Malysian Flight MH370! Mystery Revealed

Uniqlo opening in IsToronto Rumour mill

Toronto is a hotbed for international retailers. That, and international retailer rumours. From the real (Nordstrom) to the still TBD (Bloomingdales), there always seems to be something to talk about. While we don’t like to pander to gossip and industry rumblings (or maybe we do), this latest rumour is too good to ignore. Japanese retailer Uniqlo is apparently in serious talks with Canadian retailers in an attempt to bring their famous $79 cashmere sweaters to our very own Yorkdale Shopping Centre. We don’t wanna jinx it, but we’re seriously giddy.



For those unfamiliar, the Japanese-based megabrand has become an international success hawking fashionable, yet not necessarily trendy, goods for men, women and kids. Their trademark is classic styles, in a variety of colours at an affordable price — the kind of wardrobe staples we have all come to rely on. Sound familiar? The Financial Post noted that the line might face some fierce competition from the much-loved Canadian brand Joe Fresh, or other wallet and wardrobe friendly brands like GAP and H&M. With occasional collaborations with famed style makers such as Ines de la Fressange and Jil Sander, and the upcoming Pharrell collection, the company has a knack for producing highly covetable and timeless pieces that will still be fashionable in five years time. Can the same be said for that impulse buy of that Peter Pilotto x Target vertigo inducing body-con dress? Not likely.



As most other international companies have done, Yorkdale would be prime real estate for Uniqlo’s debut, due to it’s proximity to the downtown core but also the ever-wealthier GTA. Reports are suggesting either a store within the proposed Nordstrom space or an adjacent storefront in the mall. To be continued.

3 pieces of evidence point to Malaysian jet´s takeover

There are three pieces of evidence that aviation safety experts say make it clear the missing Malaysia Airlines jet was taken over by someone who was knowledgeable about how the plane worked.



One clue is that the plane´s transponder — a signal system that identifies the plane to radar — was shut off about an hour into the flight. In order to do that, someone in the cockpit would have to turn a knob with multiple selections to the off position while pressing down at the same time, said John Goglia, a former member of the National Transportation Safety Board.



That´s something a pilot would know how to do, but it could also be learned by someone who researched the plane on the Internet, he said.



Another clue is that part of the Boeing 777´s Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) was shut off. The system, which has two parts, is used to send short messages via a satellite or VHF radio to the airline´s home base. The information part of the system was shut down, but not the transmission part.



In most planes, the information part of the system can be shut down by hitting cockpit switches in sequence in order to get to a computer screen where an option must be selected using a keypad, said Goglia, an expert on aircraft maintenance. That´s also something a pilot would know how to do, but that could also be discovered through research, he said.



But to turn off the other part of the ACARS, it would be necessary to go to an electronics bay beneath the cockpit. That´s something a pilot wouldn´t normally know how to do, Goglia said, and it wasn´t done in the case of the Malaysia plane. Thus, the ACARS transmitter continued to send out blips that were recorded by the Inmarsat satellite once an hour for four to five hours after the transponder was turned off.



The blips don´t contain any messages or data, but the satellite can tell in a very broad way what region the blips are coming from and adjusts the angle of its antenna to be ready to receive message in case the ACARS sends them. Investigators are now trying to use data from the satellite to identify the region where the plane was when its last blip was sent.



The third indication is that that after the transponder was turned off and civilian radar lost track of the plane, Malaysian military radar was able to continue to track the plane as it turned west. The plane was then tracked along a known flight route across the peninsula until it was several hundred miles (kilometers) offshore and beyond the range of military radar.



KUALA LUMPUR: Airliners normally fly from waypoint to waypoint where they can be seen by air traffic controllers who space them out so they don´t collide. These lanes in the sky aren´t straight lines. In order to follow that course, someone had to be guiding the plane, Goglia said.



Goglia said he is very skeptical of reports the plane was flying erratically while it was being tracked by military radar, including steep ascents to very high altitudes and then sudden, rapid descents. Without a transponder signal, the ability to track planes isn´t reliable at very high altitudes or with sudden shifts in altitude, he said.