BANGKOK, March 16 – The Royal Thai Air Force today reaffirmed that its radar system did not detect the missing Malaysia Airlines flight following the latest remarks by the Malaysian prime minister that the jetliner was deliberately deviated and announcement of new search corridors cover Kazakhstan to northern Thailand and Indonesia to the South Indian ocean.
Thai Air Force spokesman Air Marshal Monthon Sanchukorn said the air force radar system did not record any new data from the MH370.
He said the air force’s radar system in Songkhla’s Hat Yai district detected the plane only once when it took off at Kuala Lumpur International Airport last Saturday and that the Thai air force has already passed the information along to the Malaysian authorities.
“Why didn’t our radar system detect the missing aircraft? We have to instead ask the question ‘Did the plane really fly over Thailand’s skies?'”, noted the air force spokesman.
If it really flew over Thailand, AM Monthon said, the 24-hour radar system surely would be able to detect it, and the Aeronautical Radio of Thailand would inform the air force of the presence of an unauthorised aircraft.
He said that if informed of such encroachment, the Thai air force is obliged to launch the operations to immediately intercept the suspicious plane with its fighter planes which are on standby.
AM Monthon said further investigation is needed to find if the plane really passed the Thai skies, adding that the air force’s radar system could not detect the plane once it flies out of Thai territories.
He said Malaysia’s latest remarks were only assumptions theorising the plane’s possible route.
