[Peetwo]

GD – “I like young Mitchell Bingemann, a good young IOS member in the making. Plus he looks like a young Dick Smith, now I really like him!”

I’d say well done ‘The Australian’.  Since the departure of the obsequious Creedy, the quality of reporting matters aeronautical has greatly improved, to the point where I can look forward to reading the paper again, without cringing or vowing never to buy the thing again.  ‘Iggins and now Bingemann along with the bright spark in Tas (??) are actually openly acknowledging and discussing some of the problems created by the government departments.  Publicly funded self styled ‘safety’ agencies which not only have the potential to be causal to the event of a serious accident, but will go to extraordinary lengths to minimise the chances of the public finding out ‘why’ their loved ones perished.  

Mind you it’s about time; the MSM constantly trivialise, sensationalise or ignore aviation related stories, to the point where there is only one line worth reading; that there was an incident when, and where, after that ‘reports’ become farcical.  Bravo ‘the Oz’.

2nd the Mitch (give-'em-hell) Bingemann sentiment, maybe the Oz has finally unearthed the next Aviation Editor, if nothing else MB certainly is busy. Today he has teamed with 'that man' Higgins - here - & on his own on a series of MH370 latest update articles: 

Chinese search vessel set to join MH370 hunt by end of February

• Mitchell Bingemann
  
• The Australian
  
• January 29, 2016 2:20PM
  

Reporter
Sydney
Mitchell Bingemann has spent the past decade reporting on the happenings of the technology and telecommunications sectors in Australia. He joined the Australian in July 2008 as part of the paper's award winning IT section before taking up the business telecommunications round in 2009. He was awarded the best news journalist of 2010 at the Microsoft IT Journalism Awards for a series of articles detailing movements in the telecommunications sector and investigations into the National Broadband Network.


The Chinese government has finally joined the hunt for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, sending a search vessel that will join in the underwater search by the end of February.

China promised in November to send a search vessel to join the hunt for the missing Boeing 777 which disappeared in March 2014 on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board.

But it has taken more than two months to mobilise a crew and vessel to join the search operations currently being undertaken in the southern Indian Ocean.

The addition of the Chinese ship, the Dong Hai Jiu 101, is part of a $20m commitment from the Chinese government to find the missing flight.

• More: Ignoring ‘overwhelming’ evidence
  
  

Australia has committed $60m to the cost of the search.

The ship has been refitted and will be equipped with the ProSAS-60 — a 6,000 metre depth-rated synthetic aperture sonar (SAS) towed system to be used in search operations.

“The ProSAS-60 will be operated by Phoenix International Holdings and Hydrospheric Solutions; both companies have experience in the search for MH370 having previously operated on the search vessel GO Phoenix,” Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development Warren Truss said.

“The ship is currently in Singapore for mobilisation and is expected to depart for Australia on Sunday (31 January). It will commence operations in the search area towards the end of February.”

The search is being carried out by the Dutch Fugro survey group, using three vessels: the Fugro Discovery; the Fugro Equator and Havila Harmony.

The search has been hampered by recent damage to two of the vessels.

The Havila Harmony sustained damage to its HiPaP pole — which is lowered through the hull and carries an acoustic transceiver used to control the autonomous search vehicles — when it was snagged on fishing nets this week.

The vessel is expected to be back in the search area early next week after repairs in Fremantle.

Earlier this week, the $1 million ‘towfish”, while being towed underwater by the Fugro Discovery, sank after it struck a mud volcano rising about 2200m above the sea floor in the southern Indian Ocean. The Fugro Equator continues the search.

Australia, Malaysia and China have committed to searching 120,000sq km for the missing aircraft. More than 85,000sq km of the sea floor have been searched so far
It is anticipated that the search of the agreed area will be completed around the middle of the year. Should no credible new information leading to the identification of a specific location of the aircraft be uncovered, the governments have agreed to not expand the search area.

The search has blown out in cost, and has not been helped by the failure of Malaysia to send a promised survey vessel.

The addition of the Chinese search vessel comes as local media in Malaysia report that a metal object, believed to be plane wreckage, washed up on the Malaysian east coast, prompting speculation for the second time in a week that debris from MH370 may have surfaced.

Local media reported that the object, which was white and measured two metres long, was spotted floating in the waters near the town of Besut in the eastern state of Terengganu on Wednesday.

The object was found along the same coastline facing the South China Sea as the Nakhon Si Thammarat province in Thailand, where suspected plane debris was found on Saturday.

Officials have said that debris did not belong to MH370.

A Malaysian Transport Ministry spokesman said officials from the Department of Civil Aviation were looking into the latest finding.

“The DCA has been informed by the police and will investigate,” the spokesman told Reuters in a text message.

-- with wires

MTF...P2