the UN, the Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution demanding international access to the crash site and an end to military activities around the area, following intense pressure on a reluctant Russia to support the measure.
Fighting in eastern Ukraine began in mid-April after Russia annexed Ukraine's southern Crimean Peninsula a month earlier.
Battles erupted again Monday between the separatists and government troops in the eastern rebel-held city of Donetsk, 50km to the west of the crash site, according to city authorities. An AP reporter heard several explosions and saw smoke rising from the direction of the city airport.
Boeing detailed new passenger experience goals for its 777X program Tuesday in Farnborough.
Critics of the jet have pointed to the perceived steps backwards to aluminum fuselages after major advances in paxex in the 787 program. But Scott Fancher, Boeing’s general manager of airplane development, announced that many of the advances wrought from the 787 will be carried over to the 777.
“We’re going to replicate [the 787 interior] and go beyond [with the 777X cabin]” said Fancher. That means, according to Fancher, next-gen LED lighting, lower cabin noise, higher humidity, 15% larger windows, and a cabin pressurization of 6,000 feet.
Yet how exactly Boeing would accomplish such a feat remains unknown, with Boeing largely dodging related questions. Instead, Fancher says Boeing “understands the structure well. We understand our product well.” ” We know how much design margin [we have]. We figured out a way to embed that capability [lower cabin altitude] in [the 777X] with modest investment.
Certainly interesting developments, but ones that still beg more questions than answers.
While Embraer had its official E2 demo cabin launch earlier this week at Farnborough (something we missed thanks to the A330neo launch), we had a chance to get to know it a little better today. For the moment, we’ll stick to a photo tour with a few high level thoughts, though a bigger piece on the airplane will be coming later this week.
First, the staggered first class cabin was impressive. Granted it’s up to each carrier how to organize its cabin, and frequently what a manufacturer recommends isn’t what a carrier actually does, but it highlights a surprisingly premium configuration for what amounts to a regional jet. As the airplane continues to extend its range this could have increasing utility.
Second, the economy cabin doesn’t disappoint either. Taking a more honest bent, the carrier loads in a number of pitches, ranging from 36″ down to 29″. It is outfitted with slim-line seats, and a multitude of IFE options ranging for hard-wired in seat to iPad self-install. Windows are larger, some 30%, also a nice touch.
Again, we’ll have a bigger feature on it later this week, but we wanted to make sure our faithful readers saw the photos. Enjoy!
Flashback: Two Korean Air Lines Airliners Shot Down
Malaysia Airlines flight 17 was reportedly shot down over Ukraine yesterday. If this turns out to be true, it will be just one of more than a dozen plane crashes due to shots being fired.
Within six years, two Korean Air Lines flights were shot down by the Soviet Union in the 1970s and 1980s. Although more than a dozen airliner crashes have occurred due to missile strikes, the Korean Air Lines cases seem to be the two most well-known cases.
Korean Air Lines 902
Map by Kalflt902 via Wikimedia Commons
On April 20, 1978, Korean Air Lines flight 902 departed Paris, France for Seoul, South Korea. A little more than halfway into the flight, it planned to stop in Anchorage, Alaska to refuel.
During the flight, the course was changed, and now, the aircraft was headed southeast toward Murmansk, Russia.
The Boeing 707 did not have an inertial navigation system, and there was an error in calculating magnetic declination. The error caused the plane to fly in an enormous, right-turning arc.
It flew over the Soviet Union, and an interceptor was dispatched to investigate.
According to Soviet reports, the airliner repeatedly ignored commands to follow the interceptor. Though, tapes released helped us see that the captain of KAL902 transmitted a call signal three times immediately prior to being shot down and attempted to communicate with the intercepting pilot.
However, the interceptor was commanded to fire missiles at the jet, and the second one hit the left wing.
For 40 minutes, flight 902 searched for a place to land, and finally, it landed on the ice of the frozen Korpijarvi Lake in Karelian ASSR,
107 of the 109 passengers and crew survived the crash.
Korean Air Lines Flight 007
Map via Wikimedia Commons by Mgarin73
Korean Air Lines flight 007 departed from New York City to Seoul via Anchorage just before midnight on August 30, 1983.
On its final leg back to Seoul, the 747 strayed into Soviet airspace. It is believed that there was an incorrect setting on the plane’s autopilot. The aircraft began drifting off course, and it strayed into Soviet airspace.
Korean Air Lines flight 007 was shot down by a Sukhoi Su-15 fighter jet. Missiles hit the back of the plane and destroyed three of its four hydraulic systems. However, the plane continued to fly until it crashed into the ocean 12 minutes later.
All 269 passengers and crew aboard were killed.
Many years after the crash, the Soviet pilot who pulled the trigger that day said he noticed that the aircraft had a double-decker configuration, and he had wondered if it was a civilian aircraft. However, he told CNN that he had “fulfilled his mission” to “destroy the intruder.” However, it later surfaced that no attempt was made to contact the airliner via radio which was against ICAO standards and recommended practices.
July 17, 2014 at 1730 EST: At a press conference in Amsterdam, 
officials held a press conference, but there is still a lot not known. Currently, officials are assisting the passenger’s families in Amsterdam.
