U.S. investigators say they aren't getting a full flow of information from the Malaysians—prompting some to complain to headquarters in Washington that they feel relegated to the margins, according to several people familiar with the matter. Malaysian investigators, meanwhile, are wary of information leaks they believe are occurring more regularly among their counterparts from Washington.
Twin probes into how and why the plane went down rest largely in the hands of Malaysian police and air-safety officials, and Americans working in Kuala Lumpur are convinced their side is "mainly getting bits and pieces, rather than a full download from the Malaysians," said one U.S. official briefed on the investigation. Members of the on-site U.S. contingent are "vetting all the information they do get, to ensure accuracy," the official added.
In Malaysia, the government has tight control over the media and leaks of information aren't common. By contrast, some people on the Malaysian side perceive Washington to be full of leaks, particularly in the first few days after the plane vanished March 8.
Last week, Malaysia handed over its most important physical evidence to the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation—pilot Zaharie Ahmad Shah's home flight simulator and computer—for analysis. But before the FBI analysis was complete or the Malaysian government had a chance to make an announcement, a flurry of media reports from Washington revealed that the bureau hadn't found anything to explain Flight 370's disappearance.
"Washington seems to be a leaky boat," said one person familiar with the Malaysian investigation. "It erodes trust." Nevertheless, this person said concern about the Americans' role isn't seriously impeding the investigation. "We have been surprised at how many people we have been able to rope into this," this person said.
Still, according to people familiar with the matter, U.S. aviation officials are operating largely out of the U.S. Embassy in Kuala Lumpur and shuttling to meetings with Malaysian officials—instead of being based full-time in Malaysian offices alongside local investigators, as would often be the case. The U.S. team includes a handful of investigators from the FAA and National Transportation Safety Board.
The embassy declined to comment on the level of cooperation between the two countries.
Boeing, without the full involvement of Malaysian investigators, has run some computer models of the last phase of the flight, highlighting another point of tension in the probe, two people familiar with the matter said. These so-called engineering simulations seek to lay out the most likely movements of the plane before and after it is presumed to have run out of fuel. Such work typically would be more closely coordinated with leaders of the overall investigations, according to these people.
Boeing on Friday re-emphasized that it continues to serve as a technical adviser to the NTSB.
The current tensions between U.S. and Malaysian investigators have roots in issues that appeared three weeks ago, people familiar the matter said, soon after the flight dropped off civilian radar March 8 en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur.
From the beginning, according to a U.S. government official and others, Boeing was upset that it took about three hours—much longer than would be typical—for Malaysian authorities to inform company representatives the jet hadn't been heard from.
Boeing's team remains "quite frustrated and doesn't trust the process," according to one person familiar with the company's views.
FAA and NTSB officials didn't play a prominent role in briefing Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak just before his somber announcement Monday that Flight 370 "ended in the southern Indian Ocean." The analysis was based primarily on work done by satellite-operator Inmarsat ISAT.LN +0.07% PLC and the U.K.'s Air Accidents Investigation Branch, the NTSB's British counterpart. Officials in Kuala Lumpur and the AAIB have a long-standing relationship on safety matters.
"The Malaysians have a much closer association with the AAIB" than with the NTSB, according to one person familiar with Malaysia Airlines' operations. "There is simply a greater comfort level there."
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