Chinese radar expert has doubts that Malaysian airliner simply 'vanished'
Radar technology is advanced enough to track an aircraft 'even after an explosion'
Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 could not just "disappear", a Chinese military radar expert said yesterday, and asked whether Vietnamese authorities were withholding crucial information or if staff had "neglected their duty".
The aircraft, a Boeing 777-200ER, had reached cruising altitude of more than 10,000 metres when it vanished over the sea between Vietnam and Malaysia, Vietnamese air traffic controllers said.
"This is very strange," the expert said. "Radar technology today is so advanced, even a piece of debris just a metre or two long can be detected easily."
Vietnamese air traffic controllers should have been able to track precisely the whereabouts of the aircraft and reproduce its flight route, said the source, who declined to be named.
Even if the aircraft broke apart in an explosion, the cloud and trajectory of its debris would still leave a trace on a radar screen.
"The plane was flying at a very high altitude. The crew had lots of time to use the emergency radio frequency for help. I find it difficult to believe that the Vietnamese did not detect anything, although some staff might have neglected their duty or were not doing their job properly," he said.