The preliminary investigation report released by Dutch Safety Board into the crash of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 says the Boeing 777-20...
The findings reiterates the earlier conclusion of being shot down using anti aircraft guns or missiles. The pattern of wreckage on the ground also suggested that the aircraft split into pieces inflight.
The pattern of damage to the aircraft fuselage and the cockpit is consistent with that which may be expected from a large number of high-energy objects that penetrated the aircraft from outside. It’s likely that this damage resulted in a loss of structural integrity of the aircraft, leading to an in-flight break up. This also explains the abrupt end to the data registration on the recorders, the simultaneous loss of contact with air traffic control and the aircraft's disappearance from radar.
Based on the available maintenance history the airplane was airworthy when it took off from Amsterdam and there were no known technical problems.
The investigation found no indications that the MH17 crash was caused by a technical fault or by actions of the crew.
The cockpit voice recorder, the flight data recorder and data from air traffic control all suggest that flight MH17 proceeded as normal until 13:20:03 (UTC), after which it ended abruptly. A full listening of the communications among the crew members in the cockpit recorded on the cockpit voice recorder revealed no signs of any technical faults or an emergency situation. Neither were any warning tones heard in the cockpit that might have pointed to technical problems.
The flight data recorder registered no aircraft system warnings, and aircraft engine parameters were consistent with normal operation during the flight. The radio communications with Ukrainian air traffic control confirm that no emergency call was made by the cockpit crew. The final calls by Ukrainian air traffic control made between 13.20:00 and 13.22:02 (UTC) remained unanswered.
The DSB said it will publish the final report within one year of the date of the crash.
The flight MH17 en route from Amsterdam to Kuala-Lumpur, crashed on Thursday 17th of July 2014 in the region of Donetsk, Ukraine, killing all the 298 abroad.
