please, leave things to the experts. ntsb and aaib are sitting alongside the MH investigators and probably wrote the report. all it contains is the facts so far known and which I may say now gives us onlookers the first clear timeline of events. the time for criticism will come in the final report which could be years away.

To be fair there are a few other factors such as a total lack of debris or tangible signs of the aircraft's demise to this point. Nevertheless would be nice to have those facts that are known fleshed out more substantially.

Leaving things to the experts is obviously the "why & how" part of the solution. The trouble is the relatives do not have closure which is why a funeral is held.
Years ago I attended the funeral of the mid air collision between the BEA Trident & the Yugoslavian DC9. The coffin clearly only held bricks but his widow could now seek a solution & move on.
I believe the a/c is close to where the search is/has been processed. The authorities have got some some background help whether from Satellite pings or other tracking by the US or Chinese. With better subs, then I am sure it will be found.

Relating to MoT report
 

Critique the MoT report? Well...memories evidently are short (though the thread is not).....not long ago posters with experience and credentials to deserve respect for their knowledge derided or at least downplayed questions as to whether the 30-day timeline would be met (that is, the ICAO Annex 13 timeline for prelim reports). Some posters even questioned whether such a report even was indicated (or, required) in the first place - standing on the perception that the "Contact Lost" incident of MH370 might turn out to have been a deliberate act and hence not an investigatory context as an Annex 13 enquiry nominally would be.
So MoT, working under a paradigm of incident not previously defined, specifically one defying logic- and technical-based analysis, hews to the Annex 13 process with material and substantial adherence thereto ..... in other words, they complied, substantially, given the ungodly unique factual knowns AND unknowns.
Shoot the scope and depth of the report full of holes if you enjoy the exercise, but I'll wager that the higher-level authorities (especially AAIB and NTSB) are in synch with how the Malaysian MoT has proceeded relative to the reporting process.

" if the Airline wants this solved then the more hard facts published is the only way to solve this mystery."

How - so that everyone at PPRUNE can give their expert opinion?

If the relevant authorities and manufacturers have unpublished facts what does the Great Public and the meeja add to the solving the problem?

Just acres of supposition and finger pointing

@LGMX. Lithium reacts with water to produce Lithium Hydroxide and Hydrogen. Lithium Hydroxide is already present in seawater in fairly high proportions (around 0.2 parts per million - around 230 billion tonnes of Lithium, world-wide) - a tonne extra would be, well, a drop in the ocean.

Just listened to the ATC tape.
There is NOTHING unusal in it.
This is total professional and calm communication.
Just responding to the frequency change to HCM 120.9 with a "Good night, Malaysian 370" is typical for someone who has flown this route very often, knows the next frequency by heart anyway or/and even has predialled it in the COM set.

The only thing that is a little unusal is the repeated report to be at level 350. But these things can happen.

A terrible piece of recording knowing that a few moments later hell broke loose (one way or the other)

re atc tape. the time interval between 370 first on radio and signing off is 53 minutes. in the report the tape covering that time period only lasts 7 minutes so there must be plenty of splices perhaps explaining the noises-off. there were 7 minutes of real time between the repeats of level at 350. I am curious about another tape I have heard which had lumpur radar tell 370 to contact HCM three times. the aircraft did not respond until the third. will try to find tape again.

The recording corresponds with the transcript that was published earlier

Technically true. However, lithium batteries don't contain metallic lithium. They (typically) contain lithium cobalt oxide, which is, I believe, chemically inert with regard to water.

The general problem with lithium batteries is that they pack a substantial amount of energy. A short in a fully charged lithium battery can easily heat it by 200 degrees Celsius. If there's another lithium battery nearby, this heat can short it and cause it to release its own energy, etc. in a chain reaction. That's why we have specific packing requirements for the transport of lithium batteries. We need the packaging to contain and isolate any individual short that occurs.

And the most important point about Lithium Ion batteries and Cargo compartments in aircraft. Their fire suppression systems are next to useless against these types of fires. That's why IATA gave them a drill code of 9FZ previously 9FL.
The "Z" code states that 'Fire may not be be extinguished by cargo fire suppression systems'

Lithium Ion batteries have nothing whatsoever to do with the disappearance of MH370.

Maybe someone should start a Lithium Ion battery thread and keep the focus here on MH370.

Re Heathrow Harry Post 10500
 

I suspect that there are large number of scientists and engineers worldwide who could have double checked the AAIB/Inmarsat calculations (and extended and improved the estimates of location) had the original calculations been released in detail. This might have led to searches in the most likely area before the FDR pinger batteries died. There are examples in this thread where the calculations have been almost replicated, but under untested/unknown assumptions. This worldwide expertise exists, but has been unused.

The reluctance to release these details makes no sense, except that is is "protocol"

A detailed tech report on the calculations, would have facilitated checking and advancement, with such tech details well over the heads of the spin doctors.

Arguably, in not providing the detail, the AAIB and Inmarsat (and the Malaysians)have impeded the refinement (after their undoubtedly good initial calculations) of location of MH370 at the most critical time.

What makes you so sure of that? Just because the data has not been 'officially' released to the public does not mean that it has not been checked by others. I can't see what good releasing all the data would do other than to satisfy the rabid demand of the media/public.

There is indeed various scientific institutions looking a various data and providing independent analysis input to the search group. This is a fact.

My point about lithium batteries
 

Was not that they brought down the aircraft. It was about whether upon contact with seawater or upon decomposition/discharge/etc they might emit something that could be detected from a distance using satellite sensing technology. I read that overcharging them can cause the formation of cobalt but a chemist would know more.

ABOUT BATTERIES
 

PUUUHHHHLLEESE - all the speculation about finding traces of any so called chemical reaction traces in a few thousand square miles of salt water - OR that they had any significant effects on the routing- failure to comm- etc is simply that- and does not add at all to the subject. start a different thread-:ugh::ugh:

Thank you !

So the Malaysian's "Prelim" report recommends the "real time streaming" of data....

I think they better read the report if that is their findings !

Their ATC protocols and practices are clearly "unsafe" or being ignored.
If they can't get that right, then what hope for the investigation.

Not really necessary.
These things burn intensely/violently for less than 10s. The remainder will stop to smolder and burn in not much more than a minute if at all. It's this first minute that counts.
The important and difficult thing is to relieve the pressure and fireball that builds instantly without letting the hot gases ignite surrounding material or blow up the container. It's a bit like Black Powder. You mustn't allow it to build up pressure in its containment. If within 1 minute nothing else started burning the danger is more or less over.

Regular Suppression Systems are extremely important in order to extinguish surrounding material that was ignited by a LiIon fire. The volume of packs of cells should be small enough that the violent Initial fire doesn't directly cause structural or flight control damage. And the distance between packs of cells needed be sufficient that no direct heat Transfer between the packs can take place that would ignite the next pack. Fire suppresion must be capable of extinguishing other material that is stored between the packs. Then, everything should be OK. Putting all the packs in one Container is a bad idea since it enables one run away pack to ignite others and thereby creating a very violent fire.
Edit:
Regarding relevance for MH370: Probably very low. Almost 3t (!!!) of LiIon in one Container would in all likelyhood have brought the plane down in a few minutes once ignited. Hardly conceivable that it would smolder for hours.
The Trouble with the freighters is that they don't have suppression Systems (Which I consider a big mistake). Which means that the battery fire may be over after much less than 5 minutes but by then other flammable material will have caught fire and keep burning. The hint is in the smoke in those instances. LiIons create very little smoke when burning. Copious amounts of smoke indicate that other stuff has caught fire.