Ghyslain Wattrelos, who lost family members traveling on MH370
The article that follows, translated from French, appeared on the website 20 Minutes with AFP:
While all other countries have stopped investigating, France is not giving up. The investigators in charge of the case of the disappearance of flight MH370 of Malaysia Airlines hope to soon go to the United States where crucial investigations must move forward, Ghyslain Wattrelos, who lost four family members in the disaster, announced Thursday.
On March 8, 2014, 239 people disappeared after taking off from Kuala Lumpur aboard a Boeing bound for Beijing. Other than some debris that seem to belong to it were recovered in the Indian Ocean, no trace of the 239 passengers has ever been found. Ghyslain Wattrelos has notably lost his wife and two of his children in the plane’s disappearance.
On Thursday, he was received with his lawyer Marie Dosé by the judge of instruction in charge of the judicial inquiry opened in France, to take stock of the investigations and the avenues to explore by the investigators.
Questions for the FBI and Boeing
Among the priorities that mobilize the investigators, a trip to the United States is “back on the agenda”. A previous trip was cancelled in September, even though it was part of an international rogatory commission launched in October 2017, they announced at a press conference Thursday. According to Dosé, this trip had to be canceled, as the US authorities opposed “confidentiality clauses” and then the “industrial secret” of the manufacturer Boeing.
“We are a little angry and now we want to say stop, it is time that the United States really cooperate on this issue,” responded Ghyslain Wattrelos. “It is necessary to go there because there are three entities that hold important information for understanding what happened on this flight,” he continued. Starting with Boeing and the FBI, even if the investigators seem to have obtained assurances from the intelligence agency that they could be received, he said.
A hacking of Satcom?
But attention is now also focused on a third entity, a company uncovered by investigators. The challenge, according to Ghyslain Wattrelos, is whether it sells software capable of reprogramming or even hacking the Satcom, the antenna that communicates to the Inmarsat satellite signal from the aircraft. “The essential trail is the Inmarsat data. Either they are wrong or they have been hacked,” he says. However, these satellite data are essential to better understand the trajectory of the aircraft.”
The release of the Malaysian investigation report in July had dampened Ghyslain Wattrelos’ hopes, but since then French investigators have suggested new theories to explore. In particular, the investigators found “inconsistencies” in the Malaysian investigation’s official report, and the presence of “curious” passengers, whom “we should continue to investigate”. Among them is a Malaysian traveler with a troubling profile: he was seated under the Satcom module, and proved to be an expert in aeronautics, according to Ghyslain Wattrelos and his lawyer.
[End of story]
It’s not clear what additional information the French investigators expect to obtain while in the US. Boeing has cooperated with the Annex 13 investigation team, and is unlikely to provide private French investigators with data that has not already been made public. Meanwhile, the FBI is unlikely to release information on matters related to ongoing or past investigations.
The mysterious “third entity” referred to by Mr Wattrelos that might be selling software capable of maliciously altering SATCOM data is also unknown, although there are a handful of companies in the US and Canada that supply hardware and software for designing, building, and testing parts of the Inmarsat network.
Independent investigators that are studying this mystery are at an impasse. Although the overwhelming consensus is that MH370 did indeed crash in the Southern Indian Ocean, the considerable efforts of official and private investigators have not succeeded in locating the debris field on the seabed. The data we have, notably the satellite data, is imprecise, so additional data is needed to reconstruct the trajectory of the plane.
There is always the chance that during Mr Wattrelos’ visit to the US, some new evidence or insights will be uncovered that help us to better understand the disappearance and to find the plane.
More likely, the existence of helpful new information will be found in Malaysia.
Update on October 23, 2018
The following article, translated from French, was published in the L’Essor, which is the [unofficial, self-described] French journal for the military police.
MH370: Gendarmes waiting for a green light for a trip to the United States
The investigators of the research section (SR) of the Gendarmerie Air Transport (GTA) are waiting for the green light from US authorities to travel to the United States related to the case of the disappearance of the flight MH370 Malaysia airlines, more than four years ago.
The SR of the GTA is responsible for the judicial inquiry, opened in France, on the death of 239 people, including four French, aboard the Boeing who disappeared on March 8, 2014 after taking off from Kuala Lumpur for Beijing. Debris likely to belong to the aircraft have been discovered in the Indian Ocean but no trace of the 239 passengers has ever been found.
The gendarmes work within the framework of an international rogatory commission launched in October 2017 by the French justice. A trip to the United States, scheduled for September, had to be canceled and French investigators are waiting for the green light from the US authorities.
The investigators want to check overseas if a US company sells software capable of reprogramming or even hacking the Satcom. This system is used by airlines to transmit messages about the state of the aircraft in flight and its communications.
[End of story]
This story, if true, suggests that the French judiciary system, and in turn the military police that are assigned to the case, are seriously considering whether the Inmarsat data was corrupted by a malicious intrusion into the SATCOM onboard MH370. Considering that the Inmarsat data is consistent with the aircraft crashing in the SIO near the 7th arc, and that the timing and location of the recovered parts from the aircraft also suggest that the aircraft crashed in the SIO, to doubt the Inmarsat data implies doubting the veracity of the recovered parts. This is the first time a government investigative body is known to be seriously considering a hack of the SATCOM combined with planting of debris.
To say the least, most private investigators believe there are more productive avenues to pursue. However, an honest, competent investigation of any type is to be welcomed, and there is always the chance some new evidence or insights will be uncovered that help us to better understand the disappearance and to find the plane.