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Why didn’t missing jet passengers use their cellphones?

– Phone records under investigation –

Malaysia Airline chief executive Ahmad Jauhari Yahya said on Monday there was no evidence of any attempt by the people on board to make calls, but he added that “millions of records” needed to be processed.

“It’s being done as part of the investigation,” he said, without elaborating on the type of records being checked.

Deepening the mystery, Chinese media have reported that relatives heard ringing tones when trying to call passengers’ mobile phones.

But experts believe this does not necessarily mean the phones were still functioning.

Even if nobody on board the plane tried to make a call, logs of the “handshakes” might provide some clues about the route taken by the jet after it disappeared.

While many phones would have been switched off in line with airline rules, some people may have forgotten to deactivate their devices.

But to trace any “handshakes” investigators face the challenge of collecting the unique identity numbers for the passengers’ mobile devices, as well as signal data from network operators in countries along the possible flight paths, such as Myanmar which still has limited network coverage.

As the flight turned back and crossed over Malaysia after disappearing from radar en route to Beijing, it probably passed over a network area.

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After that, the chances of any “handshakes” depend on how low and close to mobile towers the plane flew.

“Police track cellphones all the time by the last phone call they made,” said Ken Dulaney, a US-based analyst with technology research firm Gartner.

But he added that this was only possible if the devices were in reach of a network.

“If they are not in coverage then no one can do anything,” he said.

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