JORN and MH370's possible flight path for a 9/11 style attack on Perth, Australia

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Based on the fact that the Investigators initially stated that the actions on board MH370 were consistent with deliberate action, and based on the fact that the Investigators insist MH370 could only have flown South, I decided to determine if Perth, Australia could be reached, within the time that the Investigators have said MH370 was communicating with the Inmarsat satellite/ground station, for a possible 9/11 style attack on Perth. It could.

I am not saying MH370 did fly toward Perth for a 9/11 style attack. I am only saying that it was possible, using these flight waypoints:

WMKK WMKN IGARI BITOD IGARI WMCK WMKP VAMPI MEKAR NILAM VIROT UPROB MERIB YPPH

Using a conservative estimate of 470 kts for that entire path, MH370 would've reached Perth in 7 hours and 34.5 minutes. That time is less than the 7 hours and 38 minutes that the Investigators say MH370 communicated with the Inmarsat satellite/ground station for, from its takeoff at 16:41 UTC to its final Log-on at 00:19 UTC.

That flight plan and speed can be plotted on SkyVector.

The deliberate actions on MH370 included relying on the fact that in the location where the transponder went off, MH370 was in an ATC primary radar blind spot (as reported on BBC Two's Horizon programme "Where is Flight MH370?"). If the final destination was Perth, the deliberate actions also appear to have relied on JORN not being active as MH370 approached. (Note that I prefaced that statement with "If".)

Australia has never made a statement about whether or not JORN, which has an operating range of 1000–3000km, detected MH370. However, if JORN's Laverton OTHR system, which has a coverage area that extends through 180 degrees, didn't detect MH370, it reveals a weakness in Australia's defense.


Initial news reports about deliberate action:

On March 13, ABC News reported that unnamed US officials told them the actions on board MH370 were deliberate.

On March 15, Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak confirmed those unnamed US officials' statements:

Early this morning I was briefed by the investigation team – which includes the FAA [US Federal Aviation Administration], NTSB [US National Transportation Safety Board], the AAIB [Uk Air Accidents Investigation Branch], the Malaysian authorities and the acting minister of transport – on new information that sheds further light on what happened to MH370.

Based on new satellite information, we can say with a high degree of certainty that the Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) was disabled just before the aircraft reached the East coast of peninsular Malaysia. Shortly afterwards, near the border between Malaysian and Vietnamese air traffic control, the aircraft’s transponder was switched off.

From this point onwards, the Royal Malaysian Air Force primary radar showed that an aircraft which was believed – but not confirmed – to be MH370 did indeed turn back. It then flew in a westerly direction back over peninsular Malaysia before turning northwest. Up until the point at which it left military primary radar coverage, these movements are consistent with deliberate action by someone on the plane.

Today, based on raw satellite data that was obtained from the satellite data service provider, we can confirm that the aircraft shown in the primary radar data was flight MH370. After much forensic work and deliberation, the FAA, NTSB, AAIB and the Malaysian authorities, working separately on the same data, concur.