Boeing 777 Disappears Near Vietnam

[On Guard for Thee]

I think it's in the Indian Ocean. I used that map simulation we see on TV about where the plane made the left turn. I got the angle figured and then dragged out some maps and put a ruler on the track after the turn. It goes directly over an airport with a 13000 foot runway about half the distance from KL. I suggest a serious electrical fault which caused the pilot's with local knowledge, to head for the nearest chunk of ashphalt big enough to land on. The electrical fault would explain the lack of comms., and could have turned into a debilitating source of fumes/smoke. Aircraft continues on course toward airport, passes airport, and eventually runs out of fuel somewhere south of India, based on the reported endurance they had aboard. Unfortunately that puts it into some of the deepest oceans around. As I've said here before, a hijack would have been followed by demands. A pilot suicide wouldn't require flying around for 7 or so hours.

[Michael Hardner]

A 9/11 conspiracy site??? Kind of rich given all the lectures you dish out about reputable sources.

Wikipedia claims that 911 was dialed from a cell phone right before it crashed. The altitude was around 10000 feet at that time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Airlines_Flight_93

See black box data:

https://www.ntsb.gov/doclib/foia/9_11/Flight_Path_Study_UA93.pdf

Ha, no - it's a great debunking site.

[On Guard for Thee]

I keep hearing the press blathering on about the FMS being reprogrammed from the cockpit. I wonder where the hell else they would imagine it would be programmed from. Fantasy Island perhaps?

[jbg]

This may not be what a liberal usually posts, but no one wants to touch the real problem with a 4 meter pole; the inability or unwillingness of these "independent" countries to assure the safety of the international public. It's one world when convenient for them as long as it doesn't interfere with their war against the West.

[Michael Hardner]

This may not be what a liberal usually posts, but no one wants to touch the real problem with a 4 meter pole; the inability or unwillingness of these "independent" countries to assure the safety of the international public. It's one world when convenient for them as long as it doesn't interfere with their war against the West.

Well, they're not great at assuring the safety of their own citizens either, so that's not a surprise. Do you mean liberal, or classical liberal here ? Because "one world" has different meanings for the two flavours of liberals.

[Big Guy]

This from the Toronto Star to-day on the cell phone question;

“Cellphone coverage is another issue. “At 3,000 feet (about 915 metres), you can make a call, but go much higher and you can basically forget about that,” says Wouter Pelgrum, an assistant professor of electrical engineering at Ohio University. “You don’t have coverage.”

Part of the problem, he says, is that cell tower antennae are pointed down, toward the ground, not up into the sky. If you’re over a city, with its dense cluster of coverage, you’ll have a decent chance, but not in a rural area, and even less so over the ocean.

So what about the United Flight 93 passengers? Most of their calls were made using GTE AirFones, a technology no longer in use that relied on radio waves to communicate with the ground. Malaysia Airlines offers an “air-to-ground phone” service in business class, which also allows passengers to send email, but the captain can shut this down, too.”

[Michael Hardner]

As stated in my links few calls are thought to have come through cell phones,

[bush_cheney2004]

The Aussies have reported possible debris imaged by satellite that is consistent with the south-western track over the Indian Ocean. They will have to locate the floating debris by aircraft or ship and determine if it is consistent with missing flight 370.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — An Australian search and rescue official says that planes have been sent to check on two objects possibly related to the missing Malaysia Airlines flight that were spotted on satellite imagery in the Indian Ocean about 2,500 kilometers (1,550 miles) southwest of Perth.

But John Young of the Australian Maritime Safety Authority cautioned Thursday against expectations that this may help solve the mystery of the plane that went missing with 239 people on board nearly two weeks ago.

Young told reporters, "We have been in this business of doing search and rescue and using sat images before and they do not always turn out to be related to the search even if they look good, so we will hold our views on that until they are sited close-up."

[On Guard for Thee]

My bet is they've got it now. It's where I would have looked based on the last radar trace. Not the best news for the families, but if this is it they can grieve and then move on.

[Rue]

its time to end this. When Courtney Love gets involved its not a good sign. Who next. Paris, Lindsay?

[overthere]

its time to end this. When Courtney Love gets involved its not a good sign. Who next. Paris, Lindsay?

Bieber has a new song that c/w interpretative dance.

It may not be a good career move

[g_bambino]

My bet is they've got it now.

Could be. Based on the fact Perth to Kuala Lumpur is a 5.5 hour flight, I estimate flying from where the plane did its U-turn (50 minutes into its flight) to Perth is approximately 6.5 hours; so, out to the southern Indian Ocean would be about 7. That's apparently how long the fuel that was on board would last for and how much time passed between the plane moving out of radar range and its last known communication with a satellite.

But, why fly a plane as far as it would go out into essentially nothing?

[On Guard for Thee]

Could be. Based on the fact Perth to Kuala Lumpur is a 5.5 hour flight, I estimate flying from where the plane did its U-turn (50 minutes into its flight) to Perth is approximately 6.5 hours; so, out to the southern Indian Ocean would be about 7. That's apparently how long the fuel that was on board would last for and how much time passed between the plane moving out of radar range and its last known communication with a satellite.

But, why fly a plane as far as it would go out into essentially nothing?

Yes there still are a bunch of question marks that come to mind. One scenario would be some sort of electrical fault which caused the initial course change, eventually caused enough smoke to take the crew out but not bad enough to wipe out all the electronics, such as the FMS. Once they had that nearest big airport dialled in the airplane would continue on along the same course if the pilots weren't able to function. And of course if nothing else failed it would carry on until fuel exhaustion. That may be a bit of a stretch but as you point out, why would a hijacker fly around going nowhere. I hear the weather is supposed to be relatively good in the current search area so perhaps they will find something one way or the other when the sun comes up there today.

[Wilber]

While we are all speculating. the most logical scenario I have heard so far is that of some sort of fire, likely suspected electrical fire which would have the crew isolating electrical busses to try and find the cause. The usual procedure is to remove power from the electrical busses by isolating them, then re-establishing systems one at a time after the smoke stops until you find the cause and then leave it isolated. This could explain the loss of power to the transponder and ACARS.

Good long haul pilots are always asking themselves, if something happened right now, where would I go? They keep themselves up to speed on the weather and conditions at possible diversion airports. This captain was very experienced and seemed quite conscientious considering he had built his own basement simulator, He would have had a lot of local knowledge and Pulau Pinang was closer than KUL, has a long runway and less high terrain between his position and the airport. That would explain his turn and if they became incapacitated after the turn and the aircraft was just flying on a heading, it would have continued out over the ocean until its fuel ran out or the fire became serious enough that it caused the aircraft to crash.

The only question is why no distress call but they might have tried to make one, not realizing in the heat of the moment they were trying to use a radio that was inoperative due to electrical systems being shut down. Bearing in mind that nothing is considered more serious by flight crews than a fire on the inside of the aircraft.

Pure speculation but it makes as much sense to me as any other theory and more so than 90% of them.

Edited March 21, 2014 by Wilber

[bush_cheney2004]

...Pure speculation but it makes as much sense to me as any other theory and more so than 90% of them.

But totally consistent with what another long haul pilot stated on one of the cable news channels. He said that it is standard procedure to turn left 90 degrees (in southern hemisphere) when there is an in-flight aircraft emergency that impacts airworthiness, and more importantly, he said that external communications is not the highest priority when the flight deck is trying to recover.

The turn apparently gets the aircraft out of common traffic lanes to avoid collisions, as it can no longer stay on the original flight plan and ATC may or may not be able to manage the situation.

[Wilber]

Most importantly if it can't maintain its assigned altitude and get a clearance to a different one.

[On Guard for Thee]

I never heard of a 90 left but there is a procedure to turn 2 minute L/H triangles in a totally R/T failure or R/H if you are in a receive situation but the radar doesn't seem to indicate that in this situation. I took out a map and according to the angle they seem to have turned it puts you right on track for Pulau Langkawi LGK.

[WWWTT]

Well it looks like the Australian lead turned out to be a dead end.

Guess it's time for full speculation mode on what happened with this plane.

I still hope, for the well being of the passengers and crew that all on board are still safe and in good health!

I am guessing that this was not an accident, and was/is a deliberate act.

I will not guess terrorists because of all the involved knowledge and inside access required to make this plane vanish without any trace.

It would also take the actions of more than one person to make this happen.

http://ri.search.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0LEV72wwSxT5gkAwTcXFwx.;_ylu=X3oDMTByODJtaWUzBHNlYwNzcgRwb3MDMwRjb2xvA2JmMQR2dGlkAw--/RV=1/RE=1395528496/RO=10/RU=https%3a%2f%2fwww.klm.com%2ftravel%2fca_en%2fprepare_for_travel%2fon_board%2fseating_plans%2f777-200ER.htm/RS=%5EADAGtHTKNKoOpcLOd.I2e1SZFZPFBs-

http://ri.search.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0LEV72wwSxT5gkAvzcXFwx.;_ylu=X3oDMTBybnV2cXQwBHNlYwNzcgRwb3MDMgRjb2xvA2JmMQR2dGlkAw--/RV=1/RE=1395528496/RO=10/RU=http%3a%2f%2fwww.boeing.com%2fboeing%2fcommercial%2f777family%2flonger_range%2findex.page/RS=%5EADAWkCpkNAvgCUx4uY2ti1diMAXIrc-

Here are the specs of the plane.

This plane could reach almost any major city in the world from what I read. Or at the very least, a lot more than what some people may think.

However, this would involve the ground crew adding more fuel than what we are being told the plane was only holding!

I believe, that this is plausible given the fact that the lone rebel pilot would have been like some kind of superman to have pulled this off by himself.

Until we get more info, this is all I can come up.

I've read some other comments here, so I think it's safe to say my opinion is a little more on the conservative side. Maybe?

WWWTT

[overthere]

If the wreckage is 2500 kms southwest of Perth that is truly in the middle of nowhere.

Its also a place of mountainous waves and prolonged horrible weather.

[Wilber]

I never heard of a 90 left but there is a procedure to turn 2 minute L/H triangles in a totally R/T failure or R/H if you are in a receive situation but the radar doesn't seem to indicate that in this situation. I took out a map and according to the angle they seem to have turned it puts you right on track for Pulau Langkawi LGK.

On oceanic tracks where there is no radar coverage, if you can't maintain assigned altitude you are suppose to make at least a 45 degree turn in whatever direction is most practicle and fly a 10 mile offset to that track. Only that wouldn't apply in this case because they would have been on radar the whole route.

[Topaz]

I want to ask you guys a question....is it possible that someone could hack into the plane computer and take over the controls of the plane. I know I hear something like that happening in the "9/11" and with technology of today couldn't it happen? California has computer control auto and they are coming to Canada, in Ontario soon. Thoughts?

[WWWTT]

If the wreckage is 2500 kms southwest of Perth that is truly in the middle of nowhere.

Its also a place of mountainous waves and prolonged horrible weather.

Was watching Dragon News (Shanghai) and they are still talking about that place so maybe there may be something.

But it is so far away that planes going there to search can only look for a few hrs than must turn back.

Also the odds of anything there coming from a plane are remote, so I hear.

WWWTT

[WWWTT]

I want to ask you guys a question....is it possible that someone could hack into the plane computer and take over the controls of the plane. I know I hear something like that happening in the "9/11" and with technology of today couldn't it happen? California has computer control auto and they are coming to Canada, in Ontario soon. Thoughts?

I would classify this theory as a more out there one!

Wouldn't there be an manual override?

WWWTT

[WWWTT]

Ok now this is starting to get more bizarre!

When a psychic gets called in, there's not much left of anything solid to go on

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/malaysia-airlines-flight-mh370-uri-3242685

WWWTT

[On Guard for Thee]

I want to ask you guys a question....is it possible that someone could hack into the plane computer and take over the controls of the plane. I know I hear something like that happening in the "9/11" and with technology of today couldn't it happen? California has computer control auto and they are coming to Canada, in Ontario soon. Thoughts?

That's an interesting question and I don't think I'm computer savvy enough to say it's impossible, but I will stick my neck out far enough to say I doubt it. The computer which controls an airplane doesn't need to be connected to the internet. The pilot inputs instructions with various knobs, buttons etc. such as I want to fly at 35,000 feet, and I want to travel at .8 mach. The computer gets info from such things as pitot tubes (ram air) and static pressure ports, (barometric pressure) all basically mechanical things totally contained within the aircraft. Now for navigation instructions GPS is of course widely used and so the steering inputs come from that. Could someone somehow hack into the GPS system and then single out one particular aircraft and alter it's course, it sounds unlikely to me. If the aircraft started to all of a sudden to something you hadn't asked it to, you can always disengage and fly it manually. But there could be some "Twilight Zone" stuff I am not aware of.