The missing ACARS message sent over the VHF link.
Today, Malaysia’s Ministry of Transport quietly released the full ACARS message log for MH370. The new log confirms that the traffic logs presented in previous reports were incomplete and edited, as asserted in a previous blog article. This release comes on the heels of a strong denial from Malaysia Airlines stating that it has “provided full cooperation and assistance to all respective authorities”.
Notably, the new log contains an additional ACARS message that was sent from MAS Operations Dispatch Center (ODC) and destined for MH370 over the VHF link. The message was sent at 18:38:51 and was intended to be displayed in the cockpit on a Control Display Unit (CDU), which a pilot uses to perform tasks such as programming the flight computers. The message was not received by MH370, and was re-sent by MAS ODC at 18:39:52, 18:40:42, and 18:41:52, failing each time. The text of the message was:
DEAR MH370. PLS ACK TEST MSG. RGDS/OC.
The new log confirms that there was a renewed attempt to initiate communications with MH370 using ACARS over the VHF link at 18:38:51. The error messages that were generated confirm that the VHF link was not available at that time, likely because MH370 was not logged into ARINC’s server. ARINC was MAS’ service provider for ACARS over VHF.
Also of note is the new ACARS message was sent about a minute before an attempted telephone call over the satellite link at 18:39:56, suggesting an increase in activity at MAS ODC at this time.
The new log contains other traffic between MAS ODC and other ground computers. This data is under examination for additional clues. The new log also confirms that the name of the MAS ODC employee that sent the ACARS messages was redacted from the message logs in previous reports.